Seattle Mariners acquire Mike Wright from Baltimore Orioles

The Mariners continue to cycle through bullpen options, this time dipping into the wasteland of Baltimore’s pitching staff.

Early Wednesday afternoon, it was reported that the Mariners have made their fourth mid-season trade just 26 games into the year. This has now been confirmed, as Jerry Dipoto has acquired right-handed reliever Mike Wright from the Baltimore Orioles for 2018 draft pick and utility infielder Ryne Ogren.

Through 12 games at Low-A West Virginia, Ogren is slashing .159/.229/.318 with two home runs and four RBIs.

This is Wright’s fifth season in the MLB, and each year has been quite the struggle for him. After being selected 94th overall, as a starter, by the Orioles in the 2011 draft, Wright has been a massive disappointing. In 101 career appearances, including 23 starts, Wright has posted a career 5.95 ERA with a 3.50 BB/9.

Wright is off to another poor start in 2019. He has made 10 appearances thus far, giving up two or more runs in four of those. After surrendering four runs in 3.1 innings of work versus the Twins on Saturday, the Orioles designated Wright for assignment.

There isn’t a whole lot to be encouraged by with Wright, but perhaps a change of scenery could do him some good. For as mediocre as the Mariners have historically been, they have found ways to build passable bullpens from scraps in years past.

Because Wright is out of minor league options, the Mariners will have to assign him to their 25-man roster. This causes for a bit of a logjam that was already a topic of conversation with the expected arrival of top prospect Justus Sheffield on Friday.

The likeliest candidate to be removed is seemingly Chasen Bradford, who has minor league options left. They will have to demote two players, however, and the struggling Shawn Armstrong seems to make the most sense, though he’d have to be DFA’d.

Last night’s starter Erik Swanson could also be sent down to Triple-A Tacoma and a spot starter would be needed for his next scheduled appearance on Sunday versus the Rangers, which could be Wright.

We’ll have to see how it all shakes out. With the Mariners set to play the Padres later this afternoon, a corresponding move likely won’t come until tomorrow at some point.