The Mariners make a trade with a midwest team, just not the one you’re thinking of
We’re getting ever closer to spring training and you know what that means: time to build the pitching pile. The Mariners did that today, acquiring RHP Yosver Zulueta from Cincinnati. Obligatory Remember Some Guys tie-in: the Blue Jays originally signed Zulueta out of Cuba in 2019 using pool space they got from the Kendrys Morales trade. Ah, sweet memories.
The move undoubtedly must have frustrated fans who have been dreaming on a trade with the Cardinals to acquire Brendan Donovan/Lars Nootbar/Jojo Romero/Fredbird, all because Ken Rosenthal went on Foul Territory today and wanted to feel something, I guess, condemning us to six more weeks of Donovan-posting. Love to off-season discourse. Anyway, Yosver Zulueta! First things first: it’s YOZE-ver zoo-loo-etta, which is pretty fun to say; and second, for those of you sweating the 40 in 40s, we’ll have a more in-depth writeup on him for that. We have to save some fun for later in the off-season. Zulueta comes over from the Reds, who claimed him off waivers when Toronto DFA’d him prior to the start of the 2024 season. He became available to the Mariners when the Reds signed Pierce Johnson to a one-year deal.
With the Reds, Zulueta has made a handful of big-league appearances over the last two years as a Quad-A player, yo-yoing back and forth between Cincinnati and Louisville (Ilya voice: all the hot spots!). Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Zulueta is a sinker-slider pitcher who racks up a lot of strikeouts but has (everyone now) trouble commanding the zone. Likely the Mariners pitching gurus see something they can work with Zulueta on. Lots of intriguing things to choose from here, in my opinion:
In exchange, the Mariners sent the Reds 2025 11th-rounder Dusty Revis. Revis is best known around here for being a Western Carolina Catamount, aka the team Cal Raleigh’s dad used to coach and a smol Cal used to be the bat boy. Revis didn’t make his professional debut after being drafted, but here’s what Max wrote about him in our draft recap:
“Revis, a 6’2 200 lb starter for the Catamounts this season, worked to a 4.04 ERA on the season and primarily employs a fastball-slider combination that emphasizes ground balls over strikeouts. He’s a good mover on the mound and can get his fastball up into the mid 90’s with regularity. He logged a healthy 82.1 innings as a starter this season and could serve as a multi-inning option given his frame and experience, however the stuff seems as though it would play up in shorter stints, making him an attractive bullpen option. Revis will turn 22 later this month and could be logging innings in Modesto or the ACL relatively soon after signing.”
Eagle-eyed observers will note that the Mariners 40-man roster was full, so acquiring Zulueta did mean saying goodbye to Samad Taylor, meaning the number 0 is once again available for the Mariners. Taylor had a strong season for Triple-A Tacoma but just wasn’t able to work his way onto the big-league roster for more than a cup of coffee, as the team opted to use Miles Mastrobuoni in those situations instead. Taylor’s positional flexibility, plus speed, and strong offensive numbers from Tacoma should make him an appealing candidate for another team with less of a roster crunch. His delightful personality—always cracking a joke, singing and dancing, and lifting up his teammates—will make him an easy clubhouse favorite wherever he lands.
Category: General Sports
