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Mariners Re-Sign Kendall Graveman

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11:42am: Graveman’s deal comes with a $1.25MM base salary and another $2.5MM worth of incentives, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter link). That will give him the opportunity to earn a bit more than the $3.5MM he’d have taken home had the Mariners picked up his option.

11:35am: That was quick. Just one day after declining their $3.5MM club option on Kendall Graveman, the Mariners announced that they’ve re-signed the right-hander to a new one-year, Major League contract for the 2021 season. It’s surely at a lesser rate than that $3.5MM price point, but the Sports One Management client looks as though he’ll be locked in as a member of the team’s bullpen again next season.

Graveman, 29, returned to the Majors in 2020 after missing most of 2018 and all of 2019 due to Tommy John surgery. The initial hope was that he’d be a member of the team’s six-man rotation, but Graveman spent much of the year on the injured list due to a neck injury and returned to the club in September as a reliever.

The results upon his return were encouraging, however, as Graveman averaged a career-best 96.4 mph on his sinker and held opponents to four runs on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 10 innings. Three of those runs came in one particularly rough outing, but Graveman allowed just one run in the rest of his bullpen outings combined. He also sported a hefty 55.4 percent ground-ball rate in that time, giving further cause for optimism about his potential as a reliever over the course of a full season.

For Seattle, re-signing Graveman is its first noteworthy order of business in what should be an active winter for its relief corps. After the Mariners’ bullpen finished 2020 last in the AL in ERA and fWAR, general manager Jerry Dipoto declared the M’s would try to add three to four relievers in the offseason.

Mariners Decline 2021 Club Option On Kendall Graveman

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The Mariners have declined to exercise their $3.5MM club option on right-hander Kendall Graveman, as Graveman was listed by the MLB Players Association as one of 147 players who officially entered free agency today.  Graveman will instead receive a $500K buyout from the Mariners.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in July 2018, Graveman didn’t pitch in the majors last season but returned to toss 18 2/3 innings for Seattle in 2020.  Graveman inked a one-year deal with the Mariners last offseason that paid him $1.5MM in salary for the 2020 season, as well as the $500K minimum in buyout money and the potential for $3MM more if the option was picked up.

The righty started his first two outings before heading to the injured list with what was originally described as neck spasms, but further examination revealed a benign bone tumor in Graveman’s cervical spine.  Despite that scary-sounding diagnosis, Graveman not only returned to the mound, but pitched well as a reliever in nine further games — a 3.60 ERA over those 10 relief frames, with three of his four runs allowed coming in one rough outing against the Giants.

Graveman has worked exclusively as a starter since the 2014 season, but his success as a reliever perhaps hinted at a new role for the 29-year-old (who turns 30 in December) going forward.  While a new team could still look into Graveman as a starter, he might also market himself as a multi-inning reliever or swingman on the open market.

Whether Graveman joins a new team is also in question, as 710 ESPN’s Shannon Drayer tweets that the Mariners have interest in bringing Graveman back on a new deal.  While Graveman’s injuries could quite possibly have led to Seattle declining his option under normal offseason conditions, the Mariners’ decision to punt on the extra $3MM to retain Graveman’s services is perhaps a hint about how the M’s (and other teams) will be cautious with any sort of borderline financial decision this winter in the face of 2020’s revenue losses.

Mariners Decline 2021 Club Option On Dee Strange-Gordon

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TODAY: Strange-Gordon appeared on the MLB Players Association’s list of players who became free agents today, indicating that the Mariners have officially bought out his 2021 option.

OCTOBER 27: It’s no surprise, but it appears the Mariners are set to part with infielder/outfielder Dee Strange-Gordon. They’ll move on from his $14MM club option for 2021 in favor of a $1MM buyout, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports.

After an effective run with the Marlins, with whom he posted 9.3 fWAR in three seasons, the Mariners acquired Strange-Gordon heading into 2018. The speedy Strange-Gordon didn’t offer the type of production the Mariners were hoping for, though, as he batted a meek .266/.293/.343 with seven home runs, 55 stolen bases and just 0.2 fWAR over 1,091 plate appearances as a member of the team. The 32-year-old did see time at both middle infield spots and in multiple outfield positions along the way, but he didn’t grade out especially well at any of them.

Assuming the Mariners do say goodbye to Strange-Gordon, he’ll become part of a second base class of free agents that’s low on great options after DJ LeMahieu. The Mariners, meanwhile, could stick with a combination of Dylan Moore, J.P. Crawford and Shed Long in their middle infield in 2021.

