11:01am: The Mariners announced that they’ve selected the contract of McCaughan. To open space on the active roster, righty Jose Rodriguez was optioned to Triple-A. Lefty Brennan Bernardino has been designated for assignment to open space on the 40-man roster.
Bernardino, 31, parlayed a strong showing in the Mexican League into his big league debut with Seattle in 2022. The lefty had been out of affiliated ball since a 2019 run in the minors with Cleveland but posted a 2.20 ERA in 32 2/3 frames with Triple-A Tacoma last season. He yielded three runs in 2 1/3 innings during his brief MLB debut but remained on Seattle’s 40-man roster throughout the winter.
Unfortunately, the 2023 season has begun on a sour note for the journeyman southpaw. In six innings, he’s been slammed for 11 runs (eight earned) on 13 hits, a walk and a hit batter. Two of those hits have been home runs. Bernardino still possesses a strong 11-to-1 K/BB ratio in his brief showing this year, but the bottom-line results are nevertheless unsightly.
The Mariners will have a week to trade Bernardino or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
10:55am: The Mariners are expected to select the contract of right-hander Darren McCaughan from Triple-A Tacoma, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. He’ll give them a fresh arm in the bullpen after a stretch of games in which they’ve leaned heavily on their relief corps.
The 27-year-old McCaughan has spent his entire career in the Mariners organization. Selected in the 12th round of the 2017 draft, he briefly appeared with Seattle in 2021, tossing nine innings but being tagged for eight runs. He’s spent parts of five seasons with Triple-A Tacoma, pitching to a 4.97 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.6% walk rate in 331 1/3 frames. He’s been tagged for six earned runs in 10 innings so far in 2023.
McCaughan has worked almost exclusively out of the rotation in his pro career and made two starts in Triple-A thus far, but the Mariners will presumably turn to him as a potential long man in the ’pen in the event of a short start from Logan Gilbert today. Seattle has an off-day Thursday, which should further help in giving what’s presently a taxed bullpen a bit of a breather. Dating back to Friday, the Mariners’ bullpen has racked up 22 2/3 innings over the course of five games, owing to a combination of extra-innings contests and short starts from the rotation. McCaughan’s last start came on April 7, so he’s fully rested and would be able to give the Mariners several innings today if needed.
Seattle’s 40-man roster is currently full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding roster move in order to get McCaughan to the big league roster.
I hope this helps.
The Mariners are looking for some wins any old which way, it seems.
Go Mariners!
It amazes me that everyone on here is always harping about making judgments based on small samples and then you get the big league clubs cutting guys based on six innings of work. It seems that judging based on small samples is the big league way.
Yes, normally, But when you’re really down everything starts looking like up.
So the usual guidelines go by the wayside, and people do desperate things. All people; even those managing mighty baseball teams.
Jerry Dipoto is no exception, and he has some egg on his face making him look stupid.
I like most of the moves Dipoto made during the last 2 yrs, although I’m not sold on 2bman Kolten Wong and believe he should have tried to trade for the Padres Ha Seong Kim instead since the Pads seemingly have a gazillion middle infielders.
Watching the Cubs I’ve seen plenty of Wong over the years, it was a good move to get him, he’s going to give you a solid season.
I think Seattle could’ve gotten Kim for about what they gave the Brewers for Wong, but for me Kim has more upside, is faster, younger and better defensively, whereas Wong, who changes teams yearly, really has no more untapped upside.
They wanted Winker out of town and the Brewers were willing.
Fellow Long Beach State Dirtbag! Go Darren!
Thought I’d mention Kelenic looks like he’s finally arrived.