Manny Delcarmen Signs Minor League Deal

Mariners signed Manny Delcarmen to a minor-league incentive laden deal that included with a invitation to spring training, according to an AP wire in the Seattle Times.

Delcarmen, who came up through the Red Sox organization, was out righted by the Colorado Rockies back in December as a result of the Matt Lindstrom trade.

While it’s not really a big deal, I think that Delcarmen could still have potential to be more than just a middle reliever. Maybe I’m way off, but at the very least it adds yet another interesting arm to a bullpen that doesn’t have a lot going for it outside of the youngsters.

But, lets that take a look at what he has going for him. He sports a low to mid 90s fastball with an interesting 12-6 curve and a change combo that can get results for him.

Looking at his WPA (win probability added) the last two years (09 and 10) he has ended up in the negative (-0.18 and -1.0) which isn’t good. But prior to that he was in the plus with an average 0.35 in 2008 and a great 1.15 in 2007.

He also gets an above average amount of ground balls, consistent life time average 46.3%, and never really had a problem with home runs until last year while with Boston. Where he gave up 9.09% HR/BIA (average is 6 for a relief pitcher), then subsided once he got to Colorado (5.56%). Kind of ironic, right?

The biggest cause of his issues in 2009 and ’10 was his elevated walk percentage. It went from average 9-10% in 07 and 08, to again above average amount of 12-14% in 09 and 10.

He’s also seemingly lost some velocity as his average fastball went from 94-95 mph (2007 and 2008), to 93.9 (2009) and 93.1 (2010). So there is the possibility of injury and/or problems with his mechanics.

It’s not to say he won’t be a productive arm. There are certainly still flashes of him being a good pitcher. After being traded from Boston to Colorado in August of last year he faced 41 batters and only walked 3.

In conclusion I think he’ll make the team and I think he’ll be a solid find in the short term. The Mariners bullpen has question marks going into the season and Delcarmen could in the short term provide some decent value. Then again he could get cut in the first couple of weeks.

Spring Training should be fun!