The Mariners announced today that they’ve outrighted Cody Martin off the 40-man roster. The right-hander will return to Triple-A Tacoma, and Seattle’s 40-man roster now has an open spot for a potential addition.
Martin, 28 next month, has appeared in just one game for the Mariners this season, though he also made nine appearances with Seattle in 2016. Through 27 2/3 innings in his career as a Mariner, he’s allowed 14 earned runs (4.55 ERA) with a 15-to-11 K/BB ratio and a 46.2 percent ground-ball rate. Martin has also had brief stints with the A’s and Braves, leading to a collective 6.33 ERA in 58 1/3 MLB frames.
A former seventh-round pick, Martin does have a nice track record in Triple-A, where he’s logged a combined 3.66 ERA, 8.7 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 467 2/3 innings across parts of five seasons. Given that relatively solid output, the Mariners certainly won’t mind keeping him on hand as a depth option, but the vacant 40-man spot will give the team further flexibility to make some additions — either by selecting a contract of a non-40-man player already in the organization or by claiming/trading for yet another new asset. GM Jerry Dipoto is among the game’s most active executives and has already added Yonder Alonso, Ryan Garton, Mike Marjama and Ernesto Frieri this month.
Alternatively, the vacancy could go to a player currently on the 60-day DL, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times suggests (Twitter link). Right-hander Shae Simmons is about the only player that’d fit that bill in the immediate future. He’s been on a rehab assignment in Tacoma and made his most recent appearance on Sunday.
Knowing Mr. DiPoto, the spot will go to a fourth OF instead of the starting pitcher the team desperately needs. He can claim that there aren’t any starters out there… there are, and he needs to bite the bullet and get one to get the M’s over the hump. Ervin Santana could be acquired. J.A. Happ would be nice to get back. At this point, R.A. Dickey could be an interesting guy to throw into the rotation right after Paxton; it would be a totally different look.
Paxton can’t shoulder all the responsibility himself, Felix isn’t coming back for a while, Miranda can’t pitch well on the road, Gallardo is no sure thing, and Gonzales and Ramirez are horror shows. The M’s need at least one starter, probably two.
DiPoto can talk about outslugging our opponents all he wants; if the M’s face a rookie pitcher, the offense acts like it’s facing Cy Young himself (another bone of contention: BAD advance scouting for the M’s for decades; haven’t these people heard of MiLB.com?) If it’s a “this year” mentality, then the M’s have to go for broke now. Otherwise, why make all the other moves?
Typical garbage
Dude….the Ms are already carrying 4 OFs sooooo your point is moot. That said, I’m sure DiPoto knows more about the organization than you and your fantasy league logic.
Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto has not pursued outfielders this summer while trading away outfielders Tyler O’Neill and Boog Powell and acquiring pitchers David Phelps, Marco Gonzales and Erasmo Ramirez.
The Mariners still have outfield depth with Jarrod Dyson, Ben Gamel, Leonys Martin, Guillermo Heredia and top prospect Kyle Lewis.
I don’t doubt that Dipoto is looking for more pitchers.
Please check the spelling of Dipoto before posting again.
Apropos to nothing, Jack Z now works on the Pirates pregame show on the radio…he’s really good.
I’m glad he finally found something he’s good at
$
M’s are all-in now !
The Mariners should make a lot of moves for such an average team.
Well a good team shouldn’t be making moves. So average and bad teams should be to shake things up and get the right players where they need to be.
If the season ended at this moment the Seattle Mariners would have the second Wild Card slot in the American League.
The Mariners have not been in the postseason since 2001 but have made moves to get into contention this year. Why wouldn’t that team look to get better?
Shae Simmons is a lights out closer. He is “Kimbrell lite”. He is the best player dipoto plucked from the bravos last offseason. Now giving up gohara and Jackson…