Mariners swing deals to rebuild bullpen

SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners worked on their bullpen again on Monday, acquiring left-hander Zach Duke from the Minnesota Twins and right-hander Adam Warren from the New York Yankees for a pair of minor leaguers.

The trades on the eve of the non-waiver deadline provided two more relief options for manager Scott Servais with Seattle in the playoff hunt in the AL West.

The Mariners sent pitcher Chase De Jong and infielder Ryan Costello to the Twins, and dealt $1.25 million US in international signing bonus allocation to the Yankees for Warren.

“Obviously, a lot of teams are looking to add to the bullpen this time of year with the trade deadline coming up. I’m not surprised,” Servais said. “It may not be the last thing we do.”

General manager Jerry Dipoto said recently he was hoping to add another righty to the bullpen and pick up a left-handed specialist as well to take some stress off James Pazos. He accomplished both by acquiring Sam Tuivailala from St. Louis late last week and then landing Duke and Warren.

Dipoto said the additions combined with what Seattle already has in its bullpen should help Servais keep everyone fresh.

“He can do that and not just burden anybody with too much workload,” Dipoto said. “And that’s part of this too just trying to make sure each guy we send out there does his job and maybe taking the burden off the next guy.”

The 35-year-old Duke went 3-4 with a 3.62 ERA in 45 appearances for the Twins. He has limited left-handed batters to a .237 average this season.

Minnesota is sending $75,000 to Seattle as part of the deal. Duke is owed $716,667 of his $2.15-million salary. He has earned a $200,000 bonus for making 40 pitching appearances and can earn up to $1.3 million more, getting the entire amount if he makes 65 pitching appearances.

“Duke’s got a pretty good track record of getting lefties out. The last couple of years he’s been pretty good against the righties, too,” Servais said. “He’s got different arm angles, a little bit different look, he’s got experience, so a welcome addition.”