5 Non-tendered targets the Seattle Mariners should pursue

2. Blake Treinen

Do you guys remember when Blake Treinen was going shot for shot with Edwin Diaz for the best reliever in the AL in 2018? Man, have things changed. After a dominant 2018 season, Treinen crashed hard in 2019 and now finds himself without a job.

In 2018, Treinen was as elite as elite gets, posting a 0.78 ERA, a 1.82 FIP, an 11.2 K/9, 2.35 BB/9, with a 51% groundball rate on his way to a 3.6 fWAR season in 80 innings. For a reliever, these are the equivalent of MVP numbers.

Well, 2019 was not so kind. In 58.2 innings, Treinen saw his ERA jump to 4.91 and his FIP rise to 5.14. His K/9 dropped by 2 full points and his BB/9 more than doubled until he was removed from the closer’s gig in favor of Liam Hendricks.

Those struggles, combined with a near $10 million projected salary in 2020, led to the Oakland A’s decision to let Treinen become a free agent, suggesting the trade value just wasn’t there. So all this begs the question: why should the Mariners be interested?

For starters, the stuff is still really good, with a sinking fastball in the upper-90s and a cutter and slider that gets swings and misses.

Second, we go back to what is becoming evident with the Mariners: they are great at developing pitchers. Getting Treinen into your system and working with your staff could turn him from non-tender fodder to All-Star closer with extreme trade value in July.

But why would Treinen be interested in Seattle? Again, the glowing reputation of pitcher development. The opportunity to close games in a low-pressure situation is a plus. The Mariners have money to spend. These are all selling points for an arm like Treinen, similar to the way they nabbed Carl Edwards Jr., just on a more expensive scale.