The Mariners announced several roster moves this afternoon, chief among them the departure of right-hander Penn Murfee, who was claimed off waivers by the Mets. In addition, the Mariners assigned three players outright to Triple-A: catcher Luis Torrens along with right-handers Easton McGee and Adam Oller.
Murfee underwent UCL surgery back in June and is expected to miss at least the first half of the 2024 campaign. Prior to his injury, Murfee had a 1.29 ERA over 14 innings for Seattle in 2023, following up on a 2022 rookie season that saw the righty post a 2.99 ERA in 69 1/3 frames of work. For his career, Murfee has an impressive 27.6% strikeout rate and an 8.5% walk rate, though that latter number rose significantly from a 6.6BB% in 2022 to an ungainly 17.2% total this past season.
Between the UCL injury and Murfee’s spike in walks, the Mariners had some legitimate reasons for seeing the reliever as expendable, and Murfee is also turning 30 in May. On the other hand, Murfee had some very strong numbers since becoming a full-time reliever in the minors in 2021, and he hasn’t yet reached his arbitration years. Should Murfee return in good health, the Mets might’ve landed themselves some quality relief help for some portion of the 2024 season and beyond, as Murfee is controlled through the 2028 season.
Torrens has the right to reject the outright assignment and elect free agency, since he has previously been outrighted in his career. Oller and McGee, meanwhile, lack the requisite service time to reject their assignments but still figure to be eligible for minor league free agency in November.
Now perhaps nearing the end of his second stint with the Mariners, Torrens was signed to a minor league deal back in August. Seattle didn’t tender Torrens a contract last winter, and he subsequently signed a minors contract with the Cubs before eventually moving to the Orioles and Nationals in other transactions over the course of a journeyman season for the 27-year-old catcher. Brought back as some catching depth after Tom Murphy was injured, Torrens appeared in five MLB games with the M’s, to go along with the 13 Major League appearances he made with the Cubs during the 2023 campaign.
Never known for his defense, Torrens’ market will be limited since some teams go glovework-first when considering backup catcher options. Torres did hit 15 homers as recently as 2021 when it looked like he might be carving out a place for himself in Seattle’s catching mix, but he has a .227/.289/.354 slash line over his 807 career plate appearances in the majors.
Torrens will surely catch on somewhere on a new minor league deal since teams are always in need of catching depth, yet he might need some spark at the plate to keep himself from another carousel of roster transactions. This winter marked Torrens’ second trip through the arbitration process, and since he was projected to earn $1.3MM in 2024, it made for a pretty easy decision for the Mariners to part ways.
Like Murfee, McGee is in the midst of a lengthy rehab, as he underwent Tommy John surgery back in May. That will keep the right-hander out until at least halfway through the 2024 season, with the timeline perhaps a little fluid depending on both health and whether or not McGee is built back up for a starters’ workload. McGee has worked mostly as a starter throughout his pro career, though the Mariners (or a new team) could bring him back as a reliever next year as a way of getting him back into the field, and then fully stretching him back out in Spring Training 2025.
McGee (who turns 26 in December) was a Rays fourth-round selection in the 2016 draft, and his big league experience to date has consisted of exactly two games — three innings in an outing with Tampa in 2022, and a 6 2/3-inning start with Seattle in 2023. His minor league resume consists of 485 1/3 innings and a 4.30 ERA, including a 4.78 ERA over 141 1/3 frames at the Triple-A level. McGee isn’t a big strikeout pitcher, relying on good control and grounders to get results.
All of Oller’s MLB experience came with the Athletics (94 innings in 28 games) in 2022-23, though he has been part of five different organizations in his career. Oller was a Rule 5 Draft selection for the Mets off the Giants’ roster in 2019, and Oller was part of the trade package New York sent to the A’s for Chris Bassitt prior to the 2022 season. Seattle claimed Oller off waivers from the A’s in July but he never made any appearances for the M’s at the big league level.
Oller has a 7.09 ERA over his 94 innings for Oakland, and a 4.50 ERA in 526 1/3 career innings in the minors. It seemed as though Oller had turned a corner in 2021 with an impressive years in the Mets’ farm system, but things soured in 2023 as Oller struggles both the big leagues, and at the Triple-A level with the Athletics’ and Mariners’ top affiliates.
Wow! Mets with a steal!
Finally, some Mariners news.
