The Mariners announced that right-hander Seth Martinez was claimed off waivers from the Marlins. Righty Jackson Kowar was placed on the 60-day injured list in Seattle’s corresponding roster move.
Miami designated Martinez for assignment earlier this week, and today’s move makes it four different organizations in a little under four months’ time for the 30-year-old reliever. After spending his first four MLB seasons with the Astros, Martinez was designated for assignment in early November and claimed by the Diamondbacks. He then went to the Marlins on another waiver claim on February 20 before being DFA’ed again a week later, and now Martinez finds himself back in the AL West.
Martinez is out of minor league options, which somewhat explains his carousel of an offseason. With teams prizing flexibility within their bullpens, Martinez’s status makes him something of the proverbial 26th man, while also still having enough value that several teams are interested in having him on their rosters.
Over 111 appearances and 137 1/3 innings with Houston, Martinez often worked as a multi-inning reliever, so the Mariners would deploy him in that same capacity if he ends up on the Opening Day roster. Martinez has a career 3.93 ERA, though his strikeout rate fell rather sharply from 23.1% in 2023 to just 16.2% last season. Between that dropoff and other uninspiring Statcast metrics, the Astros felt comfortable in exposing Martinez to DFA waivers, leading to his busy winter of changing teams.
An innings-eating reliever always carries some usefulness, even on a Mariners team with an unusually durable starting rotation. A good Spring Training performance might help Martinez break camp with the team, or he might find himself on the waiver wire yet again before Opening Day.
Kowar underwent a Tommy John surgery almost exactly one year ago, so he was expected to miss some time at the start of the 2025 season as he finishes up his rehab. The 60-day IL placement means that Kowar won’t make his 2025 debut until late May at the earliest.
Well saw half of this coming
Looks like Seth Martinez and Roansy Contreras are really racking up the waiver wire frequent flyer miles
Those two keep getting passed around like the village bicycle.
Very good chance he makes the roster. It’s not just that he’s out of options, Seattle still has a hole in their bullpen while Brash is out (should open the season on the IL) and a reliever who can give them more than a single inning could be really useful early.
Yessir. Not a bad pickup.
The Mariners are stacked, but not deep. Each injury will cost them dearly. Doesn’t matter, they’re not playing to win anyhow. Their circus today does nothing but perpetuate mediocrity when they gamble with the trades and picks they get when these pitchers cost them real money.
They are set up to win just enough to keep the stadium full. The franchise is run strictly to maximize profit. It not only works well for ownership, the average franchise increases in value about 12% year to year. Roughly 2/3 of owners run their teams exactly the same way. There is no effective tool to force them to spend to win.
Do you think you are telling us anything new.
@hwaktattoo It might be to someone that’s not a Mariners fan
Blah blah blah pick another record blah blah blah
But can he hit?
It’s almost like these jokes write themselves.
An so original
Seth bouncing around teams isn’t just a weird story. It’s like a signal that baseball teams are struggling to figure out how to use certain types of relief pitchers.
Love,
-Mom
Seems that CPS needs to be called for Sad…
It’s obvious that there has been abuse by the franchise, er.. “Mom”
The bullpen factory strikes again
1.2 innings per outing is a multiple inning reliever?
Well, it is working in multiple innings. It’s basically 2 innings 2/3 of the time.
S-Mart! 😉
FINALLY the off-season move we’ve been waiting for that will take us over the top. WS here we come!!!