The Mariners are going to sign left-hander Josh Fleming to a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Republik Sports client also receives an invite to major league spring training.
Fleming, 29 in May, just signed a minor league deal with the Mariners in August. He made 19 appearances for their Triple-A club down the stretch, allowing 4.50 earned runs per nine innings. He didn’t get added to the roster and became a free agent at season’s end, though has now circled back the M’s on a fresh deal.
The southpaw has appeared as a swingman in each of the past five major league seasons, mostly with the Rays but also with the Pirates. He has appeared in 80 major league games, including 25 starts, tossing 254 2/3 innings with a 4.77 ERA. His 14.6% strikeout rate is well below par but his 7.5% walk rate is good and his 58.4% ground ball rate quite strong. Among pitchers with at least 250 innings pitched from 2020 to the present, only five of them have a better grounder rate than Fleming: Clay Holmes, Andre Pallante, Framber Valdez, Emmanuel Clase and Logan Webb.
Fleming’s strikeout rate is far lower than everyone in that group, which has prevented him from posting especially strong results, but he’s been serviceable enough to serve as a solid depth piece. On a minor league deal, there’s no risk for the M’s.
Seattle has a very strong rotation but the depth is a little concerning. Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo are an excellent front five but things get flimsy beyond that. There have been some trade rumors surrounding Castillo this winter, which could lead to Emerson Hancock or Jhonathan Díaz moving up to the number five spot. In the bullpen, guys like Matt Brash and Jackson Kowar are working back from Tommy John surgeries, while Gregory Santos spent most of 2024 on the injured list due to arm issues.
Fleming gives the club a bit of depth for both areas without taking up a roster spot. If he gets added at any point, he is out of options but has less than four years of service time, meaning he could be retained into future seasons via arbitration.
Rumor has it that they’re on the verge of acquiring another Josh
Assuming you are referring to rumors about talks to acquire Josh Naylor? Makes a ton of sense to me if the cost to acquire isn’t crazy. It would make Raley redundant though.
If they did acquire him, Raley to DH and part time 1B/LF could work but the 12 million arbitration projection MLBTR is giving him could make filling 3B or 2B a trick. Spending that on an 3B or 2B seems like a little bit more efficient use of resources. He’s a good hitter though.
Naylor is too cuckoo and unhinged for the Seattle fanbase. Kelenic ran out of his good graces here being like that.
There’s rumors floating that they are trying to acquire him.
Naylor has never broken his foot kicking a water cooler out of anger lol
Can he play 1B, 2B, or 3B? What the hell is this team doing other than being cheap? They have glaring holes in their lineup, and don’t seem to be concerned with filling their lineup with actual MLB talent.
You’ll be eating them words when the sign Josh Bell or get all spendy and have an Abraham Toro reunion 😉
I was hoping for a bigger name than Toro. But at this point if he has a pulse and can play infield I guess…doubt this team will get spendy…
If Toro is our answer at 3B, we didn’t get far from just leaving Josh Rojas out there. Was a joke, but would not shock me if that happened. And Bell? If he ends up on board for anything beyond an MiLB deal with a spring training invite, we’ve gone backward.
It’s still December, Free Agents need some time to think and enjoy their holidays too.
No comment
Dipoto busy today…
World Series, here we come.
Lol. So the Mariners sign another pitcher when they desperately need quality hitters?
Oh wait, maybe they signed him because they plan on a major trade. Ok, maybe not. That was wishful thinking.
Well the “To Minor League Deal” part means this doesn’t preclude them from doing other things.
When was the last time they won a WS? They need to trade one of their starters for quality hitters.
My only issue with that is then they need another starter. They are thin past the big 5 and already are in need of more depth options. I get that money is stupid in free agency and they don’t want to part with prospects but don’t see them as likely WS contenders without spending more money and trading some of their prospects, although weirder things have happened.
There is no reward without taking risk
Let’s make a trade for new front office and ownership.
They could have won the WS in 1997 if they took a chance and traded for a quality pitcher. Now we are seeing the opposite. They need quality hitting to balance out their pitching!
Championship!