Luke Raley is coming back soon. What does that mean for Mariners roster?

SEATTLE – Whenever he’s been asked lately, Luke Raley has suggested he’s feeling well and closing in on a return to the Mariners lineup.

His bat, rather emphatically, is suggesting the same.

Raley, out since late April with an oblique strain, is expected to be activated from the injured list in the coming days, perhaps as soon as this weekend when the Mariners are in Chicago to play the Cubs for the first leg of a 10-day, 10-game road trip.

In his first four rehab games with Triple-A Tacoma over the past week, Raley has five hits in 14 at-bats (.357 average) with a homer, a double, a walk and a strikeout.

His mammoth homer Tuesday night, pulled out to right field at Cheney Stadium, was mashed at 108.5 mph off the bat, with a 38-degree launch angle.

“He’s been swinging the bat well, so that’s a good sign from ‘Rales,’ ” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “He’s been hitting the ball hard down there and all the offensive (metrics) have looked very good.”

The Mariners open the road trip Friday night at Wrigley Field, and the Cubs are expected to start left-hander Matthew Boyd, who’s from Mercer Island, Washington, and pitched out of the Seattle bullpen in the second half of the 2022 season.

Raley, a left-handed hitter, is not expected to be activated before Friday’s game. Another ex-Mariner, right-hander Chris Flexen, could start for the Cubs on Saturday, which could present an advantageous matchup for Raley.

Raley’s return will be a welcome addition for a Mariners lineup that could use his middle-of-the-order pop. In his first season with the Mariners, Raley hit 22 homers with a 129 OPS+ (league average is 100) in 2024, and he was the rare slugger to arrive in Seattle and not be intimidated by T-Mobile Park.

“Obviously, he’s a guy you want in the lineup,” Wilson said. “Looking forward to getting him back out there as much as possible.”

Raley’s return also creates a difficult roster decision for Mariners management.

Raley’s ability to play either right field (his natural position) or first base (in a part-time role) means the Mariners do have a few options.

Right field

Through their first 72 games, the Mariners have had eight players start a game in right field.

The M’s were rather desperate after Victor Robles was lost to a potential season-ending shoulder injury while making a superb catch in San Francisco in early April.

In late April, the M’s then lost Raley (oblique) and Dylan Moore (hip) to injuries. (Moore, activated after the minimum 10 days on the IL, hasn’t been the same player since returning from the injury.)

All those injuries prompted the Mariners to make a claim on Leody Taveras, who had been waived by the Texas Rangers.

Taveras produced a minus 0.6 bWAR in 28 games as the Mariners’ right fielder before he was designated for assignment earlier this month. He’s playing in Tacoma.

Utility player Miles Mastrobuoni has been a spot starter in right field, and the Mariners had also called up Rhylan Thomas and veteran utility player Samad Taylor in early May for cameo appearances out there.

After Taveras was demoted, the Mariners turned back to Dominic Canzone, who was again tormenting Pacific Coast League pitching with Tacoma.

Canzone, albeit in a small sample, has raised some eyebrows with his production over the past 10 days, hitting .241 with a .726 OPS and a 112 OPS+ in 32 plate appearances.

A 27-year-old left-handed slugger, Canzone delivered one of the most dramatic moments of the season for the Mariners in his first plate appearance of the year, hitting a two-out, two-run game-tying homer in Arizona at 115.9 mph off the bat, the Mariners’ hardest-hit ball of the season.

“Dom has been swinging it well,” Wilson said. “He’s been putting up some good at-bats and it (the roster decision) is a good problem to have.”

Given Canzone’s raw power and improved approach, would the Mariners really send him back down to Tacoma?

Problem is, Canzone offers much of the same skill set as Raley, and the Mariners generally prefer more versatile players for their bench roles, which could squeeze Canzone out of a roster spot.

First base

Would the Mariners break up first-base platoon partners Rowdy Tellez and Donovan Solano?

They’d have to at least consider it, wouldn’t they?

First base is an obvious position at which the M’s will try to upgrade ahead of the July 31 trade deadline. Either Baltimore’s Ryan O’Hearn and Arizona’s Josh Naylor would be ideal additions for the Mariners if the Orioles and Diamondbacks end up selling next month.

Collectively, the Mariners have received a -0.9 fWAR from their first basemen this season, and their 76 wRC+ (league average is 100) ranks 26th out of 30 MLB teams.

And yet, there are reasons to keep Tellez and Solano, at least for now.

Solano, after an ugly April, has been better in recent weeks, and the 37-year-old only plays against left-handed pitching.

Tellez has been exactly league-average since May 1, with a wRC+ of 100 in his past 39 games. His seven homers over the past six weeks are tied for fourth most among all MLB first basemen – he’s capable of changing a game with one swing (and he showed Tuesday night that he’s capable of shocking everyone and stealing a base, too).

The defensive metrics haven’t been kind to Tellez at first base. (Then again, the defensive metrics rate Cal Raleigh and J.P. Crawford as below-average defensive players this season, so how much are we really supposed to trust the advanced defensive analytics?)

Tellez, your eyes suggest, has been better – much better – defensively at first base than the Mariners were expecting when they signed him initially to a minor-league contract in late February, after spring training had already begun. He’s making just $1.5 million this season.

Raley, meanwhile, has never been as comfortable playing first base as he is in the outfield.