These things here are pretty much just housekeeping, one might call it.
I still don’t think they need any expensive new bat, by the way.
Just another year of maturity will take care of matters, IMHO..
Long time M’s fan here and have to disagree Fred. We need at least two more bats if Teo leaves. When our bottom of the order is Dylan Moore, Haggerty, Rojas, Canzone, Ford, Marlowe, you have a problem. Maybe some of these young bats will get better but that’s rolling the dice. We need a full time DH and not a committee of .200 hitters there. We have a crazy amazing surplus of young, controllable starting pitchers and Trader Jerry can put together a nice deal, hopefully. All that said, I’m glad we haven’t overpaid the last few free agent classes for the likes of Trevor Story, Chris Bryant, Javy Baez, Correa, and others.
Maybe so, BPax.
I’m just hoping for lots of growth in ability in some of them, especially Ford, Canzone and Rojas.
You’re suggesting a team trade controllable starters for a full time DH???
Teams nowadays don’t usually employ a full time DH because the rest of the lineup needs rest. Or the team has a Bryce Harper situation where you’ve got a player locked up long term and they get hurt and can’t return to their natural position for half the year.
I’m suggesting we need at least two more bats and a committee of 200 hitters we used at DH last year was a disaster. Say we re-sign Teo. There’s your 75% of the time DH. He’s a dicey outfielder. Unless it’s Ohtani, I’m not in favor of overpaying a Bellinger, say. Trades are where we will get bats and we have like 8 starting pitchers.
Robbie Ray
Luis Castillo
George Kirby
Logan Gilbert
Marco Gonzalez
Brian Woo
Bryce Miller
Easton McGee
We have valuable trade chips, and you have to give up something to get something usually.
You need only to look at the length of the lineups of most teams in the playoffs and know the M’s have to improve theirs.
iver, think JD Martinez or Justin Turner, both were available and affordable. These guys would have been huge for us.
That’s nice.
Hindsight is always 20/20.
Fred, I’m totally with you in the hopes that some of the young hitters will step up. Canzone, Rojas, Marlowe to name three. But were you here when we waited on Smoak, Ackley, Saunders, Nick Franklin, and others? Man, that was painful! Our window is open now. There were M’s fans urging them to look at Brandon Drury and JD Martinez as well as Turner last offseason but the very wealthy M’s went cheap with Wong, Pollack, & LaStella. As Texas just showed, you can squeak into the big dance and roll from there. I have faith in DiPoto but not so sure about ownership’s cheapness.
How well I remember, BPax.
Today is my 87th birthday and I have followed the Mariners since Day One.
It is obvious that you have, too.
I love your summation – now if we could only squeak into the big dance.
Well, it’s the offseason now, so we will see what happens about the cheapness.
Happy Birthday, Fred! I always enjoy reading your posts as a long time M’s fan. 2024 might be our year!!!
Many thanks, BPax, and likewise, I enjoy reading yours!
They better hurry up or I might not be here.
That’s the problem though, Fred. They need to mature but need to do it without the pressure to do it all themselves. That’s what Texas did by getting Seager and Semien. Those two took the pressure of Garcia, Jung, Carter, and Heim. Now they’ve matured into dangerous hitters without having to deal with the pressure of learning AND having to shoulder the team. Seattle needs a few legit bats to allow Julio, JK, Cal and co to continue to grow without the unneeded pressure.
Okay. I have come ’round to that idea after reading your post here.
Well, the offseason hasn’t actually arrived yet, so we can hope that over the weeks they get the right guy or guys.
I can buy into that.
Damn why exactly was he on waivers in the first place? The Mariners have dumped some very good relievers over the past couple of years.
Because he had surgery and won’t be ready to pitch until late next season (if he doesn’t have any setbacks).
I hate this move, too. But, it’s a roster space for someone who may not even pitch in 2024.
He’s got bad stuff and is 1/3 of the way into TJ I think
Bad stuff….
You obviously didn’t see him pitch.
“Why exactly was he on waivers in the first place”…The Mariners are a reliever factory. They acquire and sometimes dfa serviceable relievers each and every year. Teams that spend a fortune on bullpen should watch & emulate how the M’s operate.
They have to start activating the guys on the 60 day IL so there needs to be several roster moves. They apparently thought that since he may not pitch most if any of next season that he needed to be DFA and not take on of those roster spots.
