| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 02-15-2009 |
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General manager Jack Zduriencik claimed another of his own Saturday night, and designated infielder Tug Hulett for assignment to make room for him.Right-hander Luis Pena, 26, spent the first eight years of his professional career with Milwaukee, starting 73 games before transitioning to the bullpen full time in 2006.
He's always been able to miss bats with his 93-96 mph fastball and splitter, but has battled control problems throughout.
Seattle gets another live arm with a little upside to toss into the mix for the bullpen, while Hulett, if they lose him on waivers, is a player that fell three spots on the second-base depth chart despite the club trading away it's top minor leaguer at the position.
The additions of Reegie Corona and Ronny Cedeno pretty much guaranteed Hulett another trip to the minors for 2009. There's a chance he clears waivers and is assigned to Triple-A Tacoma, but this is the time of year when teams are willing to add such players to their roster, if they have the room, and sometimes even if they don't.
Think of Pena in a similar light as Francisco Cruceta; not likely to start games in the big leagues, but fully capable, stuff wise, of getting good hitters out - needs to make some mechanical adjustments to regain the control he showed on and off during his first five years in the minors, and in 2007 when the 6-5, 200-pound Pena issued just 21 walks in 68 1/3 innings.
Last season at Triple-A Nashville, Pena walked 49 batters in 49 1/3 innings while recording 15 saves and posting a 6.93 ERA. He's not home run prone, though, so there is some hope that if he simply keeps the ball in the zone more that he can contribute to a big-league relief corps.
Looking at the bullpen candidates now - Roy Corcoran, David Aardsma, Tyler Walker, Cesar Jimenez, Justin Thomas, Mark Lowe, Jose Lugo, Jason Vargas, and to lesser extents Shawn Kelly, Chris Seddon, Tracy Thorpe, Luis Munoz, Denny Stark, Eric Hull, Sean White, Chris Jakubauskas, and now Luis Pena.
Miguel Batista is also headed for the pen barring injury to about four starting pitching candidates, and unless Jarrod Washburn is traded or there is an injury to the projected starting rotation of Washburn, Felix Hernandez, Erik Bedard, Carlos Silva and Brandon Morrow, Ryan Rowland-Smith will also start the season in the bullpen.
Batista, Rowland-Smith and Walker pretty much guaranteed spots on the roster. The rest will have to earn them.
m\'s-claim-pena,-dfa-hulett
Comments
The following 17 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: acqb1424 on 02-15-2009 18:43:48 Jason, where will Fields start the year? Double A? Anything new on Griffey, and where is the "notebook" tab? |
| 2. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-15-2009 18:53:02 If you are signed in (make sure of this) the notebook tab is on the menu bar between Subscribe and Primer. If you are not signed in, you will not see it. If you are a subscriber that has not corresponded with me about your username here at Prospect Insider, you must Email me immediately. re: Fields It really depends on how well he's throwing next month. I don't there is much chance he starts the year in Seattle, and I think High Desert is a slap in the face. So I'd guess Double-A West Tenn, to avoid the cold weather of the PCL in April and May, then a quick jaunt through Tacoma at mid-season before joining Seattle sometime after the break. If all goes well, that's in July... if he scuffled along the way with his command, that's September, depending on how many innings they want him throwing in '09. He hasn't pitched in eight months, so... This will be interesting. But he's already the reliever with the best stuff in big-league camp. And it's not close. |
| 3. By: bfbfan on 02-15-2009 20:07:35 I have the Notebook tab now. Thanks |
| 4. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-15-2009 20:10:14 Good to hear, bfb... There are still several subscribers who have yet to send me their usernames... |
| 5. By: Quacker27 on 02-15-2009 21:51:25 I was wondering if you could re-post anything you said about Fields after the draft. I've been assuming the M's wouldn't get him signed, so I don't remember much that was said about him. Love the blog by the way! |
| 6. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-15-2009 21:56:26 I can summarize what was said at that time very quickly... Terrible pick, because there were better talents on the board at the time, such as Christian Friedrich. But Fields has plus stuff - mid-90s fastball, overhand curve that grades out well above average, spotty command, however, at least in spurts. |
