Headlines

  • Salvador Perez Undergoes Thumb Surgery
  • Cubs Designate Jonathan Villar For Assignment
  • Yankees, Aaron Judge Avoid Arbitration
  • Giants Acquire Willie Calhoun From Rangers For Steven Duggar
  • Angels Option Reid Detmers
  • Dodgers Acquire Trayce Thompson From Tigers
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2022
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Kendall Graveman

White Sox Sign Kendall Graveman

By Steve Adams and Anthony Franco | November 30, 2021 at 11:00am CDT

The White Sox continued their aggressive approach to building a late-game relief corps, formally announcing on Tuesday the signing of righty Kendall Graveman to a three-year contract. The Sports One client will be guaranteed $24MM, the team announced.

Graveman spent the first few seasons of his career as a competent but unexciting back-of-the-rotation starter. A quality strike-thrower who induced plenty of ground-balls, Graveman ate a fair amount of innings during his 2015-18 run with the A’s. But he consistently ran one of the game’s lower strikeout rates, capping his overall upside.

That began to change in September 2020, when the Mariners bumped Graveman into short relief stints. The Alabama native took to his new role with aplomb, adding almost three miles per hour to his average fastball and performing quite well down the stretch. That was only a month’s worth of action, but it was enough to convince the M’s to bring Graveman back and install him in a full-time relief role in 2021.

Graveman was excellent this past season, kicking off the year with fourteen consecutive scoreless outings. He sustained his uptick in fastball velocity, averaging a career-best 96.2 MPH on the pitch. With that improved raw stuff came better results, as Graveman generated swinging strikes on a decent 10.7% of his offerings — his first season north of 8% in that regard. He struck out an above-average 27.5% of batters faced, all while maintaining his standout ability to keep the ball on the ground.

Dating back to his bullpen conversion, Graveman has tossed 66 innings of 2.05 ERA/3.17 FIP ball between Seattle and the Astros. He owns solid strikeout and walk rates (25.5% and 8.9%, respectively) in addition to a huge 54.9% grounder percentage. Opposing hitters have managed just a .181/.278/.256 line against him in that time, and Graveman has shown himself capable of thriving in both a traditional closer’s role and as a high-leverage middle innings type.

That level of dominance led MLBTR to project a three-year deal for Graveman entering the winter. The 30-year-old (31 next month) looks as if he’ll come in just a touch shy of MLBTR’s three-year, $27MM projection, but his deal falls right in line with the general area for high-quality setup types of recent offseasons. Will Harris ($24MM in 2019-20), Adam Ottavino ($27MM in 2018-19) and Joe Kelly ($25MM in 2018-19) have all landed three-year free agent deals right around this territory in recent offseasons.

The White Sox have invested heavily in their bullpen over the past twelve months, and today’s strike to land one of this winter’s top free agent relievers is the latest example in that trend. Chicago signed star closer Liam Hendriks to a four-year, $54MM deal last offseason, then traded for eight-time All-Star Craig Kimbrel at this summer’s deadline. Kimbrel struggled down the stretch after an otherworldly showing with the Cubs during the first half of the season. He remains with the White Sox after the club exercised a $16MM option on his services, but GM Rick Hahn has already acknowledged the possibility the Sox try to move Kimbrel this offseason.

Signing Graveman doesn’t necessitate a Kimbrel trade. There are plenty of high-leverage innings to go around, and one of Chicago’s best 2021 late-game options — Michael Kopech — is expected to compete for a rotation role in 2022. The Sox could still elect to roll into 2022 with a three-headed monster for manager Tony La Russa to deploy at the end of games. That said, the Graveman pick-up could give the front office enough confidence in the relief corps that they’re comfortable moving Kimbrel to address other areas of the roster, with second base and a corner outfield spot standing out as potential areas of need.

It’s also worth noting that Graveman’s deal could push the franchise into a level of spending with which they may not be comfortable. Chicago has never had a season-opening player payroll north of $130MM in franchise history, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Jason Martinez of Roster Resource estimates they’ve already got around $168MM in 2022 commitments, though, even before accounting for Graveman’s forthcoming deal.

