White Sox To Acquire Mark Lowe, Jean Machi
The White Sox have acquired veteran relievers Mark Lowe and Jean Machi from the Mariners, according to Triple-A Tacoma broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link). Both will report to Chicago’s top affiliate.
It seems that this isn’t a part of a larger deal, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets that cash is heading back to the M’s. Clearly, the addition of these two players by the rebuilding South Siders is designed to help the team maintain its pen depth down the stretch. Chicago has already traded away a pair of relievers from its major league roster and could move yet more by the trade deadline.
Lowe, 35, was released by the Tigers late in camp after a disappointing run in Detroit. He joined the Mariners on a minors pact and has gone on to post a 6.23 ERA in 39 innings, all at Triple-A. Lowe has struck out 8.5 and walked 4.6 batters per nine on the year.
As for the 35-year-old Machi, he did enjoy a brief MLB stint earlier this season — his first since 2015 — but has spent most of the year at Tacoma. Over 36 2/3 innings, Machi carries a 3.44 ERA with 7.1 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9.
Mariners Outright Jean Machi
SUNDAY: Seattle has outrighted Machi to Triple-A, the team announced.
SATURDAY: The Mariners have announced that they’ve designated righty Jean Machi for assignment and selected the contract of fellow righty Ryan Weber from Triple-A Tacoma. Weber will start against the Blue Jays today.
The Mariners selected Machi’s contract just last week with the idea that he’d provide help for their bullpen. He did just that, allowing only two runs (one earned) over 7 1/3 innings, although he walked four batters and struck out just four. He also pitched 2 1/3 of those innings yesterday and therefore would probably not have been much help today, as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune points out. The Mariners also plan to have fellow reliever Steve Cishek return from the disabled list in the coming days. It was the 35-year-old Machi’s first stint in the big leagues since 2015, when he pitched 58 innings for the Giants and Red Sox.
Weber will attempt to help a Mariners rotation that has lately been decimated by injuries to Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, James Paxton and Drew Smyly, becoming the ninth starter to take the hill for Seattle this season. The only two healthy starters remaining from the team’s Opening Day 25-man (which itself didn’t include Smyly, who has missed the entire season thus far with elbow trouble) are Yovani Gallardo and Ariel Miranda.
The 26-year-old Weber made seven starts over parts of the 2015 and 2016 campaigns with the Braves. He had an 0.85 ERA and just 1.1 BB/9 in 31 2/3 innings with Tacoma, although with a modest 5.4 K/9.
Mariners Outright Casey Fien
WEDNESDAY: The Mariners have announced that they’ve outrighted Fien to Triple-A Tacoma.
TUESDAY: The Mariners have designated righty Casey Fien for assignment, per a team announcement. Seattle has also placed infielder Shawn O’Malley on the 60-day DL to clear another 40-man spot.
These moves were designed to open the door to two new members of the big league bullpen. The M’s purchased the contracts of righties Jean Machi and Emilio Pagan. First baseman Dan Vogelbach was optioned to open another active roster spot.
Fien was already outrighted off of the 40-man roster earlier in the year, accepting an assignment at Triple-A (in part, perhaps, in order to keep his salary under the MLB deal he signed over the winter). Unfortunately, he had another poor outing upon returning to the majors and now carries a 15.00 ERA through six innings on the year.
The 35-year-old Machi has not pitched in the majors since 2015. But he has thrown eight spotless innings thus far at Tacoma. Pagan, 25, is set for his MLB debut. The former tenth rounder has worked to a 3.27 ERA over his 11 frames at Triple-A this year, allowing just five hits while racking up 18 strikeouts against seven walks.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/30/17
Here the day’s minor moves from around the league, each from Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise noted…
- The Rays have added former Braves/Yankees/Astros/Nationals right-hander David Carpenter on a minor league deal. The 31-year-old hasn’t pitched in the Majors since a 2015 season that was severely shortened by shoulder issues. Carpenter actually inked a minor league deal with Tampa Bay last March but wound up opening the year with the Angels. He pitched for the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate until his release in mid-June, which came on the heels of a 7.80 ERA in 15 innings of work. Carpenter then latched on with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League and pitched to a 3.28 ERA with a 39-to-16 K/BB ratio in 35 2/3 innings of work. At his best in the Majors, Carpenter tossed 126 innings with a 2.63 ERA, 10.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 126 innings for the 2013-14 Braves.
