WASHINGTON D.C. -- As the Seattle Mariners near the end of this lengthy 10-game road trip through the Eastern time zone, they are almost certainly coming up on some difficult roster decisions.

While currently rehabbing at Triple-A Tacoma, Cal Raleigh is expected to be back on the team's homestand, maybe even as early as Tuesday night. Furthermore, J.P. Crawford is eligible to come off the injured list on Tuesday and was seen hitting, throwing and taking ground balls before Friday's win against the Washington Nationals.

While I never like to speculate upon injuries, he certainly looked comfortable and looked to be swinging at or close to 100 percent.

Getting both players back will undoubtedly be a big boon to the lineup and clubhouse, but what do their returns mean for the rest of the roster? That's where it gets tricky, and there's already a large contingent of people suggesting the Mariners should keep three catchers: Raleigh, Jhonny Pereda and Mitch Garver.

Let's dive in a little bit.

This isn't particularly hard to see. Pereda and Garver have more than held their own in the absence of Raleigh. They've become a Top-12 catching duo in the sport since Raleigh's last game, as noted by Luke Arkins. (entering June 10)

Carrying three catchers would allow the Mariners to give Raleigh more designated hitter days while still keeping the offensive upside of Pereda and Garver. It would also protect against any discomfort Raleigh may have from his oblique injury and allow the Mariners to always have an option waiting in the dugout.

The Mariners need 13 position players on the roster, so let's just run through them, minus the players in question.

Josh Naylor, Cole Young, Colt Emerson, Randy Arozarena, Julio Rodriguez, Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone, Victor Robles and Rob Refsnyder take nine of the 13 spots.

So the M's would need to keep four of: Raleigh, Garver, Pereda, Crawford, Miles Mastrobuoni and Patrick Wisdom, while also still acknowledging that guy like Ryan Bliss is an option. That's four of seven.

--If the Mariners take all three catchers and Crawford, then they are left with no right-handed hitting infielders on the bench, which is a problem for a team that doesn't hit left-handed pitching all that well and has no runway to guard against an infield injury. Taking all four of those players would also mean having to DFA Mastrobuoni, who is out of options.

--If the Mariners take Raleigh and one additional catcher, they can bring up Crawford and have a little more flexibility. If they kept Mastrobuoni, they'd still be extremely left-handed, which would be a problem. If they were OK DFA-ing him, then they could keep Wisdom or bring up Bliss to help alleviate the handedness issue.

--To Huard's point above: If they want to put Refsnyder and his bulky knee on the injured list, they would have the ability to open up a fifth roster spot from our original situation. They could have Raleigh, a backup catcher, Crawford, a right-handed hitting infielder AND they could keep Mastrobuoni.

Almost nowhere in here does a plan for keeping a third catcher actually work, despite how well the tandem has played.

It doesn't feel likely. Pereda has an option left, while Garver does not. If the team wants to keep Pereda, it will have to DFA Garver and risk losing him. Given Raleigh's recent injury history, they certainly won't want to do that, one can presume.

Some of you have come to me and suggested that the team utilize Raleigh at catcher and Garver at DH, with Refsnyder being DFA'd. Well that could work, in theory, it would still necessitate the need for three catchers in all likelihood, as the team would want a backup behind Raleigh and Garver. If the team keeps Pereda in that case, there are still roster questions at the backup infielder spot.

For instance: If the team were to keep..... Naylor, Young, Emerson, Rodriguez, Arozarena, Robles, Raley, Canzone, Raleigh, Garver, Pereda, Crawford..... that's 12.... and then you'd still have to choose between letting Mastrobuoni go and keeping a better-fitting right-handed infielder.

Regardless, the Mariners have two more games to play in Washington before this becomes a deal, but it is already a conversation. 

First pitch on Saturday is set for 1:05 p.m. PT.

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