Minor MLB Transactions: 10/27/20

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The latest minor moves from around the game…

  • The Yankees announced that they have outrighted catcher Wynston Sawyer to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The team selected Sawyer’s contract in the middle of September, but he didn’t end up seeing any major league time in 2020. In his most recent professional action in 2019, Sawyer – an eighth-round pick of the Orioles in 2010 – batted .260/.333/.409 with two home runs in 171 plate appearances with the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate. The 28-year-old joined the Yankees on a minor league contract in February.
  • The Mariners have re-signed outfielder Connor Lien to a minors deal, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets. Lien, 26, was a 12th-round pick of the Braves in 2012 who, to this point, has played his entire professional career with the franchise. He divided the most recent minor league season in 2019 between Double-A and Triple-A, where he combined to hit .211/.314/.441 with 11 homers over 246 trips to the plate.

Mariners Set 2021 Coaching Staff

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The Mariners on Monday announced their coaching staff for the 2021 season. The unit will remain largely unchanged, although Seattle has appointed Trent Blank as the team’s permanent bullpen coach and director of pitching strategy. He’ll replace Brian DeLunas, whose departure had been previously reported. DeLunas coached remotely in 2020 due to a preexisting kidney issues that place him at high risk with regard to Covid-19. Due to that arrangement, Blank shared bullpen coach duties in 2020 on an acting/interim basis.

Blank is entering his third season with the Mariners organization, having previously been hired as the club’s coordinator of pitching strategy prior to the 2019 campaign. The former Rockies farmhand spent four years with TMI Sports Medicine between his retirement as a player in 2015 and being hired by Seattle.

Manager Scott Servais is set to return to the Mariners for what will be his sixth season, and he’ll have the rest of his 2020 staff back at his side. That includes bench coach Jared Sandberg (heading into his second season in that role), hitting coach Tim Laker (third season), pitching coach Pete Woodworth (second season), first base/infield coach Perry Hill (third season), third base coach Manny Acta (fourth season), assistant hitting coach Jarret DeHart (second season) and field coordinator Carson Vitale (second season).

D-backs Claim Taylor Guilbeau From Mariners; M’s Outright Gerson Bautista

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The Diamondbacks have claimed left-hander Taylor Guilbeau off waivers from the Mariners, per an announcement from Seattle. The M’s also announced that righty Gerson Bautista has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.

Now 27 years old, Guilbeau joined the Mariners as part of their return from the Nationals in a 2019 deal that sent relievers Roenis Elias and Hunter Strickland to Washington. Guilbeau went on to toss 20 innings of 2.70 ERA ball with a 59.1 percent groundball rate as a member of the Mariners, though he also struck out barely more hitters (10) than he walked (nine). He dealt with a shoulder strain in 2020 and saw his velocity tumble.

Bautista, whom the Mariners acquired in their pre-2019 trade with the Mets centering on Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz, has only thrown nine innings with Seattle. He racked up all of those frames in 2019, as the 25-year-old missed all of this season with a flexor strain in his right elbow.

Mariners Claim Domingo Tapia From Red Sox

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The Mariners announced that they have claimed right-hander Domingo Tapia from the Red Sox via waivers. Seattle now has 34 players on its 40-man roster.

Tapia, formerly a farmhand with the Mets and Reds, joined the Red Sox on a minor league contract last December. The hard-throwing 29-year-old wound up making his major league debut with Boston this past season and tossing 4 1/3 innings of one-run, four-hit ball with four strikeouts and two walks. Tapia has also spent time at the Triple-A level, where he has pitched to a 4.34 ERA and posted 6.8 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 over 134 2/3 innings.

Matt Magill, Carl Edwards Jr., Nestor Cortes Jr. Elect Free Agency

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The Seattle Mariners outrighted three relievers to Triple-A, the team announced. Matt Magill, Carl Edwards Jr., and Nestor Cortes Jr. each elected free agency. The Mariners have 7 open spots on their 40-man roster.

Magill underwent arthroscopic debridement surgery on his right shoulder on Sept. 15, effectively ending his season. The surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, per the team release. The 30-year-old reliever did a fine job for the Mariners in 2019 after Seattle purchased his contract from the Twins in July, posting a 3.63 ERA across 22 appearances totaling 22 1/3 innings. His 2020 was more fraught, however, yielding over 6 runs per 9 innings before going down with injury. Originally drafted in the 31st round by the Dodgers, Magill has appeared in the bigs with the Dodgers, Reds, Twins, and Mariners since his debut in 2013.

Edwards Jr. will be well-remembered by Cubs fans for his time in Wrigley Field where he spent the first 4 1/2 seasons of his career. One of a small cadre of relievers that gained manager Joe Maddon’s trust during their title run in the 2016 playoffs, Edwards Jr. remained a key member of the Cubs’ bullpen from 2015 to 2018 with a 3.06 ERA/3.12 FIP in 159 innings over 172 appearances with 12.3 K/9 to 4.9 BB/9. The String Bean Slinger lost his command as he stumbled through a difficult season in 2019. The Cubs eventually traded him to the Padres for Brad Wieck in a swap of bullpen projects.

