The Mariners announced that right-hander Chris Devenski has been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma. There was no previous indication he had been removed from their 40-man roster but they evidently passed him through waivers in recent days. Their 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Devenski, 33, was signed by the Mariners at the start of July after being released by the Rays. Though he is a veteran with enough service time to decline an optional assignment, he apparently consented as he has been with Triple-A Tacoma for the past few weeks. He made six appearances there and allowed two earned runs.
The M’s presumably have other uses in mind for that roster spot, so they bumped Devenski off. They have already been aggressive in upgrading their offense and bullpen, having acquired Randy Arozarena, Justin Turner and Yimi García in recent days. They’ve been connected in rumors to guys like Tanner Scott and Yandy Díaz, so perhaps more roster shake-up is forthcoming.
As for Devenski, he has more than enough service time to reject this outright and elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so. Heading to the open market would make some sense, since plenty of clubs will have roster openings after the musical chairs of the deadline plays out.
He was once quite a dominant reliever with the Astros, though he’s a few years removed that performance now. Over 2016 and 2017, he had a 2.35 earned run average in 189 innings for Houston. He struck out 28.2% of batters faced and only gave out walks at a 6.4% clip. Injuries in the coming years, including Tommy John surgery, seemed to hamper his results. His ERA was a combined 4.56 in 2018 and 2019 then a ghastly 9.47 for the 2020-22 seasons.
He then had a pretty unimpressive start to his 2023 season, with a 5.08 ERA with the Angels. But that season finished strong as he had a 2.08 in nine appearances for the Rays. That prompted Tampa to re-sign him but he then had a 6.75 ERA this year, leading to his release and then his deal with the Mariners.
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