Their season in a shambles, the Mariners continued their sell-off Friday, sending RHP Mark Lowe to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for career minor league pitcher Rob Rasmussen and a pair of rookie-level throwers, LHP Nick Wells and LHP Jake Brentz. Rasmussen will be added to the 40-man roster.
Lowe’s trade comes a day after Seattle sent veteran outfielder Dustin Ackley, batting .215, to the New York Yankees for a trio of minor leaguers. With the trades of Lowe and Ackley for minor leaguers, the Mariners, now 12 games out of first in the AL West, have pulled the plug on the 2015 season.
Lowe, 32, went 0-1 with a 1.00 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 34 games. His 1.00 ERA is the second-best in the majors among relievers behind Kansas City’s Wade Davis (0.41).
Lowe signed with Seattle as a minor league free agent Dec. 19 and began the season in AAA Tacoma where he went 0-1 with a 1.00 ERA in seven relief appearances. In parts of 10 seasons with Seattle, Texas, Los Angeles (AL) and Cleveland, he is 8-22 with a 3.80 ERA with 289 strikeouts. He was selected by Seattle in the fifth round of the 2004 amateur draft.
Rasmussen, 26, appeared in one game with Toronto earlier this year. With AAA Buffalo of the International League, he was 4-1 with one save and a 2.36 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 34 games In 12.1 MLB innings over the last two seasons, he has a 2.92 ERA with 14 strikeouts.
The Florida Marlins drafted Rasmussen in the second round in 2010. During his minor league career, he was 28-34 with a 3.72 ERA with 438 strikeouts in 157 games, including 78 starts over six minor league seasons in the Miami, Houston, Los Angeles (NL) and Toronto organizations.
The 19-year-old Wells went 1-2 with a 4.78 ERA with 31 strikeouts in seven starts for rookie-level Bluefield in the Appalachian League this season. He was drafted by Toronto in the third round in 2014.
Brentz, 20, went 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA in six starts for Bluefield. He was drafted by Toronto in the 11th round in 2013. In three minor league seasons, he is 1-4 with a 4.80 ERA.
The Mariners have not yet determined which minor league affiliates the new acquisitions will join.
Seattle continues its four-game road trip in Minnesota Friday with a 5:10 p.m. first pitch. RHP Taijuan Walker (7-7, 5.03) will throw against LHP Tommy Milone (5-2, 3.58).
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2206793 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2206793">7 Comments
Really don’t think the bullpen can afford to give up Lowe right now. But Jack will do anything to save his job.
True. This doesn’t seem to help the team a bit. Just allows a few more August tryouts before the rush of September tryouts. Wonder what Felix thinks, remembering back to the time they told him they were surrounding him with talent. They couldn’t sign Lowe for next season? I guess he’s a free agent so they could always make an offer but it sure sends the wrong signal to him and the fans.
Maybe if the so-called “King” didn’t get drilled down the stretch start after start in 2014, they could’ve made the post season & things might even been different this year. But alas, winning baseball in Seattle is a pipe dream. We have the Cantina, the Moose, bobble heads, fireworks & the so-called “Kings Court” instead. There’s nothing better than being eliminated by June 1st EVERY SINGLE year. Thanks Trader Jack Z. Thanks Howie.
To quote recent words of the immortal Vin Scully – “Get it out, son.” https://twitter.com/VinScullyTweet/status/626245511784239104
Is there anything that he can do to save his job? My hope is that after the trade deadline passed he started packing up his office and there’ll be an announcement tonight.
The sorry sack M’s are 12 back & 11 UNDER .500, it doesn’t matter. The bullpen has been awful all season, contributing to this joke of a season. Half the roster needs to be dealt off.
Jack Z soon to be wearing funny nose and glasses.