Reliever Ty Buttrey agreed to a deal with the Mariners, he announced this afternoon (on X). It’s presumably a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite.
Buttrey, 31 in March, is looking to get back to the majors for the first time since 2020. The former fourth-round draftee pitched in the big leagues each year between 2018-20. Buttrey made 115 appearances for the Angels, allowing fewer than four earned runs per nine innings in each of his first two seasons. He struggled during the shortened season, posting a 5.81 ERA in 26 1/3 frames.
On the eve of the 2021 campaign, Buttrey announced he was stepping away from baseball. He sat out that season but made his return in ’22. The righty spent that year in Triple-A with the Halos, losing his spot on the 40-man roster midseason. He signed a minor league pact with the Astros for 2023.
Buttrey opened the season on the minor league injured list. He missed three months before being reinstated on June 30. He went on to make 14 appearances with Houston’s Triple-A team. Buttrey allowed 11 runs in 13 2/3 innings, largely thanks to the 13 walks he issued. That understandably wasn’t sufficient to get him a big league look, leading the Astros to release him at the beginning of August.
While Buttrey hasn’t found much success in the last couple years, there’s no risk for the Mariners in taking a look at him in camp. During his first couple seasons with the Halos, he looked like an above-average MLB reliever. Between 2018-19, Buttrey struck out 27.4% of opponents with a 3.86 ERA in 88 2/3 innings while sitting in the 96-97 MPH range with his fastball. He’ll likely open next season at Triple-A Tacoma as bullpen depth. Seattle also added righty Joey Krehbiel on a minor league pact this afternoon and has signed similar deals with Cory Abbott, Jhonathan Diaz, Kirby Snead, Brett de Geus and Tyson Miller over the offseason.
Buttrey for peanuts.
More appropriate for popcorn.
Jerry’s Oyster Buttrey Reserve 2023
Anthony
Did you enter free agent contest?
Good to see he’s attempting a return. I thought this guy was toast after 2020.
Buttery toast
Best of luck to Ty, a seriously great guy.
I interviewed him several times and we’ve stayed in touch. The first time I interviewed him was right after his trade from Boston. He was still rehabbing and had yet to join the Angels.
His mom emailed me to say thank you for interviewing her son. It was so sweet.
I guess sweet has different meaning these days. Sweet.
HHJJ, that’s pretty cool. Are you still writing about the Halo’s?
Yes,. Vox/SB Nation pretty much shut down Halos Heaven so I’m at a site called crashingthepearlygates.com now.
Hope the mods don’t mind that post. If so, I’ll understand if it is deleted.
HHJJ, thank you! I remember the name of the site now. I had it saved on my old phone and lost it when I got a new one.
Is this rev halo fan
No. But I know him. He founded the old Halos Heaven.
I’ll check out the website, been lost without halos heaven. Missed his music references in his angels articles also cool to hear about prospects and etc
Did your mom email you to tell you to pick your toys?
Well, here’s anothr one.
So the Mariners really are in a money-saving mode, I guess.
They have all these elderly relievers to sort through in hopes of finding one who still has something left that they can put in the bullpen.
Gonna be interesting, for sure.
Go Mariners!
They signed a few veteran pitchers, it’s basically dollar scratch off tickets, one of them is bound to hit!
Fred,
You’re a Mariners fan, if you guys get to the World Series, it would be awesome to see Jerry Cantrell playing the National Anthem and throw out the first pitch. Just want to see a musician from the Seattle 90s era sing for that event. Anyway that’s my super grunge dream lol
I would love that.
Fred, this move has nothing to do with money-saving and everything to do with using best tools in your tool shed. For enough years for it to be no longer a fluke, the M’s have been able to take pitchers who have not reached their full potential, and taken them to the next level or two. What you have then is a fungible asset that can be flipped for something more useful.
They now have enough pitchers to field an entire team. save money and cut the rest of the team.
What else can the Mariners do Buttrey?
The Mariners just DID Buttrey!
Mariners need to quit screwing around and trade Bryan Woo+ for
3B Marte
Or
3B Mayo
Reds would want more.
And then sign Snell as that #5 starter replacement!
DIE ARTIE DIE!!!
Shut up Beavis
New lineup:
Jhonathan Diaz SS
Corey Abbott LF
Kirby Snead 3B
Austin Voth 1B
Brett de Geus CF
Jackson Kowar RF
Tyson Miller DH
Mauricio Llovera 2B
Joey Krehbiel C
I don’t think that lineup would hit very good. lol
But only two left handed bats in the lineup