Banged Up Mariners’ Bullpen Needs to Weather Mid-May Storm
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Seattle Mariners pitcher Jose A. Ferrer (45) delivers a pitch in the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images [/caption]
During a 162-game marathon of an MLB season, there is bound to be some attrition and injuries. It’s a natural part of the game. Every team goes through it. It’s not very often that a specific position group on one team gets hit seemingly all at once with the injury bug.
The Seattle Mariners are currently down three different relievers that they were counting on to get big outs late in games. Flamethrower Matt Brash and lefty Gabe Speier seemingly got hurt on the same day, leaving manager Dan Wilson trying to get through the seventh and eighth innings without two of his best relief arms before the closer Andres Muñoz closes it down in the ninth.
In addition, Carlos Vargas has not pitched yet this season. Last week, he suffered a setback while ramping up his throwing program and he has to restart his throwing progression from the beginning.
Between Brash, Speier, and Vargas, that’s a total of 186 1/3 innings of relief from last year that are currently on the shelf for Seattle.
In the meantime, Wilson’s bullpen is going to need to make do with the likes of Nick Davila, Alex Hoppe, and Cooper Criswell in higher leverage spots than normal.
Making up for Brash and Speier being out, Jose Ferrer is doing his part. The Mariners traded away touted catching prospect Harry Ford to acquire the lefty reliever and thus far, it’s worked out (1.89 ERA in 19 innings). Ferrer will continue to be thrown into high leverage spots as the other big names in front of Muñoz do their time on the injured list.
Eduard Bazardo got the eighth inning in Monday’s 5-4 win over the Braves, bridging the gap to Muñoz, who closed the door successfully on Atlanta.
Speaking of the Braves, the Mariners claimed Jose Suarez off waivers from Atlanta last week. Josh Simpson also joined the fray after posting a 0.96 ERA in nine appearances for Triple-A Tacoma as the team continues to search for reinforcements until the cavalry returns healthy.
All this to say: this is a crucial time for Dan Wilson to manage Seattle’s bullpen carefully. He must juggle between not overusing Ferrer and Muñoz while not overexposing the other arms who aren’t ready for consistent high-leverage moments in close games just yet.
The Mariners are in Chicago this weekend to take on a slugging White Sox team. Then they head to Houston for four against the Astros. These seven games will be tricky, with no day off in between and plenty of big bats for a banged up bullpen to have to deal with.
The best medicine for an ailing bullpen is for the starting pitching to go deeper into games. The Mariners’ rotation went through a bumpy stretch over the last few weeks, but looks to be breaking out of it. Plus, they are set to get reinforcements in the form of Bryce Miller, who could be back early as this weekend to give a boost to the rotation or start off his return in the bullpen.
Still trying to find more consistency as a team as they pursue a second straight AL West title, stating the obvious, it would make Wilson’s job a lot easier if the rotation held the fort down while the bullpen is far from full strength and started pitching to their capability after an uneven start to the season.
