Internal, External Options For Mariners to Potentially Replace Logan Gilbert
The Seattle Mariners have been playing exceptionally well as of late, winning six straight series and 13 of their last 18 games since their disappointing 3-7 start. But it’s not all smiles and sunshine this spring in Seattle. The team has seen more than its fair share of injuries, and the latest involves the unquestioned - with all due respect to some of the other hurlers - ace of the staff in Logan Gilbert.
Gilbert was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday, and he is going to be shut down from throwing for the next two weeks after being diagnosed with a right flexor tendon strain.
It’s of course worth pointing out that the Mariners are saying that Gilbert’s strain is mild, and the hope according to president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto that Gilbert is going to be back on the mound by the end of May. It’s also worth noting that teams tend to be very optimistic to the public with injuries, and flexor tendon strains typically have a longer time frame of recovery than a month.
Whether he’s going to be out for a month or considerably longer, the Mariners will need a replacement, and I thought I’d lay out some potential options for Gilbert, both internal and external:
Internal Options
Logan Evans
Evans was called up to make his MLB debut Sunday against the Marlins, and all things considered, he pitched a solid, if unspectacular, five innings of two-run baseball with three walks and three strikeouts. The right-hander was pitching fine for Triple-A Tacoma with a 3.86 ERA and 23/4 K/BB ratio over his six starts and 25 2/3 innings. His best pitch is a cut-fastball that bares into the hands of left-handed hitters and away from righties, but he also will mix in a solid sweeper, a sinker, change, curve, and the occasional four-seam fastball. Basically, he’s a kitchen sink guy, and he generally hits the strike zone with all of those offerings. He’s not an ace nor anything close, but the stuff is good enough to be a backend starter, and he deserves a crack at sticking in the rotation.
Emerson Hancock
It’s a little weird to list Hancock as an option for Gilbert at first glance, but remember George Kirby? He’s pretty good, and he’s getting closer to a return. After a disastrous - disastrous almost seems too kind given the results - first start against the Tigers where he got two outs and gave up seven runs, Hancock has pitched well against the Reds and Red Sox, and reminded that you can’t make too many judgements on a small sample. The metrics hate Hancock, but he throws strikes, he has solid secondary stuff, and he’s not completely incapable of missing bats as seen in his seven strikeouts and 12 swings-and-misses generated over six innings.
Luis F. Castillo
No, not really. But Castillo is on the 40-man roster and if he pitches well/the other options falter, we may be forced to see it again. I hope not, but it’s possible.
The Mariners will need to make a decision on Hancock or Evans relatively soon, and personally, I would go with Hancock between the two. Many disagree. I’ve been wrong six times in my life.
External options
Obviously, this is the worst-case scenario; the case where the Mariners need to make a trade because Gilbert’s prognosis was too optimistic and he won’t be back for several weeks, if not months. It’s very hard to make trades for starting pitching early in the year, but let’s do the doomsday scenario of Hancock and Evans scuffling as replacements for Gilbert.
Tyler Anderson
Anderson is a former Mariner who unfortunately might be remembered best for struggling in the season finale of 2021, but he’s a pitcher who has taken a step forward - for the most part - since leaving Seattle, and is currently the owner of a 2.60 ERA and respectable 22/12 K/BB ratio over his 27 2/3 innings across five starts. He’s set to become a free agent at the end of the year, and the Angels are a bad baseball team that doesn’t need Anderson’s help in going 71-91 in 2025. He wouldn’t cost much, and he’d add some stability to the rotation if necessary.
Andrew Heaney
Maybe I just miss seeing a lefty in the Seattle Mariner rotation. I did grow up with Jamie Moyer and Randall K. Johnson after all. Heaney has been superb since joining the Pirates with an ERA of 1.72 and a WHIP of 0.77 - second best in baseball - across 31 1/3 innings. The veteran southpaw has had mixed results at best at the highest level, but he appears to have found something in Pittsburgh beyond just succeeding in a small sample. His salary would be extremely manageable for an organization that is very dollar-conscious at $5.25 million, and while he’d likely cost a bit more than Anderson in prospect capital, the Pirates aren’t going to let Heaney go for nothing in (another) rebuilding season.
Erick Fedde
If the Mariners want to dash my dreams of having a left-hander in their rotation, an arm like Fedde’s would certainly make sense. He’s struggled to begin the season for the Cardinals with a 4.66 ERA, but he’s coming off a 2024 season where he was excellent for the White Sox and St. Louis after spending 2023 excelling in the Korea Baseball Organization. Fedde is not a strikeout artist, but he’s the type of pitcher who initiates weak contact and throws plenty of strikes, the type of profile that plays well in T-Mobile Park. Like Anderson and Heaney, Fedde is a pending free agent, and while there will be other clubs interested in his services, the cost wouldn’t be prohibitive.
Again, if Gilbert is ‘only’ going to miss a month, the Mariners shouldn’t be looking at players from outside the organization. But if the right-hander does miss more time than anticipated - something that should not be ruled out whatsoever - then the Mariners need to be prepared to look for upgrades over Evans and Hancock. As good as the offense has been as of late, the Mariners still are relying on their starting pitching as much as any team in baseball. They can’t afford to struggle at that position every fifth day.
