6:04pm: It’s a minor league contract for Lowe, reports Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune (on Twitter). The right-hander will head to Triple-A Tacoma to begin the season.
4:08pm: Shortly after being cut loose by the Tigers, veteran right-hander Mark Lowe is set to sign a deal to return to the Mariners, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). The 33-year-old Lowe is represented by Frye McCann Sports.
Seattle is where Lowe revitalized his career back in 2015. After throwing just 18 2/3 innings big league innings from 2013-14, Lowe inked a minors deal in Seattle and proved to be one of the best minor league pickups of the offseason; in 36 innings with Seattle that season, Lowe turned in a ridiculous 1.00 ERA with a 47-to-11 K/BB ratio. That performance led to a trade to the Blue Jays, where Lowe took a step back but still logged a 3.79 ERA with a 14-to-1 K/BB ratio in 19 innings, helping the Jays to the postseason.
That terrific rebound campaign led the Tigers to commit to Lowe in the form of a two-year, $11MM contract, but that deal yielded disastrous results. Lowe’s average fastball velocity dipped from 95.5 mph in 2015 to 92.4 mph, and he stumbled to a 7.11 earned run average. Lowe did still strike out nearly a batter per inning, but his BB/9 rate shot from 2.0 to 3.8, and he went from averaging 0.65 HR/9 to 2.19 HR/9 as a member of the Tigers.
It’s not clear whether the Mariners are signing Lowe to a Major League deal or a minor league deal, but the financial commitment will be minimal either way. The Tigers are paying Lowe $5.5MM this year as part of the aforementioned two-year contract, and the Mariners would only be on the hook for the Major League minimum of $535,000 (or the pro-rated version of that sum, for whatever time Lowe spends in the Majors).
As it stands, the Mariners’ bullpen is slated to be anchored by flamethrowing right-hander Edwin Diaz, who emerged as a dominant closing option for manager Scott Servais last season. Also likely to be in the relief corps are right-handers Nick Vincent, Evan Scribner, Dan Altavilla and Casey Fien, while left-hander Marc Rzepczynski will be locked into a spot after signing his own two-year, $11MM contract this winter. Right-handers Tony Zych, Steve Cishek and Shae Simmons are all currently being slowed by injuries.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Yeah we’re desperate for relievers.
Jerry Dipoto likes flyball relievers.
In that park with those outfielders I can see why.
He was so impressed with him when they were both with the Angels
Glad it’s just a minor league deal. And if he does come up to the majors and doesn’t do well, I don’t think Dipoto will keep him around for long.