The Mariners announced Tuesday that they’ve placed right-hander Kendall Graveman on the 10-day injured list due to neck spasms and selected the contract of right-hander Joey Gerber from their alternate training site. Seattle also recalled southpaw Taylor Guilbeau from their alternate site and optioned fellow lefty Zac Grotz. Graveman’s placement on the IL is retroactive to Aug. 3.
Graveman, 29, had a rocky debut effort with the Mariners on July 27 but looked sharper on Aug. 2 before departing the game with some discomfort in his neck. He signed a one-year deal with Seattle over the winter after missing most of the 2018 season and all of the 2019 campaign due to Tommy John surgery.
Prior to his injury, Graveman was a solid mid-rotation piece for the division-rival Athletics, who acquired him as part of their return in what ended up being a lopsided Josh Donaldson swap with the Jays. Graveman proved to be the most productive member of Oakland’s return — though the A’s still have Franklin Barreto — pitching to a 4.11 ERA and 4.44 FIP through 407 frames fom 2015-17. At his best, Graveman racks up grounders and limits free passes and long balls — but he’s struggled a bit with both walks (five) and homer (two) in his first 8 2/3 frames this season.
The Mariners didn’t provide a timetable on Graveman’s return, although there’s no indication that he’s dealing with a significant injury. Seattle opened the season with a six-man rotation that also included Marco Gonzales, Yusei Kikuchi, Justus Sheffield, Taijuan Walker and Justin Dunn, so they can simply drop to a more conventional five-man outfit in Graveman’s absence should they choose.
Turning to the 23-year-old Gerber, he’ll be in line for his big league debut whenever he first takes the mound. The 2018 eighth-rounder hasn’t yet reached the Triple-A level, although he’d surely have done so in 2020 had there been a minor league season. Gerber was excellent in Double-A last year and has more generally impressed at every minor league stop in his career to date. He’s a pure bullpen prospect who, in 74 2/3 frames since being drafted, has worked to a 2.42 ERA with a whopping 13.6 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. Gerber didn’t allow a homer across three Mariners Class-A affiliates and only yielded two in 22 2/3 innings of Double-A work in 2019.
woo Gerber baby!
Looks like he was just drafted I should have paid more attention to the draff
But he pitched in A and AA? Weird
Nope, 2018. Same year as Gilbert.
Gerber! Yaaaaa, about bloody time too. I’ve been looking forward to his promotion. Great debut too…… RIP Shaw
shame about his injury problems, but i dont know if he can be an effective pitcher anymore because of them.
I think he needs more time and patience, more opportunities.
His stuff has looked very good in the first couple innings every time so far. He’s probably best suited for a bullpen role, like Royals and Wade Davis back in the day. Graveman doesn’t have the breaking ball to be that good but he’d be pretty good
Just yesterday I begged the question when is Seattle willing to start the service clock for a player like Gerber. Well, we have an answer.
This is a little surprising, but far from shocking. He was great in AA, spring, and “summer camp”. He wasn’t Rule-5 eligible this winter, but that was never going to be an issue. So, perhaps now he’ll be groomed for the closing role. If Hirano isn’t due to join the club anytime soon, they might as well give him a shot.
The real surprise here is that Shaw hasn’t been DFAd… yet. He probably won’t survive the coming cuts, though, and at some point Delaplane and Mills should get the nod. Both are Rule-5 eligible this winter. As bad as the M’s bullpen has been, they could do a 180 pretty quick, especially once Adams is back.
Regarding the rotation, I could see Swanson getting a spot-start, but I would imagine they’ll drop to a 5-man rotation pretty quick.
i mean, are you really tpo concerned about service time for a RP? its not like this guy is the next Mo or Chapman
I’m not concerned about service time with relievers, but I wondered if Seattle was for a couple of reasons that are related.
One is that they aren’t likely contending before 2022, and even 2022 might be optimistic. Relief pitchers don’t typically need that much time to adjust and settle in. Gerber will have plenty. That’s okay, though.
Another is that there’s limited 40-man space for arms. Obviously Shaw and Hirano aren’t going to be around next year, but they have 5 relievers who will be Rule-5 eligible (Delaplane, Mills, Anderson, Then, and Newsome) and players like Bautista who hasn’t had a real look yet, as well as Edwards who may have his option exercised. Then there are the players who are still being assessed, like Altavilla, Guilbeau, etc.
Make no mistake, I’m looking forward to seeing Gerber and like I said, it wasn’t shocking. Gilbert or Kelenic debuting this year would be a much bigger surprise.
Correction: 5 pitchers who will be Rule-5 eligible. Then and Newsome are starters (for now).