Pirates trade Arquimedes Caminero to Mariners

The Pirates have traded right-handed reliever Arquimedes Caminero to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later and a conditional player to be named later.  Caminero came to the Pirates from Miami, where he had a history of good velocity combined with control problems.  He seemed to be one of Ray Searage's success stories last year, as his velocity jumped to the upper-90s -- with an average fastball velocity of 97.8 mph in 2015, he was the hardest-throwing reliever in the big leagues apart from Aroldis Chapman -- and he improved his command enough to post an ERA of 3.62 and xFIP of 3.77.  This year has been a different story.  His velocity is still there, but his BB/9 climbed from 3.5 to 4.8.  His ERA actually dropped a little, but it masked a 5.29 xFIP and -0.2 fWAR.

There's no indication yet what the Pirates will do with the opening on the active roster.  Caminero served no real purpose with Tony Watson, Neftali Feliz, Felipe Rivero and Antonio Bastardo set for the late innings, and Juan Nicasio and the inexplicably-un-optioned Jared Hughes clinging to the middle innings.  The team could bring A.J. Schugel back from AAA, or it could move Jeff Locke and his lifetime tenure to the bullpen and give his starting spot to somebody who might actually pitch well.  There's also no word yet on whether the Pirates will include any top prospects to get the Mariners to take on all of the $170,000 or so that remains of Caminero's 2016 salary.