Seattle Mariners Lose Popular and Useful Reliever in Waiver Claim Transaction

The Seattle Mariners lost a very useful part of their 2022 playoff run on Tuesday as bullpen arm Penn Murfee was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets.

It was part of a series of Mariners transactions:

Mariners roster moves:

Penn Murfee, RHP, claimed off waivers by New York-NL.

Easton McGee, RHP, outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.

Adam Oller, RHP, outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.

Luis Torrens, C, outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.

Mariners roster moves:

🔹 Penn Murfee, RHP, claimed off waivers by New York-NL.
🔹 Easton McGee, RHP, outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.
🔹 Adam Oller, RHP, outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.
🔹 Luis Torrens, C, outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.
— Mariners PR (@MarinersPR) October 31, 2023

Remember that after the World Series, injured players can no longer be stashed on the injured list. They have to be re-integrated to the 40-man roster. The M's needed to get rid of four players to make room for Marco Gonzales, Robbie Ray, Emerson Hancock and Evan White again.

Losing Murfee is a tough blow for the Mariners bullpen. Though he was out for most of the year with injury in 2023, he was a huge part of the 2022 season that saw the M's get to the playoffs and beat the Blue Jays in the wild card round.

We last heard that he was expected to still miss significant time in 2024 with injury recovery, so that likely had something to do with him being made available as well. He had season-ending UCL surgery back in June.

Murfee finished with a 1.29 ERA this season. He made just 16 appearances. He was 4-0 in 2022 with a 2.99 ERA in 64 games.

The Mariners went 88-74 this season, finishing third in the American League West. They missed the playoffs by one game.

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