Mariners sign former Guardians postseason workhorse to minor league contract

The Seattle Mariners' bullpen has yet to break in 2025. Yet given the consistency with which it's been bending, it's little surprise that the organization is adding depth when and where it can.

Case in point, the Mariners quietly signed veteran right-hander Bryan Shaw to a minor league contract on Tuesday. The team didn't even announce the deal, but it appears on its transactions list and was noticed by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors. Shaw has already appeared in a game for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers.

Whether Shaw can help the big club is another matter, but it's never a bad thing to have more options.

Bryan Shaw didn't help the Mariners in 2020, and is unlikely to do so in 2025

Shaw deserves his due credit for being one of the top relievers in Major League Baseball for a good chunk of the 2010s. He was a machine for six seasons between 2012 and 2017, appearing in a league-high 442 games and pitching to a 133 ERA+.

The righty mostly specialized in getting ground balls, and he was trustworthy enough to get a ton of looks during the Cleveland Guardians' World Series run in 2016. He appeared in 11 games for Terry Francona that October, though he was unfortunately the losing pitcher in Game 7 of the Fall Classic.

Save for a renaissance season with Cleveland in 2021, the next seven seasons were not as kind to Shaw. He appeared in 321 games, but only managed an 88 ERA+.

Mariners fans might remember Shaw's stint with the team in the shortened 2020 season, which was less than memorable. He appeared in six games and coughed up 12 runs (all earned) on 13 hits and six walks.

Shaw, who's now 37 years old, is coming off a 2024 season in which he made only five appearances for the Chicago White Sox, with these yielding eight hits and four walks in four innings. He could still run his trademark cutter at an average of 93.3 mph, but he got only six whiffs out of 95 total pitches and didn't compensate with ground balls.

There is thus a question of what the Mariners are hoping for with Shaw, but it ultimately doesn't hurt them to have him as a depth option. He's one of several veteran types with Tacoma right now, as also on the roster are guys like Shintaro Fujinami, Josh Fleming, Jesse Hahn, Zach Pop, and Trevor Gott.

For the meantime, the big club's bullpen ranks 11th in MLB with a 3.70 ERA but last in the American League in strikeout percentage. It does need help, whether it comes from Tacoma or from the trade market in the not-too-distant future.