Mariners’ September Call-Ups

Welcome to September.

The Mariners’ playoff chances, if you held onto that sliver of hope at all, have dropped to 0.1% of a chance. With a packed schedule full of division match-ups, their next goal is to frustrate the chances of the bewilderingly talented Athletics and not-so-hot Angels.

In order to adequately annoy the AL West, here are this month’s call-ups, as announced by Shannon Drayer and Greg Johns:

1B Luis Jimenez
1B/OF Mike Carp
3B Alex Liddi
SS Carlos Triunfel
OF Casper Wells
RHP Hector Noesi
RHP Shawn Kelley

Two players, Jimenez and Triunfel, are new to the big league level.

Carlos Triunfel has six years of minor league service in the Mariners’ farm system, and just four seasons of consistent playing time among those. As Joel pointed out in his September preview, Carlos exhibited a Brendan Ryan-esque level of production, albeit at a Triple-A level. In 2008, his first full year in MiLB, he finished with .287/.336/.406 and a wRC+ of 100 in 108 games and 479 PA. By comparison, this year saw just .260/.308/.391 and a wRC+ of 79 in 131 games and 543 PA. Only twice, in 2008 and 2009, has Triunfel seen a BB/K rate of 0.50 or higher.

Luis Jimenez, Tacoma’s power-hitting first baseman, will also be making his major league debut sometime this month. Primarily a designated hitter, Jimenez led the Rainiers with a batting line of .310/.394/.514, putting up a wRC+ of 138 and racking up 64 walks and 58 extra-base hits (32 2B/2 3B/20 HR) in 125 games and 536 PA. His production at the plate attracted the attention of the Pacific Coast League, as he picked up a spot in the league’s top 12 batters with a .907 OPS. If numbers don’t quite cut it for you, Tacoma broadcaster Mike Curto has some fantastic anecdotes about the 30-year-old’s experiences in the minor leagues.

To make room for the seven call-ups, the Mariners finished off today’s transactions by designating OF Johermyn Chavez for assignment and dealing C Guillermo Quiroz to the Boston Red Sox for cash considerations.