The Mariners announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Rafael Montero for assignment. His spot on the active and 40-man rosters will go to righty Casey Sadler, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list.
Acquired from the Rangers in an offseason trade that sent a pair of 18-year-old prospects — righty Jose Corniell and infielder Andres Mesa — to the Rangers, Montero opened the season as the closer in Seattle. He struggled early in the year and eventually relinquished that ninth-inning job to breakout righty Kendall Graveman.
Montero never found much consistency, even in a setup capacity, but his results dating back to the end of June have just become too much for the club to overlook. Montero has not only been scored upon in seven of his past eight appearances — he’s given up multiple runs in each of those seven outings. Since June 25, he’s pitched to a whopping 13.09 ERA in 11 innings — surrendering 16 runs on 25 hits and four walks with 11 punchouts in that time. That brutal stretch has ballooned his season ERA all the way to 7.27.
As rough as the 2021 season has been for Montero, the former Mets farmhand was quite good in his two seasons with Texas. He signed with the Rangers while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and eventually made his debut partway through the 2019 season, slowly earning the team’s trust in higher-leverage spots. By the 2020 season he was the primary closer in Arlington, leading the club with eight saves. Montero’s two years in Texas produced a 3.09 ERA with a strong 28.6 percent strikeout rate against just a 5.9 percent walk rate.
Things clearly didn’t work out in Seattle, and the Mariners will now have a week to trade Montero, place him on outright waivers or simply release him. He’s on a $2.25MM salary, making it highly unlikely that a team would either trade for him or claim him on waivers if placed there. And, even if Montero goes unclaimed, he reached five years of Major League service time in 2021, giving him the right to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency — without forfeiting the remaining guarantee on his deal.
As such, it seems quite likely that today will spell the end of Montero’s time with the organization. If he does either receive his release or reject an outright assignment, he’ll hit the open market in search of a change of scenery and fresh opportunity. Given how well Montero pitched in 2019-20, other clubs would surely have interest on what would essentially be a free look.
As for the 31-year-old Sadler, he’ll return to the Mariners and look to build on what was a strong start to his time with the club. Seattle plucked him off waivers out of the Cubs organization in 2020, and he’s proceeded to give them 21 innings of 3.00 ERA relief work dating back to the time of that claim. Sadler has fanned exactly a quarter of the 88 batters he’s faced as a Mariner and kept the ball on the ground at a roughly 44 percent clip as well.
Carrj
Bet that the Dodgers will be calling
missjill2u
As a Mariners and Giants fan I hope they snatch him up and out him in their closer role ASAP
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yourslacker
About time
Metsin777
The Mets should claim him and then release either Castro, Gsellman, or Tropeano
Oldschoolandthemets1980
Castro has more potential, I would hang on to him.But i would be open to a reunion with Montero.
Cosmo2
No. Effen. Way. …Castro is MUCH better than Montero. You really want someone who’s put up a -1.9 bWAR in half a season? Gsellman is much better. Tropeano is no worse.
Gk_holiday
Long. Looooong overdue. Poor guy. Hope he figures it out though.
missjill2u
It has to sting for him.
bigdaddyhacks
Good.
allweatherfan
But he has a winning (5-3) record.
missjill2u
Come and get him!
KcsMsFan
Thank the lord. This is the literal definition of addition by subtraction. We clawed back into the game last night and then I see Montero take the mound and immediately thought “well there she blows” and low and behold…
SodoMojo90
It turned the game off when he came in last night and then came back 15 minutes later to see how many more runs the A’s scored. It really was like clockwork at this point
Y2KAK
WOW
DarkSide830
cmon DD, gettem!
When it was a game.
Why theres no such thing as cant miss prospect. He was a beast in the minors.
zoinksscoob
This is the equivalent of the scene in which Billy Beane told Art Howe he couldn’t play Carlos Pena at 1B because he had been traded away. Scott Servais couldn’t resist bringing Montero into high-leverage situations despite the fact that the guy could NOT pitch out of the stretch at all and constantly threw kerosene on fires. The only to make sure that Servais couldn’t continue to do so was to remove Montero from the equation entirely. This was the Fernando Rodney Experience all over again, except without the occasional good outing and theatrics on the mound. Mariners fans all over are rejoicing!
Chester Copperpot
Scott Servais does NOT make in game pitching decisions. All are predetermined by Dipoto and staff. This had been confirmed by Shannon Drayer on her 710 page. Be mad at Dipoto for acquiring, then forcing Servais to pitch Montero.
dshires4
Glad that chapter came to a close, unlike any game he was called to pitch in.
zoinksscoob
Touché, sir.
Oldschoolandthemets1980
Maybe Texas will take him back, after they trade Kennedy. Montero seemed to have quite a little bit of success in Arlington, yanks or dodgers may surprise as well and take a flyer or even the Phils.
The Baseball Fan
I smell a trade
BPG86
Bold take, thinking DiPoto will make a trade at the deadline.
His trade history is similar to that of anyone running a franchise in a video game. (Exaggerated)
Slothcliff Hokum
He was Monterrible.
I hope he figures things out, but with some other organization than Seattle.
Kyle T
FINALLY…guy just isn’t in the right mindset..this was long overdue
SodoMojo90
Waaaaay too late. Regardless of the results of tonight’s game against the Athletics, us Mariners fans won today
hoof hearted
When Sea acquired him, Texas fans warned us; they were right.
Cosmo2
And somehow there are Met fans that want him back
angt222
Back to the Mets?
Bill M
That would be a bad thing
Robrock30
I remember Montero was highly touted when he arrived with the Mets and Jacob Degrom was ticketed for the bullpen. Montero was a nibbler never being able to put away batters and he was praised for his pinpoint control which was quite the opposite.
Montero was injured and so DeGrom became the starter. Prime example of how clueless the Mets FO is with respect to assessing talent and player development.
Cosmo2
It shows nothing. It’s just an example if something that has happened to a lot of teams in one way or another.
martevious
I don’t understand all the people who seem to want Montero on their teams! It seems he’s a decent human being, but a pitcher? The guy simply doesn’t have it. Maybe he can get it back but, right now, he isn’t even close to being a major league pitcher.