Mariners Moose Tracks, 7/3/25: Kevin Pillar, Josh Jung, and Alex Verdugo

Another MLB veteran decides to hang ‘em up.

Good morning everybody! It’s a pseudo-Friday with the holiday coming up tomorrow, and we’ve got all of the news you need to get through the day.

In Mariners news...

• Keeping things positive, Shannon Drayer outlined three things that are working right now for the Mariners offense.

Around the league...

• In case you missed it, Major League Baseball unveiled its full slate of MLB All-Star position player starters. The All-Star reserves and pitchers will be announced on Sunday.
• Outfielder Kevin Pillar has announced his retirement from baseball. He appeared in a handful of games for the Rangers earlier this year.
• In a surprising move, the Rangers optioned struggling third baseman Josh Jung to Triple-A.
• The listless Braves have DFA’d veteran outfielder Alex Verdugo, who has just a 37 wRC+ in the majors so far this year.
• Atlanta will now also be without star right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach, who is on the injured list with an elbow fracture.
• It’s been a bad stretch for baseball fans — a Diamondbacks season ticket holder who interfered with a live ball has been banned from the ballpark for the rest of the season.
• Rob Manfred made some interesting public comments regarding his approach to the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations set to take place after the 2026 season.
• Baseball America updated its top 100 prospects list, and several players have massive jumps in the rankings this month — including a few Mariners. ($)
• Dan Szymborski at Fangraphs did his mid-season ZiPS check-in for pitchers.
• Joshua Rodrigues at Baseball Prospectus wrote about how swing direction impacts batted ball outcomes. ($)
• David Lengel at The Guardian wonders if the A’s Las Vegas ballpark will ever be built, now that we’re two years in with no ground having been broken.