The Mariners announced they have acquired right-handed pitcher Casey Legumina from the Reds. Cincinnati, who designated Legumina for assignment last week after signing Austin Hays, will receive cash considerations in exchange. To make room for Legumina, Seattle has designated left-handed pitcher Jhonathan Díaz for assignment.
Legumina, who will turn 28 in June, has limited MLB experience, having pitched 22 innings for the Reds over the past two seasons with a 6.75 ERA after allowing 17 earned runs. His strikeout rate (16.7%) and walk rate (10.2%) have both been below average, although his 56.4% ground ball rate has been solid.
The Mariners are likely more interested in Legumina’s minor league performance. Over the last four years, he has pitched 226 2/3 innings with a 4.05 ERA, a 26% strikeout rate, and an 8.5% walk rate. While he started a fair amount early in his career, he has mostly worked out of the bullpen in the past two seasons.
With one remaining option year and under a full season of service time, Legumina can be moved freely between the majors and minors for another year. This also makes him an affordable option for the Mariners in the long term if he stays on the roster. Seattle appears to have been interested enough in him as depth to send cash to the Reds in order to bypass the waiver process.
Díaz, also 28, has a similarly brief MLB track record. He has pitched 45 innings over four seasons with a 4.80 ERA, 15% strikeout rate, 12.6% walk rate, and 45.7% ground ball rate.
His minor league performance is stronger and spans a larger sample size. Over the past four years, Díaz has thrown 328 innings, mostly in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, with a 4.42 ERA, 23.6% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate, and a ground ball rate of about 50%.
Díaz still has a couple of options left and may attract interest from teams looking for affordable rotation depth. The Mariners will have up to a week to decide on his future, though with the waiver process taking 48 hours, any trade discussions would need to occur within the next five days.