No….. don’t leave us Penn!!! Dude was fire! Very Sewald-like. Not overpowering stuff but deceptive Delivery.
Oh, they had a reason, buso35. Just hang on. We’ll figure that out later, as always.
Great deal for the Mets. Kids got a real nice slider.
I actually like this move. Already Stearns has done one move and its better than all of Eppler’s moves combined
Mets fans were all happy last offseason when Eppler cohen combo spent 500 million on free agents. So why the change of heart?
@mad1 most Mets fans were. I wasn’t. Look back to when we signed Justin Verlander, I said it was a stupid signing. I also said picking up Carrasco’s option was stupid as well
Nice get for the Mets when he’s healthy
Is he a sider armer or submariner?
Watch for yourself.
youtube.com/watch?v=mtOlj9sSst0
The David Stearns era begins. Good things in store for NYM fans
Did you copy and paste this last sentence from the comments after the hire of every Mets GM for the last 30 years?
I saw this too on The Athletic.
I think somebody pushed the wrong button. Can we “un-waiver” Penn Murfee? Maybe it’s “reverse-waiver.” “Un-waiverize”??
Seriously disappointing. Penn was a stud and a good guy. Hoping he can come back from his arm injury. He had a great 2022 season. Good luck my man! Lots of love!
Was really rooting for Padres to pick this guy up so we can finally see his fan section: The Murfee Browns.
Will they be single moms wearing George Bush t-shirts?
Congratulations to Murfee. You were just another Middle Reliever in his late 20s when you were with Seattle, now your an absolute stud since the Mets got you…and you won’t even throw your first pitch for them until late 2024 at the earliest.
A lot of smart(?) talk from a Marlins fan to the Mets fans. Your fish are dead in the post season. Dead fish stink! Go back to sipping your Mojitos and fantasizing about ’24.
I wonder if it’s worse to be dead in the Postseason or to spend way more than any other team in history, and not even sniff a chance at the postseason and being forced into a trade deadline fire sale in which they get wrong by paying money instead of cutting it…for prospects that the same people who failed at evaluating how to spend a ton of money are the same people who picked the prospects to trade for.
Lol…hey Fish head,share your hate with your 29th ranked (out of THIRTY) attendance of wait for it…I’m laughing…1.16 million fans(??). Y’all gave Oakland a good run for WORST attendance this year.
I wouldn’t know or care about the attendance because I go to the games to…uh…watch the games. I’m not creepily watching the people in the stands, nor do I have a need to see how many people enjoy what I enjoy because I don’t have a need to be validated for anything I enjoy…unlike others who need to be part of a crowd to enjoy something.
Shortsighted move by Seattle.
Agreed. He was worth stashing.
Mets getting scouting ideas from TBS analysis of Paul Sewald’s delivery
Good luck to the slider king. Hope that arm holds up for him
Last time I had gyros I got gutbusting diarrhea
“Meanwhile” can’t be in the middle of a sentence—it HAS to be at the start. When will you writers learn this?
That’s not true. As long as it’s in between parathetical commas then it can be used in the middle of a sentence. That’s exactly how the writer used it. It functions the same way as “however.”
You are the one who is wrong. Parenthetical commas are not necessary with meanwhile. lambdageeks.com/is-meanwhile-an-adverb/
Plus, the author isn’t adjoining two independent clauses, which is when you use a connective adverb like “meanwhile.”
Nice try, Chris.
Everyone just mute this clown
There’s more than one way to think of meanwhile being located in the middle of a sentence.
You need quotation marks around that.
Around what? Just going to say that in your reply within specifying what that means?
But Ok, I’ll fix it
“There’s more than one way to think of meanwhile being located in the middle of a sentence.”
I’ve never met someone in society or online who correct people about their grammar or punctuation who aren’t socially awkward and don’t anything else intelligent ever. So congrats on being that guy.
Meanwhile, back to the comments about the Mets picking up Penn Murfee…
Great get for the Mets! The slider is just a nasty pitch. It reminds me of what Ottavino’s pitches used to do, before they became mainly hangers.
Good pickup always in motion those New Yorkers. Wonder where they’ll station Penn?
I see what you did there
He’ll be stationed in the pen, meanwhile.
This is a very astute move for a club that plans on selling some pieces off in the offseason. Penn probably is waived at least one more time before he throws another MLB pitch. Needs to be on a team that can sacrifice a roster spot for a year