So while the Graveman addition need not force a Kimbrel trade from a roster perspective, adding that money to the White Sox’s already atypically packed ledger might foretell a money-saving deal of some kind. Moving Kimbrel’s $16MM salary elsewhere would seemingly be the most straightforward way to bring spending closer to the franchise’s previous levels, if owner Jerry Reinsdorf is intent on doing so.

MLB Network’s Jon Heyman first reported the agreement and the terms (Twitter links).

Image courtesy of USA TODAY Sports.

Share 0 Retweet 13 Send via email0

Chicago White Sox Newsstand Transactions Kendall Graveman

215 comments

Mariners, Astros Swap Kendall Graveman For Abraham Toro In Four-Player Trade

By Steve Adams | July 27, 2021 at 6:07pm CDT

In a rare and rather stunning swap between a pair of division rivals who are both in contention, the Mariners have traded closer Kendall Graveman and recently designated-for-assignment righty Rafael Montero to the Astros in exchange for young infielder Abraham Toro and veteran righty Joe Smith, according to both clubs. The trade is even more eye-opening when considering that the two clubs are gearing up to play each other in the second game of a three-game set tonight.

Trading Graveman at all registers as a moderate surprise, given the Mariners’ recent climb in the standings and stated desire to improve the 2021 roster. To see him traded to the division-leading Astros while the two squads are playing one another is downright jarring. That said, Graveman is a free agent at season’s end, and in Toro, the Mariners are acquiring five seasons of control over an infielder who has been considered one of Houston’s more promising young prospects for the past few years.

In speaking to the media about the trade, Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto plainly acknowledged that as a standalone transaction, it’s a head-scratching move. But Dipoto also emphasized some patience, suggesting this move is but one of a sequence of trades designed to improve the Mariners’ chances both in 2021 and over the long-term down the road (Twitter thread via MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). Dipoto suggested a subsequent trade or trades could come together as soon as tonight or in the coming days, but it seems as though this is but one of a series of moves for which the Mariners are angling; time will tell just how the moves look when judged in their totality.

Toro, 24, hasn’t yet pieced things together in limited big league action, but he’s decimated Triple-A pitching (.392/.497/.600 in 33 games) and posted strong numbers in pitcher-friendly Double-A settings (.282/.369/.468 in 148 games). The switch-hitting Toro provides the Mariners with a possible long-term option at third base, but he’s also logged considerable time at second base — another area where the Mariners have been known to be seeking help. That long-term fit isn’t likely to matter much to the clubhouse, however, and Divish rather unsurprisingly tweets that the decision to trade Graveman to their top division rival was not well-received among Seattle players.

That’s understandable on Seattle’s end, given just how dominant Graveman has become since transitioning to the bullpen late in the 2020 season. The former Athletics starter has bounced back from an injury-lost 2019 season to emerge as one of the American League’s more effective relievers. In 33 innings this season, Graveman has pitched to a 0.82 ERA with a 28.1 percent strikeout rate, a 6.6 walk rate and a 53.9 percent ground-ball rate. Dating back to his shift to the bullpen in 2020, he’s compiled 43 innings of 1.47 ERA ball.

Graveman is likely all the more appealing to the luxury-conscious Astros because of his affordable salary. He’s playing on a one-year, $1.25MM contract. Incentives have already boosted that base salary by $400K, and the contract overall contains a total of $3MM in reachable incentives. That said, $1.5MM of those are tied up in games finished, and manager Dusty Baker has already indicated that Ryan Pressly is likely to continue as his closer. Graveman could still collect six more stray games finished to reach his first of three would-be $500K bonuses tied to games finished, but it’s unlikely he reaches the 30 and 40 games finished needed to unlock the next pair of $500K bonuses. In all, the contract will likely top out paying him somewhere in the range of $2.65MM based on incentives tied to days on the roster, games finished and total innings pitched.

Montero’s inclusion in the trade is likely a pure accounting measure. The combined salaries of Montero and Graveman ought to clock in somewhere in the same ballpark as Smith’s $4MM salary and luxury-tax hit, though depending on the status of Graveman’s incentives, the Astros could come out either a bit ahead or a bit behind where they were previously projected.

