The Mariners announced they’ve claimed reliever Jonathan Hernández off waivers from the division-rival Rangers. Seattle designated righty Brett de Geus for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The M’s also announced that trade pickup JT Chargois has joined the team and will step into the MLB bullpen. Gregory Santos lands on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 1, with biceps inflammation.
Hernández, 28, changes teams for the first time in his career. He spent more than a decade as a member of the Rangers organization after signing in January 2013. Hernández reached the big leagues in the second half of the 2019 season, not long after his 23rd birthday.
The right-hander had a couple solid seasons to start his MLB career. He turned in a 2.90 ERA across 31 innings during the shortened 2020 schedule. He lost the entire following season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April ’21. Hernández returned for the second half in 2022 and looked to be picking up where he’d left off. He tossed 30 1/3 frames of 2.97 ERA ball for the stretch run. He picked up four saves and 10 holds while finishing 16 games as a medium-leverage reliever.
Things have gone downhill over the past two seasons. Hernández struggled to a 5.40 earned run average a year ago. Texas shuttled him back and forth between Triple-A on a few occasions, burning his final minor league option in the process. That meant the Rangers needed to keep him on the MLB roster this season.
Texas gave Hernández plenty of runway, affording him 41 innings across 26 appearances, but his results didn’t turn around. He allowed a 5.05 ERA with a career-worst 19.9% strikeout percentage and a lofty 14.4% walk rate. The Rangers pushed him out of their bullpen (and thus off the 40-man roster) on Tuesday with their deadline pickup of Andrew Chafin from the Tigers.
Seattle will try to help Hernández right the ship. They’ll also need to keep him on the big league roster unless they decide to designate him for assignment themselves. Hernández still averages nearly 97 MPH on his sinker and misses a decent number of bats with his slider. That solid raw stuff has too often been undercut by poor command, but there’s minimal cost for the M’s in taking a look. They’re assuming a little less than $400K on his $1.245MM salary for the stretch run. Hernández would be under arbitration control for another two seasons if he holds his bullpen spot in Seattle.
The Mariners added de Geus to their 40-man roster back in April. He has made four big league appearances, working 3 1/3 frames of one-run ball. Seattle has mostly kept the 26-year-old on optional assignment to Triple-A Tacoma, where he has allowed a 6.60 ERA across 30 innings in the Pacific Coast League.
de Geus is a former teammate of Hernández with the ’21 Rangers, who plucked him from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 draft. He combined for 50 innings of 7.56 ERA ball between the Rangers and Diamondbacks that season and didn’t get back to the big leagues until this year. Seattle will likely put him on waivers this weekend.
As for Santos, the offseason trade pickup missed most of the first half due to a lat strain. He returned to make six appearances before leaving Wednesday’s appearance with biceps soreness. He’ll miss at least the next two weeks, though Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times fortunately tweeted this afternoon that imaging came back clean.
Hopefully a change in teams will help. We do need some help in that BP
Sometimes a mental reset along with a tweak or two to a pitcher’s pitch mix can do wonders.
Sometimes, trending towards the majority of times, the Boffins (deep in their window-less lair in Seattle) have found something in the 1’s and 0’s that can help them get the most out of RPers.
“They helped me find the best version of myself” – said multiple RPers when asked about the reason for their success in Seattle.
It might be something as simple as pitch sequencing or a change in arm slots. I’m hoping the boys and girls complete with the M’s Compass logo monogrammed into their white lab coats can use their ‘dark arts’ upon Señor Hernandez. Or they can pass it onto the Boffins in their City Connects!
The M’s have a good history with pitchers like these. A lot of young arms are heading into unknown innings territory. Good pickup.
Welcome to the lab. That sinker has potential.
Santos trade not looking so good… at least the Sox haven’t done a ton either with that
If Santos gets healthy and Seattle makes the playoffs missing most of the season will mean very little. Heck it might be a bonus. Get in a couple dozen innings before the post season and it will be all good. If he pitches like he has.
After this season the Mariners have 4 more years of Gregory Santos (plus Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz*) …..* if they pick up the team options.
A wee bit presumptuous to decide how the Santos turns out when he is a UFA in 2029.
M’s have a history of getting the most out of relievers, stick to fastball/slider and you can be elite in this system.
The cover pitchers with sinkers as much or more than sliders, but they have a knack for improving and getting the most from both.
They’ll probably use him to 3-hit the Phillies tomorrow.
They might need to throw a 3 hitter with Orion Kerkering now starting tonight!
He will probably only pitch 1 inning tonight. Same as last week
He looked rough with the Rangers but I hope the M’s can straighten him out. He was really cool at fan fest.