The Mariners have announced that they’ve acquired righty reliever Arquimedes Caminero from the Pirates for a player to be named later and a conditional player to be named later. To clear roster space, they’ve designated righty Blake Parker for assignment.
The Mariners claimed Caminero before working out a deal, as MLB.com’s Greg Johns writes. The 29-year-old Caminero is one of baseball’s hardest throwers — his average fastball velocity this season has been 97.7 MPH, and he routinely touches triple digits. He does, however, struggle with his control, which might explain why most teams passed on him as a waiver claim despite his fastball and near-league-minimum salary. After a relatively successful 2015 season in which he posted a 3.62 ERA, 8.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9, Caminero has posted a 3.51 ERA but with just 7.0 K/9 and a very high 4.8 BB/9 this year (although he has fared much better since returning from a DL stint in June).
The Mariners (who recently promised they would be active on the August trade market) will become the latest team to try to turn Caminero’s electric arm into a high-performing one. The Pirates, meanwhile, will move on to other relief options in a new-look bullpen that also recently added Antonio Bastardo and swapped Mark Melancon for young former Nationals lefty Felipe Rivero. MLB.com’s Adam Berry suggests (via Twitter) that Caminero’s departure could clear space in the bullpen for Jeff Locke, who could be bumped from the rotation in favor of a younger option like Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault or Tyler Glasnow.
The 31-year-old Parker signed with the Mariners as a minor league free agent last winter and has spent most of the year with Triple-A Tacoma, where he posted a 2.72 ERA with an excellent 12.7 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9. The Mariners added him to their roster this week, and he pitched in just one game for them before being designated.
It’s about time Pittsburgh did something with him, he can throw 100 MPH, just down the middle of the plate.
Arquimedes Caminero has to be on the short list of all time best baseball names.
I was going to post something similar.
Middle name? Euclides.
He does have an outstanding baseball name.
So is he going to be our 8th inning guy now? I’m guessing that this will move Wilhelmson to long relief and Nuno to lefty specialist(even tho he’s not great against lefties) until/if Furbush comes back, with Diaz as closer than this could be a good bullpen.
Why would any team put a waiver claim player into that high a leveraged position before he proves himself? It’s not like he was closing for Pittsburgh.
Becuse they don’t have anyone else to be a set up man so they might as well give him a chance.
This is an unusual Dipoto move, as Caminero does not fit the “profile” the Mariners have been promoting: Control the strike zone, high K to BB rate, high K to IP ratio, few BB, low H to IP ratio, low WHIP.
So it boils down to this…..they are taking a gamble, and have gone outside their typical pitcher profile to do it.
Low BB, low H, high K, control the strike zone? That’s not a “profile” specific to Seattle, those are just attributes of a quality reliever
Mariners hoping Caminero can provide depth and buoy their chances in the Wild Card race.
If they are trading Caminero to move Locke to the bullpen, why not just trade Locke?
I would have rather kept Caminero (assuming they still had control, if he’s UFA then NM).
But, the last time NH got a PTBNL for a spare part he turned Travis Snider into Steven Brault, who is already much better than Locke and has made a few MLB starts.
Probably not as many GMs dreaming on Locke like they are on Caminero and his potential upside.
There are no UFA in baseball, they’re either a free agent or they aren’t.
What would you call a player with no contract next year but who is still under club control vs. a player who can walk at the end of the year?
Brault has promise, but yeah, Locke should’ve been the one they put on waivers.
Locke to the bullpen? Yippee! Why can’t we just DFA the guy?!
Caminero is departed or deported. For a while we had something for nothing but that did not last. I agree with above, if we moved Cam. To place Locke in the pen, why not trade Locke!
You have to find someone willing to trade with to make a trade. Locke did ok in the pen a couple weeks ago & Caminero was struggling most of the year. Not a bad move since Seattle willing to give something up for him.
I heard that the Pirates are going to give away both Austin Meadows and Glasnow as the PTNL
Not that what you said was going to happen anyway, but the Mariners are ones sending the PTBNLs.
Diaz hit 101 last night as he struck out the side to save the game he looked really sharp. If they could get this guy to make a couple adjustments and be like Randy Johnson was when he first came over they could have something. You weren’t sure where the ball was going but it was going to get there fast. Be would with a purpose keep the batters uncomfortable in the box. This BP will have some serious heat in it. Hopefully they didn’t give away anything too good for him.
Darn it, I really liked Caminero, though I freely admit that he has multiple weaknesses and that the Bucs are OK without him. I liked his intensity: same facial expression and mannerisms whether he was striking out the six or getting shelled. Best of luck to him in Seattle.
Jeff Locke must know where several bodies are buried/have piles of pictures to continue to remain on this team.
Frank Coonelly agreed to meet another man late at night while his wife was sleeping and Jeff Locke showed up.
“Funny meeting you here, Frank. I think I’ll be the #5 from now on, what do you say?”
Agreed.
Everyone is talking about Caminero. Caminero made it through the entire NL on waivers and all the way to the Mariners. Pretty obvious no one saw value in him despite the heat he brings. The fact they got a PTBNL and a “conditional” PTBNL is a win.
Correct me if I’m wrong but it looks like the bullpen for now will be Watson, Feliz, Rivero, Bastardo, Nicasio, Hughes (UGH!) and Partch (temporarily). The starters will be Cole, Taillon, Nova, Locke and the last spot being filled by either Glasnow, Kuhl, Hutchinson or Williams.
A little later on Locke will go to the pen and Partch will go back to AAA. Locke’s sp spot will be filled by one of the four who wasn’t already up. Why do they insist on hanging on to Locke and Hughes. I know they won’t get much for them but………
I’m not sure where Vogelsong or Schugel fits into all of this. A.J. would fit nicely into Hughes or Locke’s bp spot
They’re in a pitchers ballpark with a marine layer. A few adjustments, he could turn into something. Could.
If you are taking about Seattle it has been pretty warm here and we are 3rd in the league last I looked in HRs so that won’t help too much. Also it is not as pitcher friendly since they moved the fences in a couple years ago. It is tougher on righties but not like it was.
What’s the principle here?
Caminero finally seemed to find something over the past month. He throws ultra-hard, but his control is BAD. It’s as if he doesn’t know where in the zone the ball is going, just whether to throw it in or out. With that said though, he is an interesting buy low candidate for the M’s. In that stadium, new league, he could end up as a very solid late-inning guy.
Happy Trails, Caminero.