Montero opened the season as the closer in Seattle but struggled early and has been mired in a catastrophic slump of late, yielding 16 runs in his past 11 innings. The ’Stros may have their own ideas on how to help a reliever who was quite good with the Rangers in 2019-20 right the ship, but Montero’s inclusion doesn’t appear to be a key part of the swap. At best he’s a roll of the dice, and at worst he’s a financial counterweight who could be cut loose quickly if his struggles persist.

The same is largely true of Smith, who opted out of the 2020 season after signing a two-year deal in Houston and has been clobbered for a 7.48 ERA in 21 2/3 innings this year. Some of that has been attributable to a sky-high .413 batting average on balls in play, but Smith is sporting a career-low strikeout rate, a grounder rate that’s well off his peak levels and has also been quite homer-prone. As with Houston and Montero, perhaps the Mariners have an idea or two about how to get the veteran righty back on track, but the trade is much more about Graveman and Toro than about the struggling relievers accompanying those two players.

Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times first tweeted that Toro and a reliever were going to the Mariners in exchange for two players. MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart provided the full context on the trade.

Share 0 Retweet 8 Send via email0

Houston Astros Newsstand Seattle Mariners Transactions Abraham Toro Joe Smith Kendall Graveman Rafael Montero

211 comments

Mariners Targeting Starting Pitching, Infield Help

By Anthony Franco | July 20, 2021 at 7:30pm CDT

The Mariners are seeking starting pitching and infield upgrades in advance of the July 30 trade deadline, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Murray suggests the club sees second base as its biggest area to address, with a right-handed hitter being preferable.

Seattle has somewhat surprisingly hung around the playoff picture all year, entering play tonight 3.5 games behind the Athletics for the final Wild Card spot. Despite having been outscored by 51 runs, the Mariners are six games over .500 at 50-44. They’ll have an opportunity to make up ground when they welcome the A’s for a four-game set this weekend.

The Mariners weren’t generally expected to contend entering the season. While the club has seen plenty of progress as they reach the final stages of their rebuild, much of the roster is still young and unestablished. Despite their place in the standings, they remain a long shot to get to the postseason this year. FanGraphs pegs Seattle’s playoff odds at just 4%.

Thus, it’s not particularly surprising to hear the Mariners front office has indicated to rival teams they’re uninterested in parting with any of their top prospects, according to Murray. Rather than pursuing the top pitching targets on the market, Seattle’s expected to look for stopgap options to aid an injury-plagued rotation. Justin Dunn and Justus Sheffield remain on the injured list, and the team’s reunion with James Paxton didn’t even last two innings before the lefty required Tommy John surgery. That has left the M’s to rely on Yusei Kikuchi, Logan Gilbert, Marco Gonzales and Chris Flexen.

Turning to the infield, each of first and second base have been problem areas for the M’s this year. Seattle’s presumably still committed to Evan White long-term, but the young first baseman won’t play again in 2021 due to a hip injury. At second base, the Mariners have gotten a disappointing campaign from Dylan Moore, who’s hitting just .190/.276/.356 across 243 plate appearances.

It shouldn’t be hard to find an upgrade over that production even if the Mariners are disinclined to part with top players. Speculatively speaking, Jonathan Schoop is having a strong season with Detroit and fits Seattle’s reported target for a righty-hitting second baseman; the switch-hitting César Hernández could be made available by the Indians, as could Josh Harrison of the Nationals.

Of course, there’s still some possibility the Mariners fall out of that solid position in the standings over the coming week. Losing this weekend’s series with Oakland, for instance, might change the calculus. Both Murray and Jeff Passan of ESPN write that the Mariners could yet straddle the line between buying and selling, looking to bolster the roster for this season and beyond while continuing to listen to offers on players like outfielder Mitch Haniger and reliever Kendall Graveman. The M’s don’t seem especially likely to trade Haniger, who’s controllable through next season, but an impending free agent like Graveman seems a more plausible candidate for a midseason move.

Share 0 Retweet 7 Send via email0

Seattle Mariners Kendall Graveman

50 comments

Latest On Mariners’ Deadline Plans

By TC Zencka | July 17, 2021 at 2:28pm CDT

The Mariners have been one of the most surprising contenders of the 2021 season to date. Manager Scott Servais entered the season with a six-man rotation and a host of exciting young outfielders getting ready to traverse the grass at T-Mobile Park, but expectations were low for a franchise with zero World Series appearances and no playoff appearances since 2001.

