- Mike Zunino has seen his production dip once again after a brilliant 26-game stretch upon his recall from Triple-A, but the Mariners still view him as its long-term catcher, writes Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. Zunino did slug a go-ahead homer in last night’s win to help keep Seattle’s postseason hopes alive, but he’s struggled tremendously dating back to Aug. 23, hitting just .159/.266/.293 in that time. Manager Scott Servais raved about Zunino’s defense, though, and the form that the former No. 3 overall pick showed upon his return to the Majors (.280/.393/.707) created some optimism about his ability to hit in the Majors. The question for the organization this offseason, Dutton writes, won’t be one of whether they need to upgrade over Zunino but whether his backup is already in the organization or not.
Mariners Rumors
Vogelbach Prioritizing Defensive Improvements
- Wednesday likely marked Doug Fister’s last start as a member of the Astros, writes Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle, noting that the impending free agent’s September was a dreadful month. Houston lost each of Fister’s final seven starts, Kaplan points out, and the righty surrendered 30 earned runs across 24 innings in his final month of the year (11.74 ERA). That’s hardly the note on which any pitcher wants to end a season, especially when things had been going fairly well for him for much of the season. Fister carried an ERA in the mid-3.00s throughout the entire summer but will conclude his 2016 campaign with a 4.64 ERA in 180 1/3 innings as he looks to improve upon the one-year, $7MM pact he signed with the ’Stros last winter.
- Mariners rookie first baseman Dan Vogelbach has already begun seeking out the coaching staff to ask for extra lessons and extra work on his defense, writes Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. Vogelbach, considered a bat-first prospect and labeled by some scouting reports as a future designated hitter due to his defensive limitations, candidly acknowledged to Dutton that he’s aware of how much work he needs to on his glove. “It’s definitely something I’m taking seriously, because it’s something I need to improve,” said Vogelbach, who sought out bench coach Tim Bogar for advice on his positioning and footwork. “…I’ve been doing it the wrong way for so long that now I’m making the correct muscle memory. Getting it to be a natural habit.” Vogelbach indicated that he plans to spend the offseason working on improving with the glove and, as Dutton points out, doing so could very well line him up to be Seattle’s first baseman next season, as both Adam Lind and Dae-ho Lee are free agents.
Mariners Hire Justin Hollander From Angels
- The Mariners have announced that they’ve named Justin Hollander their director of baseball operations. The 37-year-old Hollander had previously worked with Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto with the Angels, and last year Hollander served as that organization’s director of player personnel.
Mariners Suspend Steve Clevenger Without Pay For Remainder Of Season
The Mariners announced that catcher Steve Clevenger has been suspended without pay for the remainder of the season. Clevenger was the subject of a great deal of social media controversy yesterday following a pair of offensive, racially charged tweets.
“As soon as we became aware of the tweets posted by Steve yesterday we began to examine all of our options in regard to his standing on the team,” said GM Jerry Dipoto in the press release announcing the suspension. “Today we have informed him that he is suspended for the reminder of the season without pay.”
Clevenger, 30, was acquired in a lopsided offseason swap that sent Mark Trumbo to the Orioles in what amounted to a salary dump for the Mariners. Clevenger has been on the disabled list since late June to do a fractured hand and has appeared in just 22 games for the Mariners this year, batting .221/.303/.309 in 76 plate appearances. The former Cubs and Orioles backstop is a lifetime .227/.284/.324 hitter in 522 Major League plate appearances. The suspension will cost him about $28,000 — not an insignificant sum for a player that has yet to reach arbitration in his career — and it seems likely that it’s only a matter of time before the Mariners cut ties with him completely.
Mariners Want Nori Aoki Back In 2017
After joining the Mariners on a one-year, $5.5MM deal during the winter, left fielder Nori Aoki began the season in dreadful fashion. The former Brewer, Royal and Giant hit just .245/.323/.313 over his first 284 plate appearances, which led the Mariners to option him to Triple-A Tacoma on June 24. The demotion proved effective for Aoki, who returned to the majors in late July and has since slashed .317/.363/.468 in 136 trips to the plate. As a result, the Mariners hope Aoki sticks around in 2017, reports Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune.
“He’s been awesome,” said general manager Jerry Dipoto. “I don’t think he was ever out of our plans (for 2017). When we sent him to Triple-A, we explained to him that we were going to let him play. And whatever happens, happens.”
The Dipoto-led Mariners sent Aoki to the minors again in late August, but that trip only lasted 10 days and came on account of roster issues, per Dutton.
Whether Aoki is a Mariner in 2017 could come down to his player option. The soon-to-be 35-year-old needs another 60 PAs this season to trigger his $5MM option for next season, notes Dutton, who expects Aoki to see plenty of action during the final 15 games of the Mariners’ campaign as they try to overcome a three-game deficit in the American League wild-card race. Collecting 60 more plate trips could be difficult for Aoki, but it’s in his favor that Seattle is set to face plenty of right-handed pitchers, as Dutton writes. Aoki has slashed .292/.357/.413 and walked nearly as much as he has struck out (21 to 27) in 316 PAs versus righties this year.
“I’m doing a lot of things different,” Aoki said of his second-half success. “It’s not just one thing. I changed my bat. I changed my helmet. I changed the way I see the ball. I changed a lot of things.”
