I slept in a little later than I usually do this morning, and when I woke up and checked Twitter, I immediately regretted it. It seems that, while I was asleep, the Mariners made an absolute stunner of a move, selecting Lucas Luetge in the Rule 5 Draft. All eyes are on the Mariners now, and I feel bad for not getting to this earlier.
The basics: Luetge was selected from the Brewers organization ( :O ). He is 24 years old, he is left-handed, and he is a pitcher, of the relieving sort. The Mariners have been looking for a left-handed reliever, which explains Steve Garrison and Sean Henn and their interest in Arthur Rhodes and their interest in other dudes, so Luetge is one more potential solution. One more guy on the pile, where this pile is a sub-pile of the other pile.
You remember Jose Flores? He's the guy the Mariners took in last year's Rule 5 Draft. Flores, obviously, didn't make the team, being returned to the Indians, and odds are that Luetge will end up being returned to the Brewers in spring training. But he'll get a look, and if the Mariners don't bring in any more left-handed relievers, he could have a pretty good chance. The Mariners will probably bring in more left-handed relievers.
Luetge works off of an unimpressive but allegedly improving fastball and a curveball. He throws other pitches, but the other pitches are not very good, or at least reports written by people I don't know and have never met say that the other pitches are not very good. Over a year and a half of experience in double-A, Luetge's posted 29 walks and 57 strikeouts against righties, but 11 walks and 59 strikeouts against lefties, without a single home run. Obviously, he could fit as a specialist, or he could not.
In the event that Luetge does make the Mariners, Major League Baseball will feature a Luetge, a Lueke, and a Luebke. I suspect that public opinion will be against him, though, because Lucas Luetge will forever be the guy the Mariners acquired on the same day the Angels got C.J. Wilson and Albert Pujols.
Angels: /get Pujols
Angels: /get Wilson
Mariners: /get Luetge
Mariners fan: That's a funny looking Prince Fielder!
Luetge: :(
Poor Lucas Luetge.