Both droughts are likely to continue into 2022, but there’s at least a chance that the Mariners could continue their upward trajectory and push for a playoff spot this season. With the trade deadline two weeks away, the Mariners are 49-43, on pace for 86 wins and just 3.5 games out of a wild card spot. In fact, they have the best record in the American League for a team not currently in a playoff spot, putting them in prime position to be surprise buyers at the deadline.

GM Jerry Dipoto has his ear to the ground, as ever, though it sounds like he’s still vacillating between the buyers and sellers line. Per The Athletic’s Corey Brock, Dipoto offered this recent assessment: “Our bullpen has been awesome, and it was roughly a number of guys who no one has ever heard of that just needed another chance. That’s put us in a really good position right now to be able to make a more aggressive play in the next two, three weeks if the opportunity presents itself. But we’re not going to push the opportunity because we believe this is a window that is open and we want to make sure it stays open. We don’t want to shortchange our long term.”

Their greatest need, should they want to wrench that window open right now, would be to add another starter to an injury-depleted rotation. Logan Gilbert has emerged as an exciting young arm, and Marco Gonzales is healthy again alongside Yusei Kikuchi and Chris Flexen, but they also have nearly a full rotation on the injured list.

As Dipoto noted above, the bullpen has helped shoulder the load thanks to surprisingly competent seasons from Kendall Graveman, JT Chargois, Paul Sewald, and Drew Steckenrider, a foursome that’s accrued 3.3 fWAR of their league-leading 4.5 bullpen fWAR. The Mariners have made a practice of trading away relievers over the years, but this time around they might choose to hold onto a few of them, especially if they can’t find the rotation help they need.

That said, it’s just as likely that Trader Jerry stays true to his history and deals an arm or two to a contender. Brock suggests that Graveman is the most likely Mariner to find himself in a new uniform by August, which certainly makes some sense given his breakout season. Graveman is a free agent at the end of the year, and right now he’s presenting as a difference-maker, a transition from starter to high-leverage arm that began last season. He has locked down eight saves as the Mariners’ closer, pitching to a sterling 0.93 ERA/3.03 FIP across 29 innings.

Even if the Mariners do decide to sell a piece or two, don’t expect Mitch Haniger to be an easy get. Brock notes that Haniger “isn’t likely to be moved unless the Mariners are floored by a deal.”

On the one hand, that might be surprising given the plethora of promising young outfielders in the organization, well-known prospects like Jarred Kelenic, Jake Fraley, Kyle Lewis, Julio Rodriguez and Taylor Trammell. For now, however, Lewis is hurt, Rodriguez has just 14 games of experience in Double-A, and Kelenic and Trammell have stumbled at the big league level with marks of 12 wRC+ and 74 wRC+, respectively.

In the plus column, Fraley has absolutely raked to a 143 wRC+ by way of a .237/.409/.439 triple slash — buoyed by an above-average .202 ISO and eye-opening 22.1 percent walk rate that would be first overall in the game among qualified hitters if he had more plate appearances. Fraley doesn’t have the prospect pedigree of those other names, however, and it’ll take more than 149 plate appearances to anoint him as an above-average regular.

Which is the point, really, both behind Haniger’s value on the trade market and the Mariners’ desire to keep him. Injuries have slowed his ascension to stardom, but since his arrival in Seattle, he’s been a 127 wRC+ hitter with 78 home runs and a .269/.343/.489 triple slash line across 1,751 plate appearances. He’s 30 years old, and with one more season of team control remaining, it’s easy to understand why contenders might ask about his availability.

Despite Haniger’s importance to this lineup, however, and despite the Mariners having a chance to make a run at the playoffs, Trader Jerry likes to deal. Speculatively speaking, Dipoto likely would prefer to get the godfather offer for Haniger that forces his hand, and maybe that makes him more inclined to see that offer where it doesn’t exist. But by all accounts, Dipoto is content to hold him through the deadline.

He could, after all, explore a trade in the offseason. Besides, with Lewis hurt and Rodriguez not yet ready, there’s no real rush to vacate Haniger’s plate appearances. There’s enough run to go around if Servais wants to see Haniger, Fraley, Trammell, and Kelenic all in the lineup at the same time, though that hasn’t been the case thus far.

