Mariners Sign Hoby Milner; Connor Joe, Nolan Kingham Designated For Assignment

The Mariners announced their slate of September call-up transactions today, including the previously reported promotion of top outfield prospect Lazaro Montes. Seattle also signed lefty reliever Hoby Milner to a minor league deal following his release by the Cubs and selected him to the major league roster. To open 40-man spots for Montes and Milner, first baseman/outfielder Connor Joe and righty Nolan Kingham were designated for assignment. Milner immediately jumps back into a big league bullpen after his somewhat surprising release. The soft-tossing southpaw had turned in a 3.53 ERA across 35 2/3 innings with Chicago. Milner’s strikeout and ground-ball rates were both down, however, and the Cubs released him after a two-month absence related to appendicitis. The 35-year-old Milner has carved out a decent career as a situational lefty. Only Tim Hill throws from a lower average arm angle among southpaws. Like most submariners, Milner has well below-average velocity (87 mph average sinker) and typically thrives on command and ground-balls. Milner joins Jose A. Ferrer and Gabe Speier as southpaws in Dan Wilson’s bullpen. Seattle has lost five straight and dropped a season-worst 10 games under .500. They’re 5.5 games out in the Wild Card and six back in the AL West. The bullpen has been a disaster in the second half, posting a 6.38 ERA that is second-worst in MLB (slightly better than the A’s). They’ve blown eight leads since the All-Star Break. There’s no real risk in giving Milner a look for the final month. The Cubs are still paying the bulk of his $3.75MM salary. Seattle will pay him the prorated $780K league minimum for a few weeks and see him return to free agency at year’s end. The M’s acquired Kingham a few weeks back via waiver claim from the Rangers. He’s been on optional assignment to Triple-A Tacoma, allowing seven runs in 14 2/3 innings. The University of Texas product has pitched to a 6.34 ERA across 61 frames in the Pacific Coast League this year. Kingham made his big league debut with the Rangers on deadline day, giving up a run in one inning of work against the Giants. Joe signed an offseason minor league deal and was called up in early April. The righty batter has made 21 big league appearances this season, hitting .179 with a home run in 45 trips. Joe is a career .238/.332/.382 hitter over parts of seven MLB seasons divided among six clubs. He had a league average .264/.365/.420 slash with eight home runs for Tacoma this season. Kingham and Joe will both land on waivers this week. The latter has a previous outright assignment and could elect free agency if he goes unclaimed. Kingham would not have the right to refuse an outright assignment but would qualify for minor league free agency this winter if he’s not on a 40-man roster. View Comments (1)