The Mariners announced Wednesday that right-handers Ryan Cook and Justin Grimm have been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma after clearing waivers. Both relievers have enough Major League service time to elect free agency and will surely do so. Seattle’s 40-man roster is now at a total of 35 players.
Both Cook and Grimm would’ve been arbitration-eligible this offseason, making the early outright of each player an effective non-tender. Cook was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $1MM, while Grimm was projected at $1.6MM.
Cook, 31, has seen his once-promising career largely derailed by injury issues but returned to the Majors for the first time since 2015 this past season. He allowed 10 runs in 17 innings (including four homers), but he did post a rather impressive 23-to-7 K/BB ratio in that short time. He was also quite impressive in Triple-A, logging a 2.16 ERA, 10.0 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9 in 33 innings.
Grimm, meanwhile, landed with the Mariners after opening the season with the Royals. He allowed just one run in 4 2/3 innings in Seattle but was clobbered for 19 runs in just 12 2/3 innings with the Kansas City organization after previously being released by the Cubs in Spring Training. The 30-year-old Grimm was terrific in his first two season with the Cubs in 2014-15 before seeing his results slip in 2016 and crater in 2017.