Still, expect Dipoto to do something. At the very least, he sounds likely to acquire some kind of starting pitcher, with the real question being the quality of arm he’s able/willing to procure.

Share 0 Retweet 2 Send via email0

Seattle Mariners Trade Market Jerry Dipoto Kendall Graveman Mitch Haniger Relievers

77 comments

Mariners Activate Kendall Graveman, Justin Dunn From Injured List

By Anthony Franco | June 11, 2021 at 3:13pm CDT

The Mariners announced the activation of Kendall Graveman and Justin Dunn from the injured list. In corresponding moves, Keynan Middleton was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma, while Yacksel Ríos was designated for assignment.

Graveman went on the COVID-19 IL on May 23. That halted what has been a brilliant 2021 season for the right-hander. Graveman has pitched 16 2/3 scoreless innings out of the Seattle bullpen over his first 14 appearances. He’s averaging a career-high 96.9 MPH on his sinker, backed up by a slider that has been one of the game’s best swing-and-miss offerings. Graveman has punched out a very strong 29.3% of opponents against a tiny 5.2% walk rate.

It’s a big season for Graveman, who is slated to hit free agency this winter for the first time. If he can continue to perform at something approaching this level down the stretch, he’ll position himself as one of the top relievers on the market. That impending free agency also makes him one of the sport’s more interesting trade candidates in advance of this summer’s July 30 deadline. At 31-33, the Mariners have fallen into fourth place in the AL West, five games back in the race for the second wild card. There’s still time to make up ground, but the Mariners have the AL’s second-worst run differential (-58), so they’ll need to play at a significantly better level if they’re to hang around the postseason picture.

Dunn went on the 10-day IL on June 1 with right shoulder inflammation. The injury was never expected to be particularly serious, and he’ll indeed return after a minimal IL stint. Dunn, who has a 3.18 ERA/5.08 SIERA across 45 1/3 frames this season, will start tonight’s game against the Indians.

Seattle just acquired Ríos in a minor deal with the Rays last week. The 27-year-old had pitched to a 0.66 ERA with a fantastic 34.7% strikeout rate with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate, piquing the interest of the Mariners front office. He’s given up three runs in as many innings since the trade, with a pair of strikeouts and walks apiece. The Mariners will have a week to trade Ríos or place him on outright waivers. Having previously been outrighted in his career, Ríos would have the right to elect free agency if he passes through the wire unclaimed.

Share 0 Retweet 11 Send via email0

Seattle Mariners Transactions Justin Dunn Kendall Graveman Yacksel Rios

5 comments

Mariners Place Kendall Graveman On 10-Day Injured List, Recall Wyatt Milles

By TC Zencka | May 23, 2021 at 2:17pm CDT

The Mariners announced a pair of corresponding roster moves today. Closer Kendall Graveman heads to the 10-day injured list while Wyatt Mills joins the active roster from Triple-A.

Graveman has been borderline magical for the Mariners thus far with 16 2/3 scoreless innings across 14 appearances. The 30-year-old former starter has been one of the better stories of the young season, if a tad under-the-radar. He has stepped into the closer role after a strong showing in high-leverage opportunities last season put him in competition for the role. He has five saves thus far, tied for the team lead with Rafael Montero. No specific injury has been listed for Graveman.

The 26-year-old Mills has made six appearances for the Mariners this season, the first of his big-league career. Mills has allowed eight earned runs on nine hits and four walks while striking out five. Despite his early struggles, the former Gonzaga stand-out profiles as a potential high-leverage arm out the bullpen.

Share 0 Retweet 5 Send via email0

Seattle Mariners Transactions Kendall Graveman Wyatt Mills

8 comments

AL Notes: Mariners, Graveman, Rotation, Rays, Arozarena

By TC Zencka | November 7, 2020 at 4:48pm CDT

Kendall Graveman signed back with the Mariners with the expectation of sticking in the bullpen, he said on the Extra Innings Podcast. Graveman pitched out the bullpen consistently for the first time in his career last season for the Mariners, emerging as an option for high-leverage opportunities. The former Oakland Athletic spent 2018 with the Cubs while recovering from Tommy John. He signed with the Mariners and made a couple of starts in 2020, but the bulk of his outings came out of the bullpen. Heading into 2021, he’s fully committed to a bullpen role. He’ll the 30-years-old in December, and though he’s new to the bullpen, Graveman spoke confidently about his ability to adjust and let his stuff play up during shorter outings. The right-hander also spoke about shortening his arsenal. He plans on focusing on what works best and sticking with a couple of his strongest pitches, probably a heater, change, and curve primarily, though he also spoke about working in a two-seamer on occasion as a way to vary the look from the fastball.

