The Mariners announced that left-hander Jhonathan Díaz has been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma, indicating that he cleared waivers. He had been designated for assignment last week when Seattle acquired Cooper Criswell from the Mets. Díaz has the right to elect free agency but the Mariners did not indicate whether or not he would do so.
Díaz, 29, has appeared in five big league seasons but with limited action in each one. He pitched 15 1/3 innings or less in each, bringing him to a combined total of 46 1/3 innings, with 4.66 earned runs allowed per nine.
Some websites list Díaz as still having a minor league option but he was optioned for extended stretches throughout the 2022, 2024 and 2025 seasons. Teams are sometimes granted a fourth option on a player but only if they don’t have five “full” professional seasons, where a “full” season is defined as 90 active days. Díaz first reached full season ball way back in 2017 and has been fairly active since then, so he shouldn’t qualify for a fourth option.
Regardless of his option status, he was facing a tough path to a rotation gig in Seattle. The Mariners have a strong front five consisting of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller. The depth isn’t amazing but the M’s added Criswell and also have Logan Evans, Emerson Hancock and Blas Castano on the roster. They have added Dane Dunning and Randy Dobnak via minor league deals.
Díaz would have been somewhere in that mix but got squeezed out and the other 29 clubs passed on the chance to grab him off waivers. His minor league numbers aren’t bad, considering that he has been pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Over the past three years, he has thrown 343 1/3 innings in that league with a 4.33 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and ground balls on roughly half the balls in play he allowed.
The lefty has a previous outright in his career, which means he has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency. Since he just cleared waivers, it’s apparent that no club is willing to give him a 40-man spot, so he would be limited to minor league offers. With spring training just around the corner, it’s possible he decides to simply stick with the Mariners, which would give them some extra rotation depth.
Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images
Think of Jamie Moyer 30 years ago….batting practice pitcher, except with poor results
Jamie Moyer accumulated 50 bWAR in his career, started 638 major league games, and won 269. (103 ERA+)
Jhonathan Diaz accumulated .1 bWAR (so far), started 7 games, and won 2.. (92 ERA+)
Think of Barry Bonds, but as a pitcher… and with somewhat weaker results.
Will this article replace the app glitch one involving him and the Blue Jays?
You too?
I thought it was only me.
First time
Is this the guy that always is on top of the feed when it’s loading?
It is a different J Diaz.
The “glitch is Jonathan, this is Jhonathan, sadly I feel the glitch will stay in place. ha ha ha
So this would be the son of the glitch.
Man, this guy must really love Frisko Freeze or something in Tacoma. Whatever it is, happy enough that him and the Mariners seem to have what is getting to be a long standing mutual enjoyment of each other’s company.
Twins are on lines 2,3 and 4.