The Mariners signed right-hander Michael Rucker to a minor league deal earlier this month, according to Rucker’s MLB.com profile page. Rucker’s contract included an invitation to the Mariners’ big league spring camp, as per the list of non-roster invites Seattle released yesterday.
Rucker began his college career at Gonzaga, so this deal with the M’s could represent a return to the Pacific Northwest if the righty is able to break camp with the team. After transferring to BYU later in his NCAA days, Rucker was an 11th-round selection by the Cubs in the 2016 draft, and he broke into the bigs with Chicago in 2021. Over 123 1/3 MLB innings from 2021-23, Rucker posted a 4.96 ERA, 22.6% strikeout rate, 46.6% grounder rate, and 9.4% walk rate out of the Cubs’ bullpen.
These uninspiring numbers weren’t enough to keep Rucker on the roster, as Chicago designated him for assignment in February 2024 and soon traded him to the Phillies in a cash deal. He was limited to 30 2/3 minor league innings for the Phillies and Nationals in 2024 due to an arterial vasospasm in his pitching hand. The Nats outrighted Rucker off their 40-man roster following the 2024 campaign, and he then didn’t pitch at all in 2025.
As he enters his age-32 season, Rucker is looking to revive his career and show what he can do in the Mariners’ Spring Training camp. Rucker is probably more of a candidate to pitch at Triple-A Tacoma than he is to win a spot on Seattle’s Opening Day roster, but he can provide the M’s with some experienced bullpen depth. The righty has a 4.01 ERA, 25.64K%, and 7.54% walk rate over 107 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level.
Rucker? I barely knew her!
They should Darius his brother
Lmao
Oops meant to say should sign Darius, but respondent’s adaptation is much more entertaining: Darius as a verb. Nomination for best adapted comment forthcoming.
Why not sign Quintana experienced lefty to pair with Hancock
Yeah let’s spend a boatload on the 6th starter pile!
I wonder how much weight he puts in his backpack?
Michael Rooker was a great character actor back in the 90s. Mississippi Burning, Cliffhanger, amongst dozens of others.
More recently, he was good in Walking Dead and Guardians of the Galaxy as well.
baseball site… Eight Men Out should be your first mention. And if you don’t know about the film, get off your phone/laptop and go watch it.
Yeah I should have; my bad. Prob one of my top 3 baseball movies. Ever read the book?
I started reading it but couldn’t get past Asinof’s writing style. Too many exclamations points! (lol) It reminded me of Elaine on that one Seinfeld episode. I should probably give it another chance though. Loved the movie, tons of “Oh, that guy” character actors.
I recommend the audiobook, that’s how I experienced it.
And for sure, that’s one of top “that guy!” flicks of that era. David Straitharn, Gordon Clapp and Schenectady’s own John Sayles all met at Williams college in Massachusetts years before appearing in this flick.
I don’t think he’ll get better than Henry.
Mariners can’t attract or afford Goldschmidt, but they do need a backup RHH 1b and DH.. Rhys Hoskins would be a good fit.
They have Refsnyder for that role.
Don’t pay attention the offseason much huh? Ref surer is a better version of Hoskins. And your are right that the Mariners might not be able to attract or afford Goldschmidt. I also don’t think they can afford to have that kind of bat their lineup too. They want to contend. What is 100 year Paul Goldschmidt going to do for you but take up a roster spot that should be going to a younger guy to see what he can do. Paul no longer moves the needle.
Good God. Who cares? Get a leadoff hitter!
Pretty sure they already have a leadoff hitter on the roster. It’ll also be where Colt Emerson ends up by the end of the year. To start the year, though, Julio or JP or Josh can lead off.
They could go full Phillies-with-Schwarber and bat Cal leadoff too, but I like him 2nd or 3rd in hopes that there are runners on when he’s hitting his tanks.
Julio might. JP’s bat doesn’t belong anywhere near the middle or top of any lineup. And Josh Naylor batting leadoff? Really?
That is 30 SB haver Josh Naylor to you!
OK. That doesn’t mean he is a leadoff hitter. Smart baserunning is completely different than fast baserunning. I would never put Josh in the leadoff spot. That’s ridiculous.
If he gets on base (he does), then steals second because he can outsmart opposing pitchers and catchers, then he’s the man on 2nd ahead of the big bopper Cal. I don’t care if he’s fast or slow on the bases. Get on, and don’t make outs. That’s the leadoff hitters job. Doesn’t matter if you’re fast when you’re getting thrown out all the time for making bad reads.
Ok. He won’t bat leadoff at all this season. So it’s irrelevant.
Yeah they brought back Naylor but it’s crazy how they’ve done basically nothing all this off-season.
Refsnyder and Ferrer were good moves too. They’re a medium-ish market team though and can’t outspend the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, etc. They probably don’t need to pay out for Suarez but if they could swing a deal for a versatile bat to at least bridge Emerson/Williamson/Young I’ll be pretty happy with the offseason. They don’t really have a ton of weaknesses due to having good depth everywhere.
Brendan Donavan or Suarez could still come on board. The Giants just signed Arraez to play second, so the market for Donovan is getting smaller.
Yeah, they’ve done basically nothing, kind of like last off season. And then they get within eight outs of the World Series.
Relax and enjoy the ride! This front office is WAY smarter than you and all the Dipoto bashers.
This isn’t a big bat!
Trade for Yandy Diaz already. We need a RHH DH/1B/3B
He should be available and we have the prospects
Yeah, I’m, sure plenty of people are looking forward to seeing top prospects go for a guy who won’t play 1b or 3b (nor should he) and will have to sit on the bench 2-3 games a week. If that’s the case, why not just sign one of the guys like Arreaz to a 1 year deal instead?
Agreed, if they’re going to trade for another bat like this, I’d rather it be Donovan since he can play all over which will help cover the rookies at 2B/3B and can give veterans like Randy, JP, and Raley some DH days to save their legs.
Raley will need to save his legs? Doubt he plays regularly enough to even warrant an off day.
He’s 32 and had some injuries that sapped his powers last year.
Like I said, he won’t be playing regularly to warrant an off day. He’ll have plenty of those as is.
Between Williamson, Refsnyder, and to an extent Randy and Robles, I think they have the RHH corners pile locked in.
Not enough pitchers hey? What about too many hitters?
MARINERS NEED TO SIGN ANDUJAR!!!!