FEBRUARY 16: Camp's deal is worth $750K, MLBTR has learned.
FEBRUARY 6: The Mariners signed reliever Shawn Camp to a Major League deal, tweets Shannon Drayer of 710 ESPN Seattle. The Mariners announced the signings of Camp and Hong-Chih Kuo, noting they've designated catcher Chris Gimenez and outfielder Mike Wilson to open spots on the 40-man roster for the new relievers.
Camp, 36, posted a 4.21 ERA, 4.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 0.41 HR/9, and 53.5% groundball rate in 66 1/3 innings for the Blue Jays last year. His agent Dave Meier did well in scoring a Major League deal this late in the offseason. Camp was a Type B free agent this winter, but the Blue Jays did not offer arbitration and will not receive draft pick compensation. The Mariners have added to their bullpen on the cheap this winter with Camp, Kuo, George Sherrill, and Aaron Heilman.
Gimenez, 29, was non-tendered in December but then quickly re-signed to a big league deal. Wilson, 28, hit .331/.418/.555 with 16 home runs in 388 plate appearances in his third pass at the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
Yep. I see a Mariners pennant in 2012.
ugh.
Mariners sign Shawn Kemp, and an NBA rumors website. What is this world coming to?
Not nice to kick teams when they’re down…
And then you woke up
I’m starting to no trust jack z
Why? He has basically stocked the team with bullpen depth without spending substantial payroll, or committing multi-year contract dollars. Just because we need offense doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to improve our pitching. Our bullpen wasn’t exactly stellar last season. Go M’s!
I see him flipping this guy to a contender before the deadline
This year’s David Pauley…
Shawn Camp has good stuff, just couldn’t miss bats
So he doesnt have good stuff?
Yes, thank you for making such an insightful comment
League, Kuo, Wilhelmsen, Sherrill, Camp, Kelley and Ruffin…
Great bullpen IMO…
Too bad they won’t be coming in much with the lead…
I dont see any reason at this point in the offseason to give major league contracts.
So you think Oswalt should sign a minor league?
Last year was rough one for him and it made it tougher because he had no defined role with John Farrell. The year before with cito he was lights out in the 7th. Best of luck! #safecofieldwillhelp
hopefully he can remain in seattle w/o having 39 different illegitimate children.
Is that why Shawn Kemp was so fat? Did he have all the babies himself?
Pretty good pitcher on a bad team.
Shawn Camp Shawn Camp. The Mariners signed Shawn Camp? The Mariners are going to win the Pennant!
Wait who in the heck is Shawn Camp
what would you say if they actually did?
The funny part is that Camp has been in the major leagues for many years, has been one of the most used relievers in the game, is in the same league as the M’s (the American) and despite it all you then make a comment that you have no clue who he is. Your mistaken assumption is that because you don’t pay enough attention to baseball to know who a player is, and the team gets that player, it must be a bad signing. Maybe you could help out by sending Jack Z a list of players you’ve heard of and he could pick from the list.
Prince Fielder…
FYI it was a bad joke. Yes I have heard of Shawn Camp. But there is nothing special about him all he is is a middle reliever who pitches in the 6th or 7th inning inning.
Stock piling bullpen…. However taking one hell of a gamble with a young offense to have a decent season… My prediction 75-80 losses
camp will help the mariners. he is a good pitcher, and used correctly, out of the AL East and at Safeco, will do well.
Mariners are not contenders now, but take a look at how far their minor league system has come under Jack Z in the last 4 years. They were one of the 2 or 3 worst when he took over, now their minor league system is top 10 and they have some serious potential star pitching on the way.
When you don’t have 150 million a year to spend on payroll, you cannot bring about an automatic turn-a-round. You try to build form within and have a plan. The Mariners are doing this the way they have to do it.
No, they won’t lose 75-80 games this year, more like they will lose 85-88, but I don’t believe management is delusional about their chances this year, they are playing for 3rd in the AL West.
Exactly. 88 wins would be a 23 game improvement. That’s not going to happen. The Rangers and Angles both got better. The Pineda trade likely made the M’s weaker this year, though they didn’t make the trade for ’12. They have good pitchers coming up plus the #3 pick in the draft this year. With Z’s eye for talent and scouting, all those high picks complimented by a few key free agents should translate into competing in a year or two. It would go a long way if they could identify their future 3b. Maybe there is a left-handed hitting Adrian Beltre lurking somewhere…
Nice signing. Always nice to have to have depth in the bullpen.
Good move on the Mariners signing Kuo. Don’t forget Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, and Magglio Ordonez are still out there. Sign one of those guys and acquire third baseman Shane Reynolds or shortstop JJ hardy from the Baltimore Orioles for pitchers James Paxton & either Chance Ruffin or Charlie Furbush, plus Chone Figgins (Figgins also gets shipped to a National League team for some younger players). This may help the Mariners to compete w/ either Texas Rangers or Los Angeles Angels in the AL West this season.
Mark(?) Reynolds is a DH and neither he nor Hardy is worth Paxton. If the M’s compete this season it won’t be because a slight upgrade at SS or 3B, it will be because the youngsters (like Paxton) lived up to their projections.
not sure if serious
They built the farm up. I get that. Fans still are fed up though. At least get us a few players to get excited about for this season since 3rd or last place is already our spot…
Camp is a good signing for the Mariners. As a Jays fan, I liked him in the Jays pen and I wish the Jays would have kept him.
Not a ton of space for him.
Good shot at the division? Are you smoking something?
Acquiring infielder JJ Hardy to play shortstop from the O’s for pitchers Charlie Furbush or Chance Ruffin & Erasmus Ramirez, infielder Chone Figgins as a throw-in (then gets shipped to an NL team), and a minor league player to be named later would make more sense for both ballclub as it will solve a problem at SS position w/ Ackley/Ryan at second base can give Hardy a day off. Second or third place finish would be a good projection for the upcoming season for the M’s at 80-85 wins.
What are you smoking?
I think he’s been drinking a little too much Seattle’s Best Coffee.
I was always a fan of Mike Wilson. Sorry to see him leave the big club. Hopefully he can make an impact for somebody somewhere.
Wow, how low have our standards sunk when we start calling 36 yr old middle relievers with a career 4.40 ERA good?
Jay W i totally agree with you even if we are stacking our bullpen up with talent we can pitch lights out but it only makes or pitchers work harder because we have a very stagnant offense and we need a big hitter in our budget to just come in as a DH to help that department out i mean one guy is not going to have us win a
Pennant we need hitters we have young talent and we have a depth of pitchers but we need 3 to 4 batters just to help out or pitching staff i mean felix cant do it all by himself i think if Smoaks and Carp and Monero can step up and hit like they are predicted to do we might have 85 to 89 win max and we might be a wild card and make the playoffs for the first time since the 2001 season but its only a suggestion i am giving and i am being realistic about this and not just grasping at straws if our young and talented players step up and actually hit this years