The Seattle Mariners have reshaped their bullpen with different faces for new roles. The team’s most recent addition to its relief corps will help shore up the back end of the ‘pen.
On Saturday, baseball sources confirmed that the Mariners have agreed to a two-year, $10 million contract with former Miami Marlins closer Steve Cishek.
The Mariners are likely to make the announcement on Monday. Cishek will earn $4 million in 2016 and $6 million in 2017, and could make an additional $7 million in incentives. Cishek was scheduled to make about $7 million for 2016 in arbitration, as well as in the following season in 2017. The The Mariners essentially bought out those years with the contract.
When the winter meetings came to a close on Thursday, Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said they would add at least one more reliever on a major-league free-agent deal. And as it turns out, that reliever was the side-arming Cishek, who will compete with veteran Joaquin Benoit for the closing duties.
The Mariners and their fans hope Cishek, 29, can bounce back to his 2013-2014 form, allowing Benoit to serve as the set-up man in the eight inning. Over a two year span, Cishek has saved seventy-three games for the Marlins. He pitched a total of 135 innings during that span, while posting a 2.73 ERA with 158 strikeouts and only forty-three walks.
Cishek struggled in his first nineteen outings with the Marlins last year. He posted a 1-5 record with four saves and a 6.58 ERA. After being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, his season turned around. Over his next forty appearances, Cishek posted a 1.75 ERA in thirty-six innings as a set-up man.
The Mariners also made another pair of moves on Friday. Seattle completed a previous trade with the Atlanta Braves, acquiring right-handed pitcher Ryne Harper as the player to be named in the deal that sent reliever Jose Ramirez to Atlanta.
Harper, 26, made twenty-three relief appearances with Class AA Mississippi in 2015, posting an 0-1 record with a 1.87 ERA. In 33 2/3 innings, he struck out forty and walked eleven. The Mariners will assign him to Class AAA Tacoma.
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