For Immediate Release

Friday, December 18, 2020

MARINERS SIGN FREE AGENT RIGHT-HANDED PITCHER CHRIS FLEXEN

INF/OF Tim Lopes was designated for assignment
SEATTLE, Wash. – Seattle Mariners Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto
announced today that the Mariners signed right-handed pitcher Chris Flexen to a 2-year Major League contract, with an
option for 2023.

To make room on Seattle’s Major League, 40-man, roster, infielder/outfielder Tim Lopes was designated for assignment.
Seattle has 7 days to trade, release or outright the contract of Lopes to the minor leagues.

After today’s roster moves, Seattle’s Major League, 40-man, roster remains full at 40 players.

“We believe Chris is a terrific addition to our pitching staff,” said Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto. “His maturation
as a pitcher and impressive on-field performance in 2020 were both significant. At age 26, he’s a natural fit as we continue
to grow our young core.”

Flexen, 26, spent the 2020 season with the Doosan Bears in the Korean Baseball Organization and went 8-4 with a 3.01
ERA (39 ER, 116.2 IP) with 30 walks and 132 strikeouts over 21 starts. The right-hander struck out 28% of the batters he
faced, which registered as the 4th-highest in the KBO since 2002, and he only walked 6.4% for a 2.3 BB/9 ratio, according
to Baseball Reference. During the Bears’ playoff run, in which they fell to the NC Dinos 4-2 in the Korean Series, Flexen
posted a combined 1.91 ERA (6 ER, 28.1 IP), pitching in both starting and relieving roles.

Prior to last season, Flexen had pitched in parts of 3 seasons with the New York Mets (2017-19), going 3-11 with an 8.07
ERA (61 ER, 68.0 IP) with 49 strikeouts and 54 walks over 27 games (11 starts). His last game in the Majors came on Aug.
24, 2019 vs. Atlanta (0.2 IP, 1 H). In 2019, he went 0-3 with a 6.59 ERA (10 ER, 13.2 IP) with 10 strikeouts. He also pitched
in 26 games (14 starts) for Triple-A Syracuse, posting a 5-3 record with a 4.46 ERA (39 ER, 78.2 IP). Flexen made his Major
League debut on July 27, 2017 at San Diego, becoming the first Mets starting pitcher to make the jump from Double-A
straight to the Majors since Mike Pelfrey in 2006.

Flexen spent parts of 8 minor league seasons with New York-NL, combining to go 43-31 with a 3.61 ERA (236 ER, 588.0
IP) with 513 strikeouts and 192 walks, a 1.31 WHIP and a 7.9 SO/9 ratio. He was selected in the 14th round of the 2012
MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Newark Memorial (CA) High School, signed by Mets scout Jim Blueberg.

Lopes, 26, appeared in 2 stints with Seattle (July 24-Sept. 3 & Sept. 14-end of season), batting .238 (34x143) with 16 runs
scored, 12 doubles, 2 home runs, 15 RBI, 2 HBP, 6 walks and 5 stolen bases. Among American League rookies in 2020,
Lopes ranked in the top-5 of several categories: doubles (12, 1st), stolen bases (5, T4th) and extra-base hits (14, T4th). He
recorded three doubles on Sept. 14-G1 vs. OAK (3x3, 2 R, 3 2B, RBI), tying a club record.

Lopes was originally selected by the Mariners in the 6th round of the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Edison High
School in Huntington Beach, CA. The native of Los Angeles spent the first 5 seasons of his professional career in the
Mariners organization. On Sept. 30, 2016, he was sent to Toronto as a Player to Be Named Later completing a trade made
on Aug. 6, 2016 in which the Mariners acquired switch-handed pitcher Pat Venditte from the Blue Jays. Lopes spent the
2017 and 2018 seasons in the Blue Jays organization before signing with Seattle as a minor league free agent on Nov. 14,
2018. He has appeared in parts of 8 minor league seasons with Seattle (2012-16, 2019-c) and Toronto (2017-18).