  • Even with Graveman firmly in the bullpen, the Mariners plan on use of a six-man rotation in 2021 to help keep starters healthy, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. With that in mind, they’re likely to at least explore the starting pitching market in free agency. Marco Gonzales, Yusei Kikuchi, Justus Sheffield, and Justin Dunn figure to return to the rotation in 2021, while Nick Margevicius and Ljay Newsome are the other holdovers. Logan Gilbert could also emerge as a potential option at some point in 2021, if not by Opening Day. Gilbert will turn 24 early in 2021. He finished 2019 with 9 starts in Double-A with a 2.88 ERA.
  • Randy Arozarena’s playoff performance was a dramatic enough affair to spark a feature film. Wonderfilm Media has begun working on an Arozarena biopic with plans for release in 2022 or 2023, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The film, of course, won’t solely portray the postseason. Rather, the film will focus on Arozarena’s journey to MLB from Cuba. Wonderfilm co-founder Bret Saxon said (per Topkin), “We feel like the heart of this movie is his journey, and the people around him, how he was inspiring and helping the family back home. But, for sure, some of those big payoff moments are on the field, so there will be plenty of actual baseball in stadiums.”

 

Share 0 Retweet 5 Send via email0

Film Notes Seattle Mariners Tampa Bay Rays Kendall Graveman Logan Gilbert Marc Topkin Randy Arozarena

38 comments

Mariners Re-Sign Kendall Graveman

By Steve Adams | October 29, 2020 at 11:42am CDT

11:42am: Graveman’s deal comes with a $1.25MM base salary and another $2.5MM worth of incentives, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter link). That will give him the opportunity to earn a bit more than the $3.5MM he’d have taken home had the Mariners picked up his option.

11:35am: That was quick. Just one day after declining their $3.5MM club option on Kendall Graveman, the Mariners announced that they’ve re-signed the right-hander to a new one-year, Major League contract for the 2021 season. It’s surely at a lesser rate than that $3.5MM price point, but the Sports One Management client looks as though he’ll be locked in as a member of the team’s bullpen again next season.

Graveman, 29, returned to the Majors in 2020 after missing most of 2018 and all of 2019 due to Tommy John surgery. The initial hope was that he’d be a member of the team’s six-man rotation, but Graveman spent much of the year on the injured list due to a neck injury and returned to the club in September as a reliever.

The results upon his return were encouraging, however, as Graveman averaged a career-best 96.4 mph on his sinker and held opponents to four runs on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 10 innings. Three of those runs came in one particularly rough outing, but Graveman allowed just one run in the rest of his bullpen outings combined. He also sported a hefty 55.4 percent ground-ball rate in that time, giving further cause for optimism about his potential as a reliever over the course of a full season.

For Seattle, re-signing Graveman is its first noteworthy order of business in what should be an active winter for its relief corps. After the Mariners’ bullpen finished 2020 last in the AL in ERA and fWAR, general manager Jerry Dipoto declared the M’s would try to add three to four relievers in the offseason.

Share 0 Retweet 2 Send via email0

Newsstand Seattle Mariners Transactions Kendall Graveman

37 comments

Mariners Decline 2021 Club Option On Kendall Graveman

By Mark Polishuk | October 28, 2020 at 11:42am CDT

The Mariners have declined to exercise their $3.5MM club option on right-hander Kendall Graveman, as Graveman was listed by the MLB Players Association as one of 147 players who officially entered free agency today.  Graveman will instead receive a $500K buyout from the Mariners.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in July 2018, Graveman didn’t pitch in the majors last season but returned to toss 18 2/3 innings for Seattle in 2020.  Graveman inked a one-year deal with the Mariners last offseason that paid him $1.5MM in salary for the 2020 season, as well as the $500K minimum in buyout money and the potential for $3MM more if the option was picked up.

