Mariners activate Charlie Furbush; option Shawn Kelley

Mariners activate Charlie Furbush and option Shawn Kelley, signaling a desire to stay young in the bullpen.

By Jack Moore

Aug 17, 2012 at 5:09 pm ET • 1 min read

The Mariners activated Charlie Furbush from the disabled list and optioned Shawn Kelley to Triple-A Tacoma, the club announced Friday via Twitter.

Furbush was placed on the 15-day DL with a triceps injury July 18. Prior to the injury, Furbush was thriving as a reliever, notching a 2.17 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 47 strikeouts against 11 walks in his 37.1 innings.

The decision to option Kelley (3.41 ERA, 3.60 K/BB) is less about performance and more about the desire to give two young relievers in Carter Capps and Stephen Pryor more time at the big league level. Both are 23 years old or younger with monster fastballs, able to push 96 or faster. Pryor owns a 0.84 ERA in 10.2 innings with 15 strikeouts. Capps has only pitched 3.1 innings so far, displaying some control problems with four walks.

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