The Mariners announced that they’ve acquired left-hander James Pazos from the Yankees in exchange for minor league right-hander Zack Littell. Additionally, Seattle has designated veteran righty Tom Wilhelmsen for assignment and added lefty Paul Fry, corner infielder D.J. Peterson and right-hander Thyago Vieira to the 40-man roster.
Pazos, 25, has just 8 1/3 innings under his belt at the Major League level but has an impressive minor league track record. In 215 1/3 total innings in the minors, Pazos has a 2.30 ERA with 10.2 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9, and he’s worked to a minuscule 1.79 ERA with 78 punchouts in 60 1/3 innings at Triple-A. However, he’s also walked 34 batters in that time at Triple-A, indicating that his control could use some further refinement. Nonetheless, the Mariners are known to be looking for left-handed relief help, and Pazos will give GM Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais an option that could conceivably break camp with the team in 2017 and, at the very least, should be an option later in the season.
Wilhelmsen, 33 next month, was traded from Seattle to Texas in last winter’s Leonys Martin deal but was rocked with the Rangers (10.55 ERA in 21 1/3 innings) and ultimately released in June. He quickly re-signed with Seattle and enjoyed a 180-degree turnaround, pitching to a 3.60 ERA with 6.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 52.8 percent ground-ball rate in 25 innings to close out the season. However, the Mariners would’ve had to pay him a projected $3.8MM in his final trip through arbitration this winter.
