Seattle Mariners are better than you think they are
Joe Swenson
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Last season the biggest tweaks Seattle made were with the pitchers. In the rotation, George Kirby came up from the minors to replace an ineffective Matt Brash. Later in the season, they traded for Luis Castillo, which put Chris Flexen into a relief role.
In the bullpen, the ineffective duo of Drew Steckenrider and Sergio Romo were released. That, combined with Brash’s return as a dominating setup man and gems like Penn Murfee and Erik Swanson finding their way, improved the entire unit.
Recently manager Scott Servais made some tweaks to the batting order. Overall, the adjustments have improved the offense.
J.P. Crawford moving to leadoff, Jarred Kelenic‘s incredible turnaround (it might not be sustainable, but he’s proving people wrong) and moving him up to clean-up, and adding Cabellero as the 60 part of the 60-40 split at second base are paying off.
The Settle Mariners should also see progression to the mean with 2022 American League Rookie of the Year Julio Rodriguez and former Silver Slugger Teoscar Hernandez. That’s what will fill out the entire offense and give opposing pitchers nightmares.
Kolten Wong and AJ Pollock are veterans and will also progress toward the mean. Dylan Moore is on a rehab assignment and should be back with the team relatively soon.
Meanwhile, Sam Haggerty is getting back to himself after an early-season concussion. Over the last two weeks, he slashed .375/.444/.500/.944 as Servais slowly brings him along.