Cubs show they're still thirsty for former Mariners RPs as reclamation projects

There could be a miniature reunion of former Seattle Mariners relievers on the North Side of Chicago this year. Having already signed Collin Snider in December, the Cubs added yet another former Mariner on Monday when they agreed to terms with Trent Thornton.

The news was revealed by Tread Athletics, a North Carolina training center where Thornton (who was non-tendered by Seattle in November) has been working out. Terms of the contract are not yet public, though it is presumably a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

Cubs keep adding former Mariners relievers as reclamation projects

As is the case with Snider, there's some recent success in Thornton's background that gives the Cubs something on which to hang hopes. He had a 3.13 ERA across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and he gave the Mariners good bulk in 2025. In 33 appearances, he covered 42.1 innings.

The 32-year-old Thornton did struggle to miss bats, as his average fastball was down 1.1 mph from 2024 and his whiff and strikeout rates followed suit. He got up to 92.5 mph in the throwing session posted online by Tread Athletics, and even that is well below the 94.4 mph he averaged on his four-seamer in 2025.

Even so, not every pitcher is out there throwing 98 mph at this time of the year. The real revelation of that video is that Thornton is healthy, which in itself is an encouraging development after a torn Achilles tendon ended his 2025 season in August.

Snider and Thornton are part of a broader bullpen makeover in Chicago. There are four new members of the club's major league bullpen, and over a half-dozen new additions to its minor league depth chart.

With that being the case, perhaps chaos will be a ladder for Snider and Thornton. The Cubs' bullpen doesn't seem so much like a set thing as an experiment that could take a while to figure out. If so, Snider and Thornton need only to worry about staying healthy and pitching well to get their shots.

Whatever happens, here's wishing Thornton well on his fresh start. His time in Seattle may be over, but Mariners fans will always have that image of him riding his scooter around the bases after the team clinched a playoff berth last September.