Seattle recalled Festa from Triple-A Tacoma on Wednesday, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.
Festa excelled with Tacoma after being demoted early in April by the Mariners with a 0.43 ERA and a 16:10 K:BB over 21 innings. The right-hander was a big part of the Seattle bullpen in 2022, but struggled in the early going of the season with a 10.80 ERA (four runs in 3.1 innings). He should be a middle-inning option for Seattle while he's with the club. Darren McCaughan was optioned to Triple-A to open room on the roster for Festa.
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Mariners' Matt Festa: Optioned to Triple-A
Rotowire
The Mariners optioned Festa to Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.
Festa struggled in his first two appearances of the year and threw just six of 14 pitches for a strike during Saturday's appearance against the Guardians before being pulled. He was a solid part of the Seattle bullpen in 2023, however, and he'll likely be back as a middle-innings option in the next few weeks.
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Mariners' Matt Festa: Good start to spring
Rotowire
Festa has fired two perfect innings during which he's recorded two strikeouts across two Cactus League appearances this spring.
The 30-year-old right-hander logged a career-high 54 innings across 53 appearances in 2022, posting a 2-0 record, two saves and six holds with a 4.17 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. Festa produced an impressive 10.7 K/9 along the way and was involved in high-leverage work at times, but he's likely ticketed for more of a middle-relief role in 2023 as long as there aren't a rash of injuries in front of him.
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Mariners' Matt Festa: Working in middle relief
Rotowire
Festa has not seen a save opportunity since July 30 and has a 2.70 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and four strikeouts in 6.2 innings in August.
He had a run of high-leverage usage in late July, but is firmly in the middle-relief mix now with Seattle. Paul Sewald and Andres Munoz are the top Mariners relievers to roster in fantasy.
