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# 4 Options For Mariners to Address George Kirby’s Expected Absence
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/4-options-for-mariners-to-address-george-kirbys-expected-absence/
- Published: 2025-03-08T03:40:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:37:43.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Mariners, Emerson Hancock, Logan Evans, Spencer Turnbull, Drew Smyly

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="3600"\]

![ Denver CO, USA. 21st Apr, 2024. Seattle pitcher Emerson Hancock (62) throws a pitch during the second game with the Seattle Mariners and Colorado Rockies held at Coors Field in Denver Co. (Credit Image: © David Seelig/Cal Sport Media/Cal Sport Media) ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/emerson-hancock-format-original-1.jpg)

Denver CO, USA. 21st Apr, 2024\. Seattle pitcher Emerson Hancock (62) throws a pitch during the second game with the Seattle Mariners and Colorado Rockies held at Coors Field in Denver Co. (Credit Image: © David Seelig/Cal Sport Media/Cal Sport Media) \[/caption\]

Mariners general manager Justin Hollander called an impromptu press conference Friday afternoon to announce the club has decided to [temporarily shut down right-handed pitcher George Kirby from throwing as he deals with right shoulder inflammation](https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/home/mariners-rotation-takes-hit-george-kirby-miss-start-season). While Hollander did not voice any long-term concern and confirmed that an MRI revealed no damage to Kirby’s rotator cuff or labrum, the expectation is that even if the 27-year old is able to resume throwing before the end of Spring Training, he will not be able to ramp back up in time to break camp with the major-league team and will begin the 2025 regular season on the injured list. 

Whether Kirby misses a couple weeks, a month, or longer, the Mariners will have to proceed for the time being without one of their stud starting pitchers. Let’s go over some of the options they have available to them to deal with Kirby’s absence.

### Emerson Hancock

This is almost certainly the path Seattle will go down, but it isn’t a very inspiring one. Some fans will be quick to point out that the Mariners went 7-5 in games Hancock started during the 2024 season, including three consecutive wins in his final three appearances, and to his credit, aside from a blow-up start against the Brewers on April 7, the former first-round draft pick out of Georgia never truly put his team out of striking distance to win the games he took the bump in. His stuff, however, is average to below-average across the board with average-ish control and command and he ranked in the 20th percentile or lower in several categories last year, namely whiff rate (21.9 percent), barrel percentage (9.9 percent), groundball rate (35.6 percent), hard-hit rate (46 percent), strikeout rate (14.7 percent), expected earned run average (5.94), and expected batting average against (.290). He’s a true No. 5 starter at best and if Kirby winds up missing just a handful of starts, the Mariners should be able to survive handing Hancock the ball every fifth day. But if Kirby’s injury develops into something more serious, the club should probably look to do better.

### Logan Evans

Evans has been a favorite of the Mariners’ front office since they took him in the 12th round of the 2023 draft out of Pittsburgh. He entered his first full season of pro ball with a ton of hype and put together an overall solid year, but endured some stop-and-start when Seattle experimented with him as a reliever and eventually pulled the cord on that plan. Evans has had a poor start to the spring, surrendering nine earned runs on 11 hits and a pair of walks in five innings of work, but he generally has better stuff than Hancock and looked much improved in his latest outing against the Dodgers.

> Logan Evans knows pitching [pic.twitter.com/htHKWKW3sz](https://t.co/htHKWKW3sz?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) [March 8, 2025](https://twitter.com/pitchprofiler/status/1898209428681134303?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)

### Spencer Turnbull

If the Mariners want to look outside of the organization for help, Turnbull is a free agent who generated interest from the organization an offseason ago. The 32-year old wound up signing with the Phillies after spending the first 10 years of his professional career in the Tigers organization, making 17 appearances (seven starts) for Philadelphia to the tune of a 2.65 ERA and a 3.85 FIP while averaging a little over a strikeout per inning and keeping the ball on the ground at a 47.5 percent clip. His sweeper is the star of his arsenal; it limited opposing hitters in 2024 to a meager.145 batting average with a 30.8 percent whiff rate, helping him finish in the 97th percentile in the majors in breaking ball run value. As an added bonus, he’d be able to smoothly transition to a role in the bullpen upon Kirby’s return.

### Drew Smyly

Smyly is another veteran free-agent arm who could transition to the bullpen for Seattle once Kirby is cleared to go and provides a left-handed element the Mariners don’t have in their rotation at the moment. Despite a [Baseball Savant page](https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/drew-smyly-592767?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) that is filled with moderate to low percentile rankings, the veteran southpaw still featured a standout tool: a knuckle-curve, his most-used pitch, that induced a 33.3 percent whiff rate and a .220 batting average against in 58.2 innings of relief work with the Cubs. The former Mariner who never appeared in a real game with the club due to his infamous [“soggy arm”](https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/drew-smylys-soggy-elbow-could-pour-water-on-mariners-hopes-this-season/?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) could be a worthwhile flier to take at this stage for Seattle.