-- Statistics for both players follow on next page --

 FLEXEN’s PLAYING RECORD
YEAR CLUB W-L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR HB BB SO WP BK
2012 Kingsport 1-3 5.63 7 6 0 0 0 32.0 38 23 20 2 0 14 26 2 0
2013 Kingsport 8-1 2.09 11 11 2 2 0 69.0 53 18 16 6 6 12 62 3 0
2014 Savannah 3-5 4.83 13 13 0 0 0 69.0 75 41 37 5 4 37 46 5 0
2015 Savannah 4-0 1.87 6 5 0 0 0 33.2 28 9 7 0 0 7 33 1 0
Brooklyn 0-2 5.11 3 2 0 0 0 12.1 15 8 7 0 1 8 13 0 0
GCL Mets 0-0 0.00 3 2 0 0 0 6.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0
2016 St. Lucie 10-9 3.56 25 25 1 1 0 134.0 125 62 53 6 6 51 95 5 0
2017 NEW YORK-NL 3-6 7.88 14 9 0 0 0 48.0 62 44 42 11 2 35 36 1 0
Binghamton 6-1 1.66 7 7 2 1 0 48.2 28 10 9 4 0 7 50 1 0
St. Lucie 0-0 2.13 3 3 0 0 0 12.2 12 6 3 1 0 3 13 2 0
2018 NEW YORK-NL 0-2 12.79 4 1 0 0 0 6.1 14 13 9 2 1 6 3 0 0
Las Vegas 6-7 4.40 18 17 1 0 0 92.0 109 53 45 11 0 31 78 3 2
2019 NEW YORK-NL 0-3 6.59 9 1 0 0 0 13.2 15 12 10 1 0 13 10 1 0
Syracuse 5-3 4.46 26 14 0 0 0 78.2 94 41 39 11 2 21 92 2 1
2020 Doosan 8-4 3.01 21 21 0 0 0 116.2 97 43 39 6 2 30 132 5 0
KBO Totals 8-4 3.01 21 21 0 0 0 116.2 97 43 39 6 2 30 132 5 0
Minor League Totals 43-31 3.61 122 105 6 4 0 588.0 579 271 236 46 19 192 513 24 3
ML Totals 3-11 8.07 27 11 0 0 0 68.0 91 69 61 14 3 54 49 2 0

LOPES’ PLAYING RECORD

YEAR CLUB AVG G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI SH SF HB BB SO SB CS SLG OBP
2012 AZL Mariners .316 53 215 42 68 103 11 12 0 32 0 4 1 24 29 7 3 .479 .381
High Desert .250 4 12 2 3 5 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .417 .250
2013 Clinton .272 92 334 40 91 115 15 3 1 36 6 3 2 20 46 10 7 .344 .315
2014 High Desert .238 114 421 54 100 142 16 7 4 44 5 1 6 37 81 18 7 .337 .308
2015 Bakersfield .276 123 478 69 132 173 27 4 2 49 14 6 8 41 96 35 18 .362 .340
2016 Jackson .284 131 510 74 145 181 23 5 1 49 5 5 7 54 88 26 6 .355 .358
2017 New Hampshire .271 128 469 49 127 183 27 4 7 50 0 6 2 49 86 19 9 .390 .338
2018 Buffalo .277 104 354 41 98 129 19 3 2 29 0 4 1 26 58 18 8 .364 .325
2019 Tacoma # .302 95 374 59 113 178 31 2 10 60 0 7 3 36 72 26 9 .476 .362
SEATTLE .270 41 111 11 30 40 7 0 1 12 0 1 1 15 29 6 3 .360 .359
2020 SEATTLE .238 46 143 16 34 52 12 0 2 15 0 0 2 6 34 5 0 .364 .278
Minor Lg. Totals .277 844 3167 430 877 1209 169 41 27 350 30 36 30 287 557 159 67 .382 .339
ML Totals .252 87 254 27 64 92 19 0 3 27 0 1 3 21 63 11 3 .362 .315

For more information, please contact the Seattle Mariners baseball information department at (206) 346-4000. More
information on Seattle’s roster is also available online at www.mariners.com. All Mariners news releases, game notes,
statistics and multimedia files are also available by visiting the Mariners Virtual Press Box at www.MarinersMedia.com
-- www.Mariners.com / @Mariners / @LosMarineros / @Mariners (Instagram) –