M's, Walker agree to 1-year deal

SEATTLE (AP) -- Relief pitcher Tyler Walker and the Seattle Mariners agreed to a $750,000, one-year contract Tuesday, giving the team a potential replacement for former closer J.J. Putz.

"Tyler is a pitcher we had identified early on as a guy who could help us in the bullpen," Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "He has the ability to pitch in any role: middle relief, setup, and he has experience as a closer."

The deal comes almost four weeks after Seattle traded Putz to the New York Mets at the winter meetings.

Walker was 5-8 with a 4.56 ERA in 65 games last season for the San Francisco Giants. In 53 1-3 innings, the right-hander allowed 47 hits, struck out 49 and walked 21 while developing a split-finger fastball for the first time -- the same pitch that helped make Putz an All-Star in 2007.

Walker, who has spent six seasons in the majors, had 23 saves for the Giants in 2005. He earned 10 more in 2006 after being traded to Tampa Bay, then had elbow ligament replacement surgery in July 2006 and missed 13 months before returning to the Giants.

"I am thankful and happy to be here. After the Giants released me, I sat down with my agent and we put together a list of teams I'd be interested in. Seattle was right at the top of the list," Walker said in a telephone interview. "I'm happy in any role -- including closing. I'll do whatever they ask me to."

Walker can earn an additional $150,000 in performance bonuses -- $25,000 each for 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 and 65 games.

Seattle's new coaching staff, including first-time manager Don Wakamatsu, is still deciding how it wants to employ hard-throwing Brandon Morrow in 2009. When Putz was traded on Dec. 10, Morrow seemed destined to be the closer after excelling as Putz's injury fill-in last season.

But Zduriencik said last month the 24-year-old Morrow might still be used as a starter. Walker's arrival makes Morrow more likely to do that.

This has been Morrow's dizzying career path: From reliever in Seattle as an impressive rookie in 2007, to starter in the winter leagues 12 months ago, to reliever again to begin last season, to part of the Mariners' starting rotation by September.

"The things that have been said to Brandon will hold true," Zduriencik said last month, his eye already on adding Walker. "And we'll have to see how Don and his staff view these players in spring training and decide what their best role is."

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