Seattle Mariners Sign Former A's Right-Hander

The Seattle Mariners have brought in yet another former A's pitcher, adding to an already impressive list. On Sunday, the M's reportedly brought in righty Trevor Gott on a minor-league deal, according to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.

Gott missed all of the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Last season was his only year with the A's, and despite being unavailable for the club on the field, he was a regular in the team's clubhouse during his rehab process.

The 32-year-old veteran has spent eight seasons in the big leagues, compiling a 4.65 ERA, though in 2022 and 2023 he combined for a 4.17 ERA across 109 games and 103.2 innings. He spent part of his time in 2023 with the Mariners, tossing 29 innings and holding a 4.03 ERA (2.98 FIP).

His strikeout rate held consistent in each of those years, sitting at 23.7% in 2022 and 23.8% in 2023, while his walk rate ticked up slightly from 6.5% to 7.3%.

Seattle is known for being a pitching factory, and they have a pretty impressive stockpile of arms to draw from at the moment. Now three of those pitchers are former A's right-handers.

In addition to Gott, the Mariners also traded for Will Klein earlier this offseason after he was designated for assignment by the A's to clear room for Josê Leclerc. Klein, 25, was part of the return for Lucas Erceg when the A's sent him to the Kansas City Royals last trade deadline.

Klein ended up making a brief appearance in Oakland, getting into three games spanning 1.2 innings, and holding a 27.00 ERA (9.17 FIP). Like Erceg himself when he first came over, Klein had great stuff, but his walk rate has loomed a bit high to have consistent success. He's the type of pitcher that if Seattle can unlock him, he could be a tremendous weapon for them.

Klein is on Seattle's 40-man roster.

The other former A's bullpen arm with Seattle is Shintaro Fujinami, who is on a minor-league deal and is a non-roster invite to camp. The A's signed him out of Japan ahead of the 2023 campaign, complete with a press conference and everything.

He began the year in the rotation, but after a handful of inconsistent starts, the team moved him to the bullpen. The problem (other than his control) with Fuji as a starter was that he wasn't going deep enough into games and manager Mark Kotsay was having to dig deep into his bullpen routinely.

As a member of the bullpen, he dropped his ERA from 14.26 to 5.14. The A's traded him to the Baltimore Orioles at the deadline that year, where he continued to pitch out of the 'pen. Last offseason he signed with the New York Mets, but didn't make it back to the big leagues.

Long-term, Klein may have the highest ceiling for the Mariners, but for 2025, Gott would seem to be the best bet to have an impact given his experience.