Mariners Claim Tayler Saucedo, Designate J.B. Bukauskas

The Mariners announced that they have claimed left-hander Tayler Saucedo off waivers from the Mets. He was recently designated for assignment when the Mets signed Tommy Pham. In a corresponding move to get Saucedo onto Seattle’s roster, right-hander J.B. Bukauskas was designated for assignment.

Saucedo, 30 in June, was a Blue Jays draftee who cracked that club’s roster midway through the 2021 season. He’s since logged 28 1/3 innings in the big leagues with a 5.40 ERA. He’s gotten much better results in the minors, having posted a 2.11 ERA over the past two years while striking out an incredible 35.7% of batters faced. He’s put up strong ground ball rates in both the majors and minors but the strikeouts are the major difference maker so far as he’s only punched out 15.3% of big league hitters.

Despite the lack of results in the majors to this point, teams seem to be willing to take a shot on Saucedo based on his strong work down on the farm. The Mets claimed him off waivers from the Jays in November but he lost his spot last week with the Mariners now the beneficiary. Saucedo still has a couple of option years remaining and can be sent down to the farm, if needed. He’ll join Gabe Speier and Brennan Bernardino as southpaw relief arms on the club’s roster.

As for Bukauskas, 26, this ends a very short stay on Seattle’s roster, as he was just claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks two weeks ago. A former first round pick and exciting starting pitching prospect, he struggled with control and was moved to a relief role in recent years. He made 21 major league appearances in 2021 but struggled and posted a 7.79 ERA in that small sample. He’s had much better results in the minors over the past couple of years but hasn’t been able to log significant time due to injuries. He threw 35 minor leagues innings over 2021 and 2022 with a 3.09 ERA, with most of that time spent in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He struck out 27.5% of batters faced while walking 5.8%. That small workload is due to a strain in his throwing elbow in 2021 and a strain in the teres major muscle in his shoulder last year.

The Mariners will now have a week to trade Bukauskas or pass him through waivers. He still has one option year left, meaning that an interested club could put him on their 40-man and wouldn’t necessarily have to keep him on the active roster. Based on that fact, as well as his youth and previous prospect pedigree, it’s possible that he could have a new club yet again before Spring Training kicks off in two weeks.