The Mariners have agreed to bring back right-hander Casey Lawrence on a minor league contract, per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. He’d previously been outrighted off the 40-man roster and become a free agent. Presumably, he’ll be in Major League camp this coming spring.
The 30-year-old Lawrence proved to be an oft-used depth piece for an injury-plagued Mariners staff in 2017. After being claimed off outright waivers (out of the Blue Jays’ system) in early May, Lawrence was recalled to the Majors on four separate occasions by the Mariners through season’s end.
All told, Lawrence tossed 42 innings for the M’s, and while his 5.57 ERA wasn’t pretty, he did average 9.6 K/9 against a respectable 3.0 BB/9 mark in his 23 appearances. Home runs proved to be a significant problem for the rookie, though, as he also averaged 1.93 big flies per nine innings pitched in Seattle. Metrics like xFIP (3.87) and SIERA (3.68) reviewed Lawrence’s work far more favorably than his ERA (due largely to those K/BB numbers), but he’ll need to rein in the home runs if he’s to have any sort of chance at success in the Majors.
Interesting way to spell Ohtani
^hilarious. Comment made my morning
Didn’t someone else make that joke like yesterday on a different article..?
Never mind, my bad
Aw shucks, now that Lawrence is not available, the Jays have to look elsewhere for the #1` and #3 starters that they desparately need. Sarcasm heavy.
Wow, that was awful.
Lawrence is from my Mcsherrystown, PA. My home town! He also graduated from Delone Catholic high school and is a super nice guy. They might want to be careful with him though. He’s pretty much a Tripple A pitcher at best. Poor guy spent like 8 years in the minors.
He has a chance and that’s a hell of a lot more than we have:)
I approve of this.