Cesar

Hernandez

It seems unlikely that the Mariners will elect to add Hernández to their major league roster in the next 48 hours despite the fact he’s batting .272/.436/.336 with seven stolen bases across 164 plate appearances over 43 games for Triple-A Tacoma. The 33-year-old veteran second baseman should be able to find a new opportunity on the free agent market shortly.

Hernández was granted his release by the Tigers this week after failing to crack the Opening Day roster. The 32-year-old posted a weak .629 OPS over 617 plate appearances with the Nationals last season and will simply function as experienced depth for Seattle.

Hernández came up short in his bid to make Detroit’s season-opening roster this spring as a non-roster invitee. The 32-year-old veteran infielder appeared in 147 games last year for the Nationals and figures to draw some interest on the open market. However, he’ll likely be forced to settle for a minor league contract.

Hernández, 32, had an opportunity to crack the Opening Day roster, but he has fallen on hard times after a strong start to the Grapefruit League season. Overall, he hit just .234 (11-for-47) with no homers, four RBI and one stolen base. Rosenthal is expected to build up his arm strength at Triple-A before being an option to join the Tigers’ bullpen later in the season.

Hernández’s single today was his first of the spring. His other six hits were all doubles, giving him a nice .412/.524/.765 line in 17 at-bats. His chances of making the Tigers are definitely picking up, especially with Tyler Nevin (oblique) absent.

Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press says it’s worth $1.5 million if he’s added to the Tigers’ major-league roster. Hernández had to see that no major league offers were forthcoming and smartly took a minor league pact from a team with opportunity for playing time. Jonathan Schoop is likely to get a chance to keep the job at second base, but he’s coming off a horrible season offensively. The Tigers also have flexibility at DH, third and maybe first base, depending on how Spencer Torkelson looks this spring. Hernández is coming off a tough year with Washington in which he hit .248/.311/.318 with just one homer in 617 plate appearances.

Hernández’s output was the lone bright spot in an 8-2 shellacking by the Phillies Saturday night. The 32-year-old has been a massive disappointment after hitting just a lone homer after smacking 18 round-trippers with the White Sox last year.

It’s the first three-RBI game of the year for Hernández, who never even had two RBI this season until hitting his first homer, a two-run shot against the Mets, four days ago. He really needs a strong finish here if he’s going to get more than a minor league contract as a free agent this winter.

Hernández’s homer came in his 546th plate appearances of the season. Last year, he hit 21 homers in 637 plate appearances. Since the homer was a two-run shot, this also goes as his first multi-RBI game of the season. Primarily a leadoff man in the first half, he’s driven in just 28 runs all season.

Hernández singled and stole a base -- his fifth theft of the season -- in the third inning before plating the Nationals’ lone run of the one-sided contest with an RBI single to right field off Phillies starter Aaron Nola in the fifth inning. The 32-year-old middle infielder is hitting an underwhelming .241/.305/.307 with 51 runs scored, zero home runs, 23 RBI and five steals across 468 plate appearances.