The Seattle Mariners made a couple huge splashes before the MLB trade deadline at the end of July.
Turns out, they nearly made another.
The one spot Seattle didn’t do a ton of upgrading was its bullpen. Except, they were close.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported this on Sunday:
“The Mariners believed they were on the verge of acquiring Jhoan Duran until the Phillies swooped in and upped their offer to Minnesota.”
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Duran is one of the most dominant relief pitchers on the planet. He throws a devastating sinking fastball that can get up to the low-100s.
The Phillies traded quality prospects to get Duran, and his arrival fired up the Philadelphia fanbase.
Duran had a 2.01 ERA with the Twins before getting traded.
In five appearances so far with the Phillies, he’s yet to allow a run.
Duran did hurt his foot in his last outing on a comebacker, but it sounds like the Phillies avoided the worst.
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Reports on Sunday indicated Duran is ready to return to pitch.
The Mariners have a quality closer in Andres Munoz, but bullpen depth is something every contender would take more of this time of year.
Josh Naylor has been a great trade deadline pickup. Eugenio Suarez homered on Saturday, which the Mariners hope can help snap him out of his funk.
But if they had a fireballing, new closer, too? That’d be quite intimidating for everyone standing in the Mariners’ way.
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