| 7. By: mykillmagnum on 02-15-2009 22:29:06 i like the signing, really nothing to lose cause tug wasnt going to play here anyways, and stock piling pitching is always good. jason, got a few questions for you.... So it sounds like griffey is signing with the braves and to me, it seems like seattle is going to let him. know i dont know if its a quinsidence that fields and garret anderson have the same agent, but do you think boras gave into the mariners by taking less money then what they were asking for, and struck a deal with the mariners to sign anderson? i mean it all seems to be working on that, like boras is working both players to seattle. i personally like anderson better than griffey, i mean i was all for griffey coming back, but i think anderson is a better baseball move. also, what do you think about nick swisher? he seemed to be who the braves were actually going hard after. would he be someone the mariners would go after, even if we were to sign anderson? would a swap for one of are money eating crap pitchers ie: bautista, washburn, silva, and some other players obviously work? i think he would be a nice fit in left field, but you would know better than me. great job jason, i enjoy reading everything from the notebook, and thanks for all the info. |
| 8. By: ASUBoyd on 02-15-2009 22:35:59 I am excited to see Fields, I think its a good signing. You would assume he will eventually be the closer... So, if you look at it - Fields could replace Putz, we have a replacement for Green, the trade really begins to look one-sided when you look at what we gave up. I think the team is coming together nicely - we could contend in a weak AL West this season. |
| 9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-15-2009 22:56:34 Again, NO on the Boras thing. Boras is too wise and too experienced to let one negotiation affect another. Sure, it might appear that way on the surface, but lets take a closer look. Fields signed for 1.75... not 1.5, the M's offer, or 2.0, what Boras was asking for... they met in the middle. That's middle ground, fair. I don't think Anderson is a better baseball move because even in his worst years, Griffey out-OBPs Anderson with his eyes closed. And the slugging numbers are close, too. I'd take Griffey here all the way. If it's GA versus JR, take the kid, for baseball reasons and PR/ticket sales. I like Swisher, but it's not like he's a star, super cheap or the answer to anything that makes a big impact. While he's a better corner defender than Griffey or Anderson, and a switch hitter, the trade cost removes some of the value. Clearly you can't get Swisher for Washburn or anything like that - cash or not. I don't see a trade match there, at least not right now as teams are trying to take a look at what they have, and Seattle really needing to take a look at some young players. |
| 10. By: marinerseric on 02-15-2009 22:58:03 I have sent you my username not too long ago. I wish we could have gotten Griffey though. |
| 11. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-15-2009 23:20:00 eric, yer in. I've already set your account to subscriber status. And Griffey has not signed anywhere. If you want Griffey in Seattle, there's still hope. For now, at least. |
| 12. By: dewey on 02-15-2009 23:30:45 Why would the Cal league be a slap in the face to Fields? His top level is S.E.C. Baseball ia that better then the Cal League?I hope you dont think im rude but this guy hasnt done nothing in 8 months he needs to pitch..Sometimes i think that people think major league baseball is easy.I like the armstrnegth i guess big z knows his explayer.I hope.. |
| 13. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-15-2009 23:47:08 Because you're set up to fail in that league, dewey. And he can handle Double-A West Tenn. And Like I said, it depends on how rusty he is after Spring camp. There's even a chance he stays behind in extended before heading out. |
| 14. By: StandinPat on 02-15-2009 23:54:26 I like this move. Hulett was slowing moving down the depth chart, and the added a relatively young player with some upside. Also, only a year before, Pena was really looking like he had turned the corner on the whole BB issue. Also its interesting to me how much different, read better, the 40 man and the overall depth of the organization is than at this time last year. Big difference between Z's ability to identify and acquire talent and what we had before. Who was that tool again? |
| 15. By: SMariners11 on 02-16-2009 00:48:55 Jason, Rumor is that Griffey is being offered 1.5 mil by the Braves, MLBtraderumors said this, and I dont know how reliable that is. But if it is true, is it not plausible to think that by offering a 2 mil or 2.5 mil deal would still work out well for the Mariners with the amount we would get back from actually having the Kid back in uniform? |
| 16. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-16-2009 00:55:11 Depends on how important it is for Griffey to play an hour plane ride from orlando, and in the same county that his daughter is playing ball. |
| 17. By: jgstecker on 02-16-2009 10:36:15 FWIW, Pena has an option remaining, which I would assume hurts his chances of making the big club on Opening Day. His contract was originally purchased in October 2004 by the Brewers and his first option was subsequently used in March 2005. In October 2005 he was outrighted to the minors and his contract wasn't re-purchased until after the 2007 season, making 2008 his second option year. |
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