Mariners reliever Matt Festa underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2020, just a few weeks after Seattle outrighted him off their 40-man roster. As is typically the case for TJS patients, he lost around a year and a half rehabbing and didn’t return to minor league games action until last July. The righty had an excellent second half with Triple-A affiliate Tacoma, working to a 2.95 ERA over 21 1/3 innings. He punched out a whopping 36% of batters faced while walking a minuscule 3.5% of opponents, but that wasn’t enough to earn another look in a Seattle bullpen that was among the league’s best.
Because he’s no longer on the 40-man roster, Festa is not subject to the ongoing lockout. Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times writes that he’s been participating in Seattle’s minor league camp and flashed mid-90s fastball velocity in workouts this week. If he maintains that form throughout camp, he could be an option for Seattle in the event of injuries or underperformance among the big league relievers. Festa, 29 next month, posted a 4.70 ERA/4.97 SIERA over 30 2/3 big league innings between 2018-19. He’ll need to recapture a spot on the 40-man roster to get back to the MLB level.
More from Seattle:
- Former Mariners designated hitter Nelson Cruz hit free agency at the end of the year. Some Seattle fans have pined for a reunion, no surprise given Cruz’s success in the Pacific Northwest. He hit .284/.362/.546 over four seasons with the Mariners. Cruz wasn’t quite that productive last year in his age-40 campaign, but he still combined for an above-average .265/.334/.497 showing in 584 plate appearances with the Twins and Rays. That kind of production would be a notable upgrade to a Seattle lineup that ranked just 21st in wRC+ (pitchers excluded) last season. Nevertheless, Corey Brock of the Athletic opines as part of a reader mailbag that the Mariners seem unlikely to pursue a full-time designated hitter like Cruz. Seattle has an abundance of outfield options, in particular, and 2020 Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis will be coming off a season cut short by injuries to a right knee that has proven problematic for the bulk of his professional career. Signing a full-time DH would necessitate playing Lewis more or less every day in the outfield, where Mitch Haniger, Jarred Kelenic, Taylor Trammell and Jake Fraley could also compete for reps. Brock feels the front office and manager Scott Servais are likelier to use the DH spot as an opportunity to rotate regulars through quasi-rest days, a fairly common practice around the league at this point.
- The Mariners have hired former Padres analyst Dave Cameron in a consulting role, as Divish first reported (on Twitter). Cameron, a Washington state native, began his career as a Mariners’ blogger before being hired as a writer and editor at FanGraphs. He joined the San Diego front office over the 2017-18 offseason but departed the organization after four seasons last fall. He will now have the chance to apply his analytical skills for the team that first ignited his baseball fandom and set him on his journey.
Dave Cameron will not recommend a trade for Eric Hosmer.
Maybe he recommended the signing, and that’s why he left SD, LOL
Or Asked to Leave
I remember Dave was never a fan of Hosmer when he led editorial at Fangraphs, and criticizing the contract the Padres gave him, basically saying they’d regret it. Then shortly thereafter, the Padres hired him.
Cameron’s quote on Hosmer shortly before the Padres hired him and signed Hosmer: “Hosmer could very easily become one of the most overpaid players in baseball, especially if he continues to
just pound balls into the ground.”
I do wonder how Hosmer and Cameron co-existed when they ended up in the same organization. Hosmer had to know all the things Cameron said and wrote about him.
Corey Brock said that it was Fowler that pushed for the Hosmer signing and he was the man signing the checks at the time. Later Lin said that Cameron was largely responsible for the trades for Pham/Cronenworth and Joe Musgrove. He is a brilliant baseball mind.
Good for you, Dave Cameron. That’s a cool path.
If Cruz comes back he’ll be an ancient mariner.
But the real question is, can he rhyme?
Damn it, did Cruz shoot an albatross!?!? He was told many times; just don’t do it!
We’re all just filling in the minutes and hours and days, hoping for a season. It’s getting bleaker by the day.
Festa, is just another example of Seattle’s long list of reclamation projects. They have arms stacked up all the way to rookie ball. One report I read suggested the M’s have 70 guys in their farm system that have strong potential to reach the major leagues and they seem to continue to uncover more all the time.
Cruz’s time in Seattle was great but that ship has sailed. I think he signs with Milwaukee.
Especially with the universal DH, that’s 15 more teams to sign with. Love Nelly, but he doesn’t fit on the M’s roster rn
If we didn’t need that DH spot for Lewis, Haniger and Torrens he would be a good fit
About Nelson Cruz: he was doing great with Minnesota before being traded to Tampa and it looked like he had a hard time playing in Tampa versus being on the road. Kind of like Willy Adames before he was traded to the Brewers.
It sure seemed like he had trouble picking up the ball against the batters eye in the Trop.
His slashline in the Trop seems to back up that observation. .211/.270/.333/.603 with a 77 OPS+ and a 31% SO rate. Since the Twins didn’t face the Rays before the trade, all those AB were after the trade.
Hard to see the ball in a mausoleum.
At this point Cruz is basically year-to-year and i agree he doesn’t fit the Mariners current roster configuration.
