So Long, Yusmeiro Petit

by Jeff Sullivan on Mar 17, 2010 11:13 AM PDT in Seattle Mariners Transactions

The Mariners this morning released right-handed pitcher Yusmeiro Petit. He'd pitched in three exhibition games this month, working 4 2/3 innings with a 3.86 ERA.

The M's already designated Youppi for assignment a little while ago, and he cleared waivers, so this is the second time in six weeks that Yusmeiro gets to feel completely unwanted. Poor lil guy.

I'm guessing this has less to do with Petit and more to do with the Mariners simply having too many arms to go around. Petit made some degree of sense when he was first acquired in November, but since then the rotation has kind of built up and left Petit on the outside looking in. More recently he'd been considered a possible option for long relief, but with so many other options hanging around and his repertoire not playing so well in the bullpen, he wasn't a good fit.

Maybe there was some off-the-field incident where Yusmeiro kept like stealing other people's grocery carts at the store, and it was annoying, but more likely this is the result of a simple roster crunch. The M's could've elected to keep Petit around to pitch in Tacoma, but instead, they're setting him free and giving him the chance to land somewhere that presents a better opportunity at making the Majors. It's good for Youppi and doesn't really make much a difference for the M's, so, hey, whatever.

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Not a fan.

I really wanted to see what he could do in Tacoma

by Matthew on Mar 17, 2010 11:17 AM PDT reply actions

My opinion of Petit has dropped a little recently

In 36 career Major League starts, he has a 2.0 K/BB against non-pitchers, in the National League. Could’ve worked as the #5, but so could a lot of guys.

by Jeff Sullivan on Mar 17, 2010 11:21 AM PDT up reply actions

I did too, simply because he'd likely be a decent starter down there

but at this point, nobody really cares what he can do in Tacoma. We know. He’d be a decent, not earth-shattering starter, he’d have decent command, strike some people out, and probably give up fewer HRs than he’s used to.
But Petit hasn’t really shown he can add more value than Vargas in the rotation or Texeira in the pen. I’m guessing they did this to allow him to catch on with another club, but they may also want to clear a path for Cortes or someone else to get their feet wet in AAA once the weather heats up a bit.

by marc w on Mar 17, 2010 11:28 AM PDT up reply actions