The righty started his first two outings before heading to the injured list with what was originally described as neck spasms, but further examination revealed a benign bone tumor in Graveman’s cervical spine.  Despite that scary-sounding diagnosis, Graveman not only returned to the mound, but pitched well as a reliever in nine further games — a 3.60 ERA over those 10 relief frames, with three of his four runs allowed coming in one rough outing against the Giants.

Graveman has worked exclusively as a starter since the 2014 season, but his success as a reliever perhaps hinted at a new role for the 29-year-old (who turns 30 in December) going forward.  While a new team could still look into Graveman as a starter, he might also market himself as a multi-inning reliever or swingman on the open market.

Whether Graveman joins a new team is also in question, as 710 ESPN’s Shannon Drayer tweets that the Mariners have interest in bringing Graveman back on a new deal.  While Graveman’s injuries could quite possibly have led to Seattle declining his option under normal offseason conditions, the Mariners’ decision to punt on the extra $3MM to retain Graveman’s services is perhaps a hint about how the M’s (and other teams) will be cautious with any sort of borderline financial decision this winter in the face of 2020’s revenue losses.

Share 0 Retweet 4 Send via email0

Seattle Mariners Transactions Kendall Graveman

27 comments

Kendall Graveman Diagnosed With Bone Tumor In Cervical Spine

By Connor Byrne | August 17, 2020 at 3:18pm CDT

Mariners right-hander Kendall Graveman has been diagnosed with a bone tumor in the C6 part of his cervical spine, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports.

Fortunately, Graveman’s tumor is benign and won’t grow or worsen if he continues to pitch, per Divish. And while Graveman may undergo surgery to address it at some point, that procedure won’t take place “until down the road,” Divish writes. It seems Graveman will even pitch again this year, as his hope is to make one more rehab start in an intraquad game before he’s ready for a return, according to Divish.

Graveman, whom the Mariners signed to a one-year, $1.5MM contract last winter, made two appearances for the club this season before landing on the injured list Aug. 4 with what the team described as neck spasms. The 29-year-old was successful member of the A’s staff from 2015-17, but Tommy John surgery limited him in 2018 and kept him out of action entirely last season.

Share 0 Retweet 7 Send via email0

Seattle Mariners Kendall Graveman

26 comments
Load More Posts
Show all

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Salvador Perez Undergoes Thumb Surgery

    Cubs Designate Jonathan Villar For Assignment

    Yankees, Aaron Judge Avoid Arbitration

    Giants Acquire Willie Calhoun From Rangers For Steven Duggar

    Angels Option Reid Detmers

    Dodgers Acquire Trayce Thompson From Tigers

    Dodgers Exploring Market For Right-Handed Platoon Bat In Right Field

    Mariners Designate Sergio Romo, Roenis Elias For Assignment

    Brewers Designate Lorenzo Cain For Assignment

    Hyun Jin Ryu To Undergo Season-Ending Elbow Surgery

    Anthony Rendon To Undergo Season-Ending Wrist Surgery

    Tigers To Promote Riley Greene

    Ozzie Albies Suffers Foot Fracture

    Tigers Place Eduardo Rodriguez On Restricted List

    Diamondbacks, Dallas Keuchel Agree To Minor League Deal

    Recent

    Salvador Perez Undergoes Thumb Surgery

    Cubs Designate Jonathan Villar For Assignment

    Manuel Margot Diagnosed With “Significant” Strain Of Patellar Tendon

    Dodgers Place Andrew Heaney On Injured List

    Astros Activate Jake Meyers From 60-Day IL, Designate Dillon Thomas

    Pirates Designate Jerad Eickhoff For Assignment

    Conner Menez To Sign With NPB’s Nippon-Ham Fighters

    Yankees, Aaron Judge Avoid Arbitration

    A.J. Hinch Under Contract With Tigers Through 2025

    Giants Sign Matt Hall To Minor League Deal

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Trevor Story Rumors
    • Frankie Montas Rumors
    • Michael Conforto Rumors
    • Arbitration Tracker
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • MLB Player Chats
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2022
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version