- Right-hander Jean Machi joined the Mariners on a minor league pact. Machi, who will turn 35 in two days, hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2015 when he logged a 5.12 ERA in 58 innings between the Giants and Red Sox. He was a very useful relief arm in San Francisco from 2013-14, however, recording a collective 2.49 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 across 119 1/3 innings. Machi split the 2016 season between the Giants and Cubs organizations, pitching to a solid 3.65 ERA in 61 2/3 Triple-A innings.
- Right-hander Matt Magill agreed to a minor league deal with the Padres, as SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo first tweeted. The 27-year-old returned to the Majors after a two-year layoff this past season, tossing 4 1/3 innings for the Reds. The longtime Dodgers farmhand has just 32 Major League innings to his credit but has a 4.05 ERA with a strikeout per inning to his credit in 752 minor league innings. Magill has some control issues as well, as evidenced by a 5.5 BB/9 rate and a 4.57 ERA in 226 career innings at the Triple-A level. He’ll give the Padres a potential depth option at either Triple-A or Double-A. (Magill pitched at both levels with the Reds organization last season before making his brief return to the bigs.)
Giants, Jean Machi Agree To Minor League Deal
The Giants and right-hander Jean Machi have agreed to a minor league contract, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News tweeted earlier that the two sides were close to finalizing a deal.
Machi, 34, is a familiar face for Giants fans, having spent pasts of the 2012-15 seasons with San Francisco. Machi was particularly effective from 2013-14, logging a combined 2.49 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in 119 2/3 innings for the Giants in that span. He struggled through 35 innings with the Giants in 2015, though, and ultimately wound up being claimed off waivers by the Red Sox. His results in Boston — a 5.09 ERA in 23 innings — weren’t any better.
Machi signed a minor league pact with the Cubs this offseason and had been pitching reasonably well with Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate, but he was released last week and then encountered some legal trouble. As the Des Moines Register’s Tommy Birch reported, Machi was arrested for public intoxication and public urination at roughly 2:00am last Thursday morning.
Cubs, Jean Machi Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs are in agreement with right-hander Jean Machi on a minor league contract, according to a tweet from his agent, Felix Olivo. The former Red Sox/Giants right-hander will receive an invitation to Major League Spring Training (Spanish link).
Machi, who turns 34 in February, split the 2015 season between the Red Sox and Giants, working to a combined 5.12 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 48.6 percent ground-ball rate. Though he struggled with both clubs, posting an ERA above five with each, he still served as Boston’s closer for a spell late in the season, recording four saves following a season-ending injury to Koji Uehara.
While the 2015 season was one that Machi may want to forget, he was a very strong bullpen piece for the Giants in 2013-14. During that time, the Venezuelan righty recorded a pristine 2.49 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a ground-ball rate of about 53 percent across 119 1/3 innings. Machi didn’t make his big league debut until age 30, so he’s older than the standard arbitration eligible player, but the Cubs will be able to control him via that process for four seasons, should he rediscover the form he displayed during his pair of strong seasons with the Giants.
There’s some reason to hope that Machi can indeed achieve those heights. His struggles in 2015 were largely driven by a fluky low strand rate and an elevated homer-to-flyball rate. If either or both of those figures returns to his career levels, Machi could deliver a markedly better performance in a middle relief role. His velocity, after all, held steady at 92.7 mph this past season, and ERA estimators like FIP, xFIP and SIERA felt that while he did indeed take a step back from his peak, he was better than his bottom-line results indicated.