The Mariners are in agreement on a minor league deal with right-handed reliever Jimmy Yacabonis, per an announcement from the team’s player development department.
Yacabonis, 28, tossed 2 1/3 innings for the Mariners in 2020 before being dropped from the 40-man roster in mid-September. He’d opened the season in the Padres’ 60-man player pool but was traded to Seattle for cash in mid-August.
The 2020 season marked Yacabonis’ first big league experience outside of Baltimore. The former 13th-round pick pitched extensively out of the Orioles’ bullpen each season from 2017-19 but struggled to a 5.75 ERA through 101 2/3 frames. Yacabonis doesn’t have much of a big league track record, but he gets well above-average movement on his pitches, which has been enough to pique the interest of several clubs. He also has solid velocity and above-average spin on his four-seamer, although he scrapped that pitch entirely in favor of a sinker during his brief 2020 showing with the Mariners. He’ll likely head to Triple-A Tacoma to open the season and give the M’s some depth should a need arise.