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As far as I can tell, Jerry Dipoto has signed 11 free agent relievers during his time as the Mariners’ general manager. He stated earlier this offseason that the bullpen will draw the lion’s share of his attention as the team gears up for 2021, which led me to examine his history of signing late inning dudes. For the purpose of this quiz, we are only counting relievers that were signed to major league deals and actually pitched in a real game for the Mariners, so apologies to Justin De Fratus, who was actually Jerry’s first bullpen acquisition after taking the job on September 28, 2015.
It’s hard to definitively say that any of these guys were “good” with the Mariners. Several of them had great stretches or showed signs of being useful, but as is often the case with relievers, their success was fleeting and short-lived. To his credit, Dipoto only gave multi-year deals to three of them. One of those guys became a decent closer, one is pictured above, and one I have been actively repressing since he hung up his teal jersey for good.
Dipoto has flipped several trades for relievers during his tenure in Seattle. To help you out with this quiz, I’ll remind you that Nick Vincent, Drew Storen, Arquimedes Caminero, James Pazos, David Phelps, Alex Colomé, and Sam Tuivailala were all picked up in trades, not free agency. If you’d like to stroll down memory lane, you can do so here, courtesy of the invaluable resource that is Spotrac.