In addition to Aoki, the statuses of fellow Mariners outfielders Seth Smith and Franklin Gutierrez are also up in the air as the offseason nears. Seattle has a $7MM club option for Smith, while Gutierrez is scheduled to hit free agency. Among Mariners outfielders, those three trail only designated hitter/right fielder Nelson Cruz and Leonys Martin in plate appearances. The club has also given outfield time to younger options Guillermo Heredia and Ben Gamel, an August trade acquisition, but they’ve struggled in limited work.
Mariners Could Pursue Significant Free Agent Addition
- With a group of talented, high-performing players on hand, the Mariners are “talking behind the scenes” about taking advantage of a window of contention, according to Heyman. That could position the club to strike out on the free agent market in search of a “complementary piece,” he says. There are several areas the team could target, but I wonder whether the time may be right to add a slugging first baseman; there are several available, and the team is set to lose its primary tandem of Adam Lind and Dae-ho Lee to free agency.
[SOURCE LINK]
Braves Acquire Joe Wieland From Mariners
The Braves have acquired right-hander Joe Wieland from the Mariners, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that the Mariners will receive cash in return. The 26-year-old Wieland was outrighted off Seattle’s 40-man roster (for the second time this season) in late August, so he won’t immediately require a 40-man spot from the Braves.
Wieland once looked like a potential back-of-the-rotation option for the Padres, logging a 4.55 ERA across his first five MLB starts on the heels of some promising minor league work in 2011-12, but he underwent Tommy John surgery shortly thereafter and struggled with his recovery before being traded to the Dodgers as part of the Matt Kemp blockbuster. Seattle acquired him this past offseason in exchange for minor league infielder Erick Mejia, but Wieland’s struggles became more pronounced than ever early in his Seattle tenure, and the Mariners outrighted him to Triple-A in early May.
Wieland opened the season with a dreadful 17.31 ERA through his first 13 1/3 innings, prompting that initial outright, but he actually recovered after that unthinkably poor start. From May 4 through Aug. 6, Wieland posted a 3.67 ERA with an 83-to-23 K/BB ratio in 90 2/3 Triple-A innings before having his contract once again selected to the Major League roster. He made one start for the Mariners at the big league level, surrendering six runs in five innings, before being optioned back to Triple-A and eventually outrighted off the 40-man a second time.
Per Bowman’s tweet above, he’ll provide the Braves’ Triple-A roster with some additional rotation depth throughout the remainder of the postseason. While he could potentially serve as rotation depth for the big league team as well, Wieland has enough Major League service time to elect free agency at season’s end if he’s not on the 40-man roster. In 52 2/3 MLB innings, Wieland has a 6.32 ERA with 6.7 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 40.6 percent ground-ball rate.
Pirates Acquire Wade LeBlanc
The Pirates have acquired southpaw Wade LeBlanc from the Mariners, the teams announced. Seattle will receive a player to be named later or cash considerations in the deal.
LeBlanc, 32, was outrighted after his fifty-inning big league run for the M’s this year. He worked to a 4.50 ERA in that span, with a useful 7.4 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9.
Mariners Likely To Call Up Dan Vogelbach
- The Mariners are likely to recall first base prospect Dan Vogelbach, whom they acquired in the trade that sent Mike Montgomery to the Cubs, per Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune (Twitter link). While Vogelbach didn’t hit quite as well as he did in the Cubs’ minor league system following the trade, he did slash .240/.402/.422 with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, demonstrating a keen eye at the plate and some pop to go along with it. Vogelbach could factor into the picture for the Mariners at first base and/or DH next season, so getting a look at him over the final few weeks of the year, even if it’s in a limited capacity, should give the Seattle front office a chance to plan for the 2017 season.
Mariners Notes: Roster Expansion, Wilhelmsen, Clevenger
Mariners manager Scott Servais doesn’t mind having extra players on his roster, but the way teams are allowed to use their call-ups following September roster expansion bothers him, Matt Pentz of the Seattle Times writes. With more tactical options available, managers can slow the pace of games by making large numbers of substitutions. “I just think you should determine your 25-man roster before the game starts and play the game,” says Servais. “The game just changes in September, and it shouldn’t change. You play a certain way for five months and the last month, you play differently and it’s just not right.” M’s utilityman Shawn O’Malley disagrees, saying that everyday players can use the extra bit of rest reinforcements can provide. “Maybe it does take a little bit longer, but at the end of the day, what’s 20 minutes?” he says. “Any time you can give guys that are playing 159 games a year a five-inning break, it benefits them.” Here’s more from Seattle.
- The Mariners have announced that reliever Tom Wilhelmsen has been activated from the 15-day DL. The righty has missed the past two weeks due to low back spasms. For the season, Wilhelmsen has posted a 7.02 ERA, 5.7 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 over 41 innings, but his performance has been much closer to his career norms since he returned to the Mariners organization in June after struggling in the early going with the Rangers.
- In other Mariners injury news, catcher Steve Clevenger’s season is over after the organization opted to end his rehab assignment at Double-A Jackson, Ryan Divish of the Times writes. Clevenger has experienced lingering elbow soreness. The Mariners placed him on the DL in late June with a separate injury, a hand fracture for which he had surgery. The 30-year-old Clevenger collected just 76 plate appearances in his first season in Seattle, batting .221/.303/.309 with one home run. That’s a stark contrast from the performance of Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo, for whom Seattle acquired Clevenger in a salary-shedding move. Clevenger will be eligible for arbitration after the season. With Chris Iannetta having a $4.25MM club option, the Mariners will have some decisions as they attempt to determine who, besides the hot-hitting Mike Zunino, will catch for them next season.