Send him to Denver and take out the humidor, that could be fun to watch
Is that .211/.270/.333/.603 line for Nellie for his 2021 time in Tampa? Or is that his career numbers at the Trop? I ask because I dont remember him hitting that poorly on the road while he wore a Mariners jersey. I recall a few HR’s splashing in that pool out in RF/Center
That is his 2021 line at the Trop. His career numbers at the Trop .247/.314/.451/.765 are also lower than his career numbers overall .277/.346/.527/.873.
On one leg, Cruz is an improvement at the plate over Fraley and Trammell. Have an outfield of Lewis, Kelenic, haniger. Let Fraley and Trammell battle for 4th outfielder and the other provide minor league depth . Bring Cruz in to DH for a year while Julio Rodriguez develops and then next year he can play right field and haniger can DH and fill in the outfield. And if Rodriguez isn’t ready next year, then bring back Cruz on another 1 year deal or bring in another stop gap
The problem with bringing Cruz in is the need to rotate Haniger and Kyle Lewis into the DH slot to keep them fresh. And once Julio arrives, one of Haniger or Lewis will definitely be pushed into that slot. We have a problem, but it’s a good problem. I don’t think signing Cruz helps alleviate that issue.
The problem with that logic is that it is believed within the organization that Rodriguez is ready right now, which adds to the of/dh logjam. I think if you sign a DH only type bat Nelly/Schwarber, you’ll see Trammell/Fraley types get traded which isn’t the worst plan honestly. There’s plenty of reps for Haniger, Kelenic, Lewis and Rodriguez if you move on from the other young outfielders. You still have Zach DeLoach and Alberto Rodriguez who are really close as well for the outfield if Haniger walks in FA next year or one of the other outfielders don’t pan out.
Yes, Rodriguez is too great to waste for long in the minors. I think they are best served strengthening the corner infield. Maybe move France to 3RD where he spent most of his time in the minors — if they don’t blow their wad and get Bryant for 3B. (I really thought they should have pushed hard last year for CJ Cron but I guess the Rockies actually had a plan that time). Get a better upgrade at 1B like Voit, Rizzo etc and let that all field, no hit 1B kid they gave the silly six year extension to marinate for another year in AAA.
No thanks. Would rather sign Seiya Suzuki and bring up Julio Rodriguez in the summer. Then you have an OF of Suzuki, Rodriguez, Kelenic, and Lewis. Then use Haniger, Fraley, and Trammell at the trade deadline to augment the club.
Are we ever going to stop with the trade Haniger scenario? In what world does a team that supposed to contend, trade arguably their best hitter? They’re going to trade him to augment the club? Trading him would hinder the club.
If we sign Suzuki, I think we would trade Lewis. You’d have too many OFs at that point and risk blocking Julio.
Mariners get a Festa-vous for the rest of us.
Great
Can’t wait for the feats of strength
Once the lockout ends prior to Monday’s deadline, the Mets will sign Andrew Chafin, Freddie Freeman and Kyle Schwarber, trade Taijuan Walker, J.D. Davis, Sean Reid-Foley and prospects Ronny Mauricio and Joander Suarez to the Mariners for Sam Haggerty and a PTBNL or cash, trade Dominic Smith and pitching prospects Junior Santos and Jordany Ventura to the Dodgers for Julio Urias and prospect Jake Vogel, trade Brandon Nimmo and pitching prospects Matthew Allan and J.T. Ginn to the Brewers for Josh Hader and prospect Bruce Turang and trade Carlos Carrasco, Jeff McNeil, Travis Blankenhorn and prospects Francisco Alvarez and Robert Dominguez to the White Sox for Liam Hendriks and Adam Angel, so the Mets’ 26-man roster for the upcoming 2022 season will look like this:
Batting Order
CF Starling Marte
SS Francisco Lindor
1B Freddie Freeman
DH Pete Alonso
2B Robinson Cano
C James McCann
3B Eduardo Escobar
LF Kyle Schwarber
RF Mark Canha
Bench
UTL Sam Haggerty
INF Luis Guillorme
OF Adam Engel
C Tomas Nido
Starting Rotation
RHP Jacob deGrom
LHP Junio Urias
RHP Max Scherzer
LHP David Peterson
RHP Tylor Megill
Bullpen
RHP Edwin Diaz (Closer)
LHP Josh Hader
RHP Liam Hendriks
LHP Andrew Chafin
RHP Trevor May
RHP Seth Lugo
RHP Drew Smith
RHP Miguel Castro
Those government sponsored crack pipes must be working as expected.
Schwarber batting 8th? Trading Alvarez and Mauricio? Silly plan.
You lost me at “once the lockout ends prior to Monday’s deadline.”
“trade Taijuan Walker, J.D. Davis, Sean Reid-Foley and prospects Ronny Mauricio and Joander Suarez to the Mariners for Sam Haggerty and a PTBNL or cash”
I laughed so hard at this, thanks mate!
Not enough for Sam Haggerty, are you kidding me with that offer ?
Festa? Andrew W.K. would be proud.