Edwards Jr. signed with the Mariners as a free agent before 2020, appearing in just 5 games, though he looked sharp in those 4 2/3 innings, allowing just 1 earned run while striking out 6 to just 1 walk. A forearm strain sent him to the injured list on August 10th, ending his season. The 29-year-old will be an interesting reclamation project to track for someone next season. If he can return to the player he was with the Cubs, he’d certainly be a viable weapon out of the bullpen.

Like Magill and Edwards Jr., Cortes was put on the injured list in mid-August, and he too missed the remainder of the season. Cortes made one start and four relief appearances for the Mariners, giving up 13 earned runs across 7 2/3 innings. The 25-year-old has a 6.72 career ERA over parts of 3 seasons with the Orioles, Yankees, and Mariners.

Rangers Claim Art Warren

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The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed right-hander Art Warren off waivers from the division-rival Mariners. The move brings Texas’ 40-man roster to a total of 39 players and drops Seattle’s to a count of 33.

Warren, 27, has just 5 1/3 big league innings under his belt, all coming in 2019 with Seattle. He averaged just north of 95 mph on his heater in that time and drew 70 grades on the pitch when he was rising through the system after being selected in the 23rd round of the 2015 draft. Warren worked almost exclusively with a four-seamer and a slider — his most frequently used offering — in that tiny sample of work.

Had their been a conventional minor league season in 2020, Warren likely would’ve been ticketed for Triple-A — a level at which he still has yet to pitch. He jumped straight from Double-A to the Majors when making that 2019 debut. In a total of 47 1/3 frames of Double-A ball, Warren carries a 1.71 ERA and has averaged a dozen strikeout per nine innings, although he’s also averaged five walks per nine. He still has a minor league option remaining after spending the 2020 season in the Mariners’ player pool at their alternate training site. Warren did get a call to the big leagues with Seattle this past season but didn’t get into a game before being optioned back out.

As Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times points out, via Twitter, the Mariners have a whopping eight players on the 60-day injured list who’ll either need to be reinstated or designated for assignment, so it’s not much of a surprise to see some continued roster maintenance. That group includes Tom Murphy, Mitch Haniger, Gerson Bautista, Matt Magill, Andres Munoz, Taylor Guilbeau, Carl Edwards Jr. and Nestor Cortes Jr. Not all are locks to stick on the roster — Edwards, in particular, could be on shaky ground — but Murphy, Haniger, Magill and perhaps Munoz are all ticketed for notable roles next year.

Hisashi Iwakuma To Retire

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The Yomiuri Giants announced yesterday that veteran right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma will retire at the conclusion of the current Nippon Professional Baseball season.  Shoulder problems have kept Iwakuma off the mound in 2020, but he will hang up his glove after a combined 17 seasons of action in NPB and Major League Baseball.

Iwakuma is best known to North American fans for his six-year run with the Mariners from 2012-17.  The righty posted a 3.42 ERA, 3.86 K/BB rate, 47.6% grounder rate, and 7.3 K/9 over 883 2/3 innings at the big league level, starting 136 of 150 games.  Highlights of Iwakuma’s Seattle tenure included an outstanding 2013 season that saw him finish third in AL Cy Young Award voting, and a no-hitter against the Orioles on August 12, 2015.

It’s easy to wonder what might have been had Iwakuma arrived in the majors prior to his age-31 season, and also perhaps what he could have been able to accomplish in both NPB and MLB had he not been bothered by shoulder injuries and some other health woes for a good deal of his career.  This injury history cost Iwakuma some money in his initial contract with Seattle, and even more notably, a potential three-year, $45MM free agent deal with the Dodgers in the 2015-16 offseason that Los Angeles abandoned after concerns about Iwakuma’s physical.  Even Iwakuma’s return to Japan resulted in only two innings with Yomiuri’s minor league team in 2019.

Over 1541 innings for the Kintetsu Buffaloes and Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2001-11, Iwakuma posted a 3.25 ERA, 3.44 K/BB rate, and 6.9 K/9.  2008 was his greatest year, as Iwakuma captured both league MVP honors and the Sawamura Award (Japan’s equivalent to the Cy Young Award) after posting a 1.87 ERA, 4.42 K/BB rate, 7.1 K/9, and a 21-4 record over 201 2/3 innings for the Golden Eagles.  Iwakuma was also a member of Japan’s winning squad in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, with Iwakuma being named to the all-tournament team.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Iwakuma on an excellent career, and wish him the best in retirement.

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