The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Hector Santiago and designated righty Sam Delaplane for assignment. In other moves, the club recalled lefty Daniel Zamora, and it optioned righties Wyatt Mills and Yohan Ramirez.
Santiago, whom the Mariners signed to a minor league contract earlier this season, will now have an opportunity to appear in the majors for a 10th year. The 33-year-old is best known for a productive run with the White Sox and Angels from 2011-15, but his numbers have fallen off since then among a few teams. He most recently pitched in the majors in 2019 between the White Sox and Mets, with whom he combined for a 6.68 ERA/4.89 SIERA in 33 2/3 innings (most of which came in relief). Santiago has thrown 14 frames with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate this year and yielded seven earned runs on 10 hits (including five home runs) with an eyebrow-raising 22 strikeouts against five walks.
Delaplane, 26, has been with the Mariners since they chose him in the 23rd round of the 2017 draft. He has since posted impressive minor league production, including a stunning 0.49 ERA with a similarly excellent 43.3 percent strikeout rate against a 6.7 percent walk rate during a 37-inning Double-A debut in 2019. However, with Delaplane having undergone Tommy John surgery in April, Seattle doesn’t believe he’s worth a 40-man roster spot at this point.
Hector Santiago has always felt like someone who would play for the Mariners. My dreams have come true!
Long live Hector!!!
Mariners clearly value handedness over ability to pitch.
re: Zamora over Delapane. Hector’s nice though.
Having the ability to currently pitch certainly is a factor as well
they could have easily recalled Delapane and 60’d him. or just designated Zamora and not sent down one of Mills or Ramirez.
Sure and then you lose an option year on him without him even throwing a pitch. I highly doubt someone claims a kid that had Tommy John surgery within the past couple months ago that hasn’t pitched in the majors ever.
hopefully Delaplane can get claimed. always like to see guys get a chance
He won’t pitch until the middle of next year. He’s not getting a chance anywhere until then. No way he gets claimed by another team who then assumes all the cost of rehab from TJ surgery not even two months ago
idk about that his strikeout numbers are REALLY impressive in the minors. I’d like to see the Red Sox claim him actually and if they have to call him up and 60 day DL him. I realize then they’d have to pay him the ML min but the prorated portion of $575K for a kid with K numbers like that seems like it might be worth a shot even with the year rehab for TJ
Next is signing Leblanc back
I’ve been expecting that for the past week lol. With Marco coming back, it might not happen
One of the rebuilding teams needs to find a way to carry Delaplane on their roster. Those strikeout numbers sure are something. He looks to be well worth the roll of the dice.
The phillies recently let go of a lefty of the same type. Killer K numbers in the minors. Think his name is Kolby Aldred or something close and not sure if he ever was singed. Then I watched a kid Menoah from Teonto pitch today with only 35 minor league innings. I guess when they know they know. Of course arm injuries talk too
Why wouldn’t they just put Delaplane on the 60 day IL to open the spot and then see what their 40 man looks like come the offseason? Seems unnecessary to DFA him now.
Adding Delaplane to the 60-day IL means he’d collect a major league salary AND accrue major league service time, so that’s why the M’s DFA’ed him. They’re taking the chance that since he’s less than 2 months out from TJ surgery, no one will claim him on waivers OR someone will offer up something of value in trade. The Brewers currently have 3 open 40-man roster spots; wouldn’t be surprised to see them take a flier on Delaplane.
Great explanation.
So, it really comes down to money. A large market team could and should snatch up Delaplane and transfer him to their 60 day DL; that’s roughly 2/3 of $600,000 which is a lot cheaper than the cost of a prospect with his skill set.
Love to see the Giants snatch this kid up as he’s from San Jose and went to the same high school as I did.
Cheers mate
i mean, he’s a 26 year old RP. are they really that concerned about service time with him? if a RP is good enough to limit the service time of then they arent going to get through waivers, no?
There must be a place in Major League Baseball for a pitcher who throws a screwball.
Tampa Bay
I thought Santiago was decent on the Angels. Hope he can revive his career in the majors.