Report: Zach Duke Traded to Mariners from Twins for Chase De Jong, Ryan Costello

The Seattle Mariners are bolstering their bullpen heading into the stretch run of the 2018 season.

On Monday, the Mariners announced they acquired relief pitcher Zach Duke from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for minor league pitcher Chase De Jong and minor league infielder Ryan Costello.

The veteran Duke has played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox and Twins throughout his career. While he began his career as a starting pitcher, he has transitioned into the bullpen.

In 45 appearances this season for the Twins, he sports a solid 3.62 ERA and 1.58 WHIP with 39 strikeouts.

He comes to a Mariners team that is four games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West and two games ahead of the Oakland Athletics for the second wild-card position. However, the bullpen is a middling 14th in the league in ERA, per ESPN.com, and could use reinforcements if they are going to catch the defending champions.

As for the 48-56 Twins, they don’t appear to be headed anywhere this season and can accelerate their rebuild with multiple minor leaguers in the return package. De Jong was ranked as the No. 28 prospect in the Mariners’ system this season by MLB.com.