The Mariners announced that they have signed left-hander Roenis Elias, righty Paul Sewald and infielder Jantzen Witte to minor league contracts.
This will be the third Mariners stint for Elias, who was previously with the team from 2014-15 and again from 2018-19. Formerly a starter, the 32-year-old has put up a 3.75 ERA over 377 innings in Seattle to this point. He has also taken the mound for the Red Sox and Nationals, though Elias has not pitched in the majors since 2019, owing in part to a flexor strain he suffered last season. Overall, Elias has logged a 3.97 ERA with a strikeout percentage of 19.7 and a walk percentage of 9.0 during his 388-inning big league career.
Sewald spent the first four seasons of his MLB tenure as a Met, but the 30-year-old struggled to a 5.50 ERA in 147 1/3 frames during that span. Witte, 31, has not played in the majors yet. The former Red Sox farmhand took 1,227 plate appearances at the Triple-A level for them and hit .261/.333/.370.
Paul Sewald has a 1-14 Win/Loss record in his career
All with the Mets but watch him excel with Seattle.
I feel like a lot of pitchers get better when they leave the mets
I feel like everyone does better when they’re not on the Mariners.
Not usually Seattle’s luck, the opposite actually, Adrian Beltre, Justin Smoak.. I could think of other but yeah, usually not Seattle’s luck
Huh. Using players from past management as an indictment on current player development I see.
Okay… Ketel Marte & Chris Taylor… just off the top of my head.
Counterargument: Successful rehabilitation projects from this regime include Graveman, Walker, and Sheffield
Chester, both are valid players to bring up no doubt.
Austin Nola as well who Dipoto got a bigger return for than most GMs are for far superior players.
@chester – I wouldn’t include Ketel Marte in there. He was a young kid (22) when M’s traded him who had a bright future. He was expected to be good and didnt really fully develop into an all-star until his 3rd year in Arizona which was at age appropriate development. He wasn’t someone they gave up on and got better with another team, M’s got 2 all-stars back in that trade.
Graveman has tossed 18.1 IP of 5.79 era baseball in a Mariner uniform. There is no better evidence for Dipoto deference than this.
Walker has always been good.. He was good when DIpoto traded him, and he was good when Dipoto signed him. There was no “rehabilitation project” necessary.
Sheffield was 22 and had seen 2 innings of the mlb, and was the 31st highest rated prospect in all of baseball when Dipoto acquired him. I don’t anyone would say Dipoto rehabilitated him.
Graveman has tossed 18.1 IP of 5.79 era baseball in a Mariner uniform. There is no better evidence for Dipoto deference than this.
The statement was about players that get better when they leave Seattle… not about Seattle giving up on players.
That ERA was inflated by his first two games. Once he got moved to the bullpen, he allowed just 4 runs in 10 innings. Considering he was acquired for peanuts and coming off of major arm surgery, that’s promising.
Walker already enjoyed success… like three years ago. He had not shown flashes of his former self after recovering from surgery until this last year.
Sheffield’s stock plummeted considerably with the Yankees and he struggled in his first year with the M’s. Last year, he put it together and showed signs of reliability to come with a 3.17 FIP.
I’m not saying any of these players are standouts, but you cannot deny that they improved upon signing with Seattle. As for your claims I’m a Dipoto apologist? I have absolutely no incentive to praise or denounce him. This is about as unbiased of a source as it gets
Well yes, a 22 year old would probably get better as he was develops
Nice call. I’d say he was worth the flyer too.
Elias’s xFIP and SIERA make me think that his 2018 and 2019 seasons were both flukey. Both were super high versus his era and fip. And he’s not a strikeout pitcher either. He really isn’t a “groundball pitcher” or a “flyball pitcher”, despite that he just gets outs. I could see this move by a team like the M’s, Pirates, Marlins, but if the Dodgers or Blue Jays made this move, I would be more skeptical. He gets outs, and that’s what the M’s need in their pen. Fine move.
I just noticed something about Elias by looking through his fangraphs page, all his pitches ticked up in velo in the 2018 season. What was most drastic was his fastball velo going from 92 to 94 average velo.
I’m going to keep looking through his stats because I’m trying to figure out why he’s effective, yet the advanced stuff doesn’t like him.
It might be because he went from being a starter to a releiver. Kick it up an extra notch when you’re not trying to save some for later.
He switched from starter to relief in 15′ while I was looking at his 18′ and 19′ seasons. That wouldn’t explain the advances stats not liking him either.
Lefty Roenis benefitted by Safeco being less generous to RH hitters, but even then he was lucky in 2018, and he had a good defensive catcher in Zunino. In 2019, Narvaez was behind the plate and he was unlucky. He’s a decent NRI.
As a Sox pitcher, he seemed overwhelmed on the mound yet his Seattle stats look amazing compared to what Boston put out there last year. I’m thinking they could have signed worse.
I bet it had to do with him attending the Mariners “Gas Camp.”
I think the M’s Gas Camp is for young pitchers, could he have gone to that camp cause it usually increases the velo.
Good luck Paul .
I think Mariners sign every pitcher Mets let go
Roenis is a great buy low guy who has had some recent success
Try outs! There all try outs. Nothing wrong here, they’re just filling out there spring training invitees. Maybe 1 will stick.
Witte leaving Boston’s system? say it aint so.
Hopefully Witte gets a chase to play in the mlb although I won’t hold my breath.
I’m pumped for this! Roenis was one of my favorite players here. And it was well known that he loved Seattle. I have no doubt in my mind that he’ll make the ML roster
Have fun with Paul. I never understood why certain players get so many chances and just prove over and over again they are not mlb quality players meanwhile there are tons of hardworking minor leaguers who never get that chance to show what they have. Paul is terrible at the major league level. Better than 99.9 percent of the world but definitely does not belong in the majors. You will find that out soon enough.
As it turns out, we are having a lot of fun with Paul. He’s been a valuable high-leverage, late innings pitcher who gets used multiple times a week and is dominant more times than not. Whether or not he was good with the Mets (we both know we was not) is not the case for how he’s turned the corner this year. Seattle trades away some unrealized talent too often, but their front office has a way of identifying minor league contract and Indy Ball players — specifically pitchers — who can make a difference.
Seawald is the worst Mets pitcher I’ve ever watched I’m beyond glad he’s in another organization so he won’t get called up and stink it up again
Yeah, that sucks. Nowadays he’s been ridiculously effective out of the bullpen after this signing, for what that’s worth. Probably not much to Mets faithful though.
Poor Jantzen wasn’t even good enough to make the title
Relax everybody. These are minor league contracts lol.
Another burnt out arm, What’s up Jarry???
Mariners ws..2022
Mariners ws..2022 !!!