Seattle Mariners Fulfill Destiny, Re-Sign Joe Beimel
Last year’s Seattle Mariners were successful. No, seriously! Look it up! They were a really good team, dead serious. It’s not even April Fool’s Day anymore. They were good, and Joe Beimel was a contributor to their success. Again, not even April Fool’s Day. Just a weird, true thing.
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Beimel pitched last season as Seattle’s second ‘pen lefty behind Charlie Furbush. In this role he was unexpectedly good, at least from a results standpoint. His strikeouts were almost entirely lacking, and he didn’t have the command to make up for it. Yet he kept the runners from scoring, and that’s the job, right? Beimel was an unlikely success. He had the ERA to show for it and everything.
Fast forward to pitchers and catchers reporting and Beimel remained unsigned, stuck in the limbo created by his own success. Beimel wanted teams to pay for his ERA, but teams wanted to pay Beimel for his FIP. Which is to say, nobody wanted to pay him. He latched on with the Rangers on a minor league deal. The Rangers, as we’ve noted, have the worst bullpen in MLB. He was a huge spring dud and earned a release, from the Rangers.
You’d think that’d be it for him, despite his 2.20 ERA in 45 innings only one season ago. Maybe Beimel thought that was it for him, too. He did all that, then barely made it to camp with the team that seemingly needed him the very most, and was then kicked to the curb. It would appear his worst critics had been validated. But Beimel wasn’t done.
He’s back now, you know. Back in MiLB camp with the Mariners, who picked him up in the wake of his disappointing Texas tenure. Is he excited to be joining the Rainiers? You bet he is!
“I’m beyond excited to be back in the organization. After all of the events that transpired this spring, I felt like it was destiny that brought me back.” That’s Beimel, quoted shortly after signing his new deal. Destiny! The Tacoma Rainiers are your destiny, Joe!
Therer’s no reason to expect him to be able to do what he did last year, but the M’s know this. That’s why he’s not going to be a Mariner right away, if ever again. But depth is depth is depth, and now where they used to have a David Rollins the M’s now have a Joe Beimel. Upgrade? Nah, probably not. But he’s got that LOOGY weirdness to him, and that’s something no team can have too much of.
Welcome back, Joe Beimel. You’re really excited to be here, like, maybe too excited, but that’s charming. See you in Seattle maybe, but probably not. Another reason to check out the Rainiers, everyone.