By Daniel Kramer 9:36 p.m. EDT
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SAN FRANCISCO — The Mariners were eventually able to find a trading partner for Chris Flexen and dump his remaining salary of around $4 million. However, that also forced them to include Trevor Gott in the deal they struck Monday afternoon with the Mets, whose bill for the roughly $600,000 Flexen deal will also pick up.
In exchange, Seattle received left-handed substitute Zach Muckenhirn. Upon completion of the trade, New York appointed Flexen to assign.
COMMERCIAL DETAILS
Mariners receive: LHP Zach Muckenhirn
Earn Mets: RHP Chris Flexen, RHP Trevor Gott
Muckenhirn, who will report at Triple-A Tacoma, was banned from the DFA by the Mets early Monday. The 28-year-old signed a minor-league contract with New York last season and made his major-league debut on May 3. He’s pitched in just three games, giving up four runs with 11 hits and two walks with three strikeouts in six innings.
At Triple-A Syracuse, Muckenhirn has had notable results, allowing just three runs in 30 2/3 innings for a .88 ERA. His 15.7% strikeout rate isn’t great and his 10.7% walk rate is outstanding, but he’s also good at stifling runs by putting the ball on the ground at a 50% rate holds.
Muckenhirn also has three minor league options remaining, including 2023, making his roster spot more manageable. He’s making the league minimum of $720,000 in the majors, allowing Seattle more payrolls before the Aug. 1 trade close.
After Gott’s 26-man roster spot opened up, the Mariners recalled Matt Festa from Tacoma for his second stint with the majors this year. Festa, who was a key figure in 2022, will be allowed into lower-leverage seats. His biggest problem was command, with nine walks against 32 batters, in addition to an 11.1% walk rate at Tacoma despite a .62 ERA in 29 innings.
“I think a couple of spots are going to be fluid in our bullpen, I guess that’s the best way to put it, and that’s going to be until the break,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said at Oracle Park, where they played a three-game game series against the bullpen opened giant. “When we come out of the break, we’ll see where we are from there.”
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Flexen was ruled out by the DFA last Tuesday to clear a spot in the squad for Gott, who returned from the injured list after missing 19 games with a lower back muscle spasm.
“He’s certainly spent some time with the Mets throughout his career, so it gives him an opportunity there,” Servais said. “Trevor has done some good things for us. I think he’s made some really nice improvements. I thought it would be a really good signing for us in the off-season but it’s an opportunity to give these guys a chance to go somewhere else.”
Gott, who landed a $1.2 million major league contract last year, was a solid performance for the Mariners with a 1.75 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings in his first 27 games, even if he had some problems before the IL stint and since his return. He was one of the many examples in this year’s Bullpen of Arms that have seen a revival of sorts in Seattle.
Flexen was perhaps the biggest headliner in this category – up until this year.
The right-back struggled to regain his footing after struggling violently in four starts as he took the rotational slot from Robbie Ray when the latter sustained a season-ending left flexor muscle injury. After posting a 10.58 ERA in those appearances, all of which were losses, Flexen managed to have a 6.53 ERA in 12 assist games, all games that were mostly decided at the time of his participation. A clause in his contract prevented the Mariners from picking Flexen as an option, which also appears to have been a factor in New York DFA picking him.
It’s possible that, as expected based on his salary, Flexen can make waivers and accept a direct order to be reinstated as a starter, which the Mets desperately needed.