November 13: The Rangers made it official today, announced they signed Curvelo to a major league deal. Their 40-man roster count climbs to 37.
November 10: The Rangers are closing in on a deal with right-handed reliever Luis Curvelo, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. It will be a major league contract for the 24-year-old hurler.
Earlier this month, Morosi reported that Curvelo was “one of the most popular free agents” at the annual GM Meetings in San Antonio. To be clear, that doesn’t necessarily mean that teams preferred Curvelo to any of the top relievers on the market. More likely, it means they viewed him as a low-risk, high-reward target who could provide meaningful innings at a fraction of the price of a proven big league pitcher.
The Venezuela native signed with the Mariners as an international free agent in 2018 and worked his way up to Double-A Arkansas in 2024. Over 49 games (66 2/3 IP) this past season, he produced the best numbers of his career to date, pitching to a 2.57 ERA and 3.03 FIP. An unusually low 7.8% home run-to-fly ball ratio and an unsustainable .227 BABIP are signs that he’s due for some regression, but even so, it’s hard not to be impressed by his performance – especially his 30.6% strikeout rate.
Curvelo has been a full-time reliever since his age-18 season, which partially explains why he was never a highly-ranked prospect in Seattle’s system. However, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs liked what he saw enough to rank Curvelo as the no. 31 prospect in the Mariners organization this past July. Longenhagen was unconvinced by the righty’s fastball but had nothing but praise for his slider. For what it’s worth, Curvelo was even better from July onward, putting up a 1.86 ERA, a 2.44 FIP, and a 33.6% strikeout rate over his final 29 innings pitched.
As for why Seattle would let Curvelo walk after such a strong season? He was eligible for minor league free agency this offseason, and the Mariners would have had to add him to their 40-man roster to prevent him from leaving. Morosi suggests they simply didn’t have space on the 40-man, and evidently, they weren’t willing to make space either. The Rangers currently have four open spots on the 40-man, giving them plenty of room to add Curvelo to the mix. There’s a good chance he’ll begin the 2025 campaign at Triple-A Round Rock (he still has all of his minor league options remaining), but presumably, Texas is hoping he’ll play a role in the big league bullpen at some point next year.
By almost every metric, the Rangers’ bullpen was one of the worst in the league this past season. Collectively, Texas relievers ranked 26th in ERA, 23rd in SIERA, and 25th in FanGraphs WAR. To make matters worse, those poor numbers came in spite of phenomenal performances from veterans Kirby Yates and David Robertson, both of whom are now free agents. So are swingman José Ureña and Rangers bullpen mainstay José Leclerc. If this team is planning to get back into contention in 2025, and there’s no reason to think they aren’t, the bullpen is an obvious area for improvement. However, owner Ray Davis is reportedly hoping to get back under the $241MM luxury threshold, which means president of baseball operations Chris Young will have limited funds at his disposal. Thus, it makes perfect sense that Young would target the relatively inexpensive upside of Curvelo.
bwood
Typical Mariners thing to do
deweybelongsinthehall
Cost for the Rangers won’t stop them from releasing him as free agents are signed and trades are made.
blackyjack
I think I trust the Mariners on pitchers and pitching development with their track record
Gentlemanbob
Yes, as attested by the numerous pennants the team has won: ZERO
Stevil
Also typical to find relievers that don’t require MLB deals, develop or fix them, and bring them up when/if needed.
proton
Release a guy who has no room on the 40 man roster that would probably not make the show this next season. If they felt he could make the team he would have gotten an offer. Obviously they don’t. So yep a Mariners thing to do. They get Brash back next season plus another I forget his name. They need a couple more relief guys but they have to be MLB ready. They will find a couple cheap FAs and fix any issues they have and have a great BP along with great starters.
jdgoat
Intriguing arm. Turning a AA season into a major league contract in a different organization is definitely quite the accomplishment.
Bart Harley Jarvis
Even more intriguing name!
newpony13
A1 pitchers name lol
Canuckleball
Right up there with Cory Sliderino and John Sinkerton
unknowneric
Sinkerton is my favorite Weezer album.
stymeedone
Still can’t top the trade of Fister for Furbush between the Mariners and Tigers.
letitbelowenstein
Cardinals actually had a minor league pitcher in the 1960s named Phil Knuckles.
Bart Harley Jarvis
The Phillies had an outfield prospect back in the 1930s named Joe Batspeed.
Steinbrenner2728
Earlier this month, Morosi reported that Curvelo was “one of the most popular free agents” at the annual GM Meetings in San Antonio. To be clear, that doesn’t necessarily mean that teams preferred Curvelo to any of the top relievers on the market. More likely, it means they viewed him as a low-risk, high-reward target who could provide meaningful innings at a fraction of the price of a proven big league pitcher.
So that means a slow offseason?
Big whiffa
No, but fan favorite boras controlling top free agents means a slow offseason
Ranger Danger19
If only someone had fired JD the day before he shipped Emmanuel Clase to Cleveland for one inning of Corey Kluber.
Ignorant Son-of-a-b
Mariners hand their rival a potential slam-the-door back end reliever for Nothing. Something about this doesn’t portend well for the future.
TheGr8One
If I trust one thing about the Mariners it’s their eye for pitching. If they don’t believe he was worth a 40 man spot I’m not here to argue. Good luck kid, but not too much with Texas lol
Ignorant Son-of-a-b
Yeah the Mariners aren’t perfect though, they couldn’t fix Luke Jackson in 2023 and then the Yankees picked him up and transformed him into a closer. I didn’t see that coming at all.
TheGr8One
Im gonna assume you mean Luke Weaver and Seattle had him for a month and 5 appearances. They cut bait when he pitched the same as he did with the previous team that cut bait
I’ll agree with you I didn’t see his transformation coming but neither did multiple teams before his cup of coffee in Seattle. I’ll give a pass on that one.
stymeedone
What is there about being a borderline roster spot holder that makes you see slam-the-door back end reliever? Don’t get me wrong. He’s likely going to make somebody’s bullpen at some point. Closer is a long shot. Filler is the likelihood.
TheGr8One
To further that I’ll bet Texas wouldn’t have made a 40 man spot if they were at 40. Having an existing opening made this easy.
heinie manush
Watch Bochy trade for Doval of the SFG.
rememberthecoop
Umm. OK…
SadMsFan
So if this guy is so impressive, why did the Mariners add Blas Castano on their 40 man roster instead of him?