TODAY: The Mariners announced that Snead has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A. As was reported yesterday, Bowman also cleared waivers and chose free agency rather than accept an outright assignment.
JUNE 11: The Mariners announced that they have recalled left-hander Jhonathan Díaz and right-hander Eduard Bazardo from Triple-A Tacoma. Díaz will start tonight’s game instead of Bryan Woo. To open roster spots for those two arms, both right-hander Matt Bowman and left-hander Kirby Snead have been designated for assignment.
Snead, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Mariners in the offseason. He made 12 appearances for Triple-A Tacoma to start the year with a 2.92 earned run average. He struck out 27.7% of batters faced, gave out walks at a tiny 4.3% rate and got grounders on 63.3% of balls in play.
That got him called up to the majors just over a month ago but the results haven’t been as strong since then. He made 11 appearances for the Mariners with a 4.35 ERA. His 51.5% ground ball rate was still strong but his strikeout and walk tallies were both seven, giving him a subpar 14.6% rate in each of those categories.
Snead pitched in two of the past three games for Seattle and likely would have been down for a day or two. Since he’s out of options and the overall results have been mediocre, he’s been bumped off the roster as the club gets some fresh arms aboard.
Bowman, 33, is also out of options and has been featured in many transactions because of it. The M’s just added him to their roster on Sunday and he made one appearances for them, logging two thirds of an inning in last night’s contest. That’s already the third team he’s pitched for this year, also taking the mound for the Twins and Diamondbacks.
For each player, the Mariners will have one week to either line up a trade or pass them through waivers. Bowman has a 4.22 ERA in 200 1/3 career innings but most of that work was a long time ago. He didn’t pitch in the majors during the 2020-2022 seasons due to injuries, including Tommy John surgery. He returned to the bigs by tossing four innings with the Yankees last year. Overall, he’s been able to get decent amounts of ground balls, with 55.6% of balls in play in his career hitting the dirt. Snead has a career ERA of 5.09 in a more limited sample of 74 1/3 innings at the major league level.
Díaz, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Mariners in the offseason and has been posting great results for Triple-A Tacoma this year. In 12 outings, including 11 starts and one long relief outing, he has thrown 66 1/3 innings with a 2.98 ERA. That’s despite pitching in the hitter-friendly confines of the Pacific Coast League. He has a 24.3% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and 57.1% ground ball rate in that time.
He had an opt-out on his minor league deal but the Mariners were clearly impressed by his work in Tacoma this year. They added him to their 40-man roster to prevent him from triggering that opt-out, but kept him on optional assignment until today.
Per Adam Jude of the Seattle Times on X, Woo is having an MRI on his arm. It’s unclear exactly what the issue is but Woo began the year on the injured list due to right medial elbow inflammation. He returned in early May and has been utterly dominating, with an ERA of 1.07 in his six starts this year.
It’s a concerning development for the Mariners, both due to how well Woo has been pitching and the fact that it may be a recurrence of the previous issue. Further updates may be forthcoming after the MRI results come in, but it seems Díaz will step in and make at least one spot start. The Mariners have a strong rotation with Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryce Miller in four spots, even without Woo. If Woo needs a trip to the IL, perhaps Díaz will stick around, though the M’s also have Emerson Hancock on the 40-man roster.
I actually thought Snead would stick around, but the 4 walks over his last 2 appearances doesn’t fit the “command the zone” motif
Dang, for a second there I thought it was George Kirby.
Now THAT’ would be a DFA claim I’d fully support!
Out of options really means out of options and out of of a job with no options .
And… Logan Evans back to the rotation.
Yep. I would probably rather dangle Hancock as trade bait than Evans.
They aren’t likely moving starting pitching.
Relief pitching, sure. In fact, we should probably anticipate that.
Not likely, Bookbook. The questions and concerns about Woo’s health aren’t new. This isn’t something that likely surprised them.
Apart from Díaz, they have Hancock, and off the 40 they have Dallas Keuchel who has been pretty good over his last 3 starts in Tacoma.
Worried about Cy Woo. At least it’s the White Sox in town, so any AAA starter will do.
Hancock probably up if this is longer term, since he would be on 3 days’ rest today
The WS had the Mariners number for 7 1/2 innings last night. Wouldn’t count on 8 runs in 2 innings a lot.
Probably, but feeling confident Chicago can find many ways to lose.
I am now extremely scared about woo because if he gets the old TJ then that means that Hancock would be our 5th starter and we wouldn’t be able to use him in a potential trade for a bat
I don.t know why you would think there is, or should be, a plan or a need to trade Hancock. He’s solid, pre-arb depth.
Probably because to get any kind of significant return they have to give up value and Dallas Keuchel isn’t going to get it done.
Exactly we can’t have keuchel or Jonathan Diaz or Logan Evans as our 5th starter
Not disagreeing but if they trade young assets it won’t be Hancock. I think the most likely prospect to be traded is probably Harry Ford, who has more value than Hancock anyway.
That said I think they’ll stand pat and grow this thing organically. Maybe a minor move, but they’re not gonna go out and get LuBob or Pete Alonso.
I think it’s all but guaranteed Jerry makes some moves. It’s Trader Jerry. But how big or how small they are remains to be seen. They certainly need an offensive upgrade. Teams selling are going to be looking for top prospects and pitching. I don’t think Jerry will give up much in the area of pitching and I sure hope they don’t give up Harry Ford, although he does present good trade value.
I wasn’t impressed with Dias performance if that’s the best he has to offer. Pitching continues to be subject to changes.
Looks like the Dodgers, and Yankees have their vacuum cleaners out sucking up whatever talent is out there, while so far the M’s are being quiet about their intentions. I don’t see them picking up hitting not since we have Raley bunting, more likely pitching they had better formulate a plan before they strikeout which happens all to often on who they want.
That was a perfect surprise bunt to tie the game. Had nothing to do with his hitting skills. Reminded me of Jake Taylor laying one down score Willy Mayes Hayes.
Get the brooms out!!