Seattle Mariners sign reliever Juan Nicasio in free agency

Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has made a few deals at the Winter Meetings, with reliever Juan Nicasio being the biggest so far.

After cruising through the five stages of grief at missing out on Japanese star Shohei Ohtani, Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has been busy making moves at the winter meetings. Most of the moves have been minor additions, with his most significant step so far being the signing of free agent reliever Juan Nicasio for a reported two years and $17 million.

Relievers have been going like hotcakes the last few days. Nicasio joins Luke Gregerson, Pat Neshek, Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee among the relievers who recently signed free-agent deals.

It’s not surprising that Dipoto added pitching. He’s already said most of the position player spots on the 25-man roster are set, and Mariner fans shouldn’t expect any big moves that add to the offense. Dipoto is focused on pitching.

The starting rotation could use an upgrade, or at least some competition for the number four and five spots, but established starting pitchers are expensive. Instead, Dipoto turned to Nicasio, who was exclusively a reliever last year but started 12 games in 2016 and was predominantly a starter early in his career.

Nicasio is coming off an impressive 2017 season. He started the year with the Pittsburgh Pirates. They inexplicably put him on waivers to save money at the end of August, and he was picked up by the Phillies, then traded to the Cardinals.