Seattle Mariners: Who’s left in the bullpen to pitch?
Ed Stein
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The Seattle Mariners made a flurry of trades leading up to the trade deadline. They now find themselves with a shorthanded and inexperienced relief staff.
Seattle Mariners Jerry DiPoto was very busy at Monday’s trade deadline. Recognizing that contenders needed deeper bullpens down the stretch, he traded away three relievers. Closer Taylor Williams, as well as setup men Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla, were shipped to Southern California.
None of the trio set the world on fire during their careers. But their collective absence in addition to the continuously growing injured list leaves a gaping hole in the relief staff.
Matt Magill would have been the favorite to assume Williams’ closer role, but he’s out for the rest of the year with a shoulder injury. For that matter, Carl Edwards Jr., Taylor Guilbeau, Nestor Cortes Jr., and Brandon Brennan are done, as well. Erik Swanson, and his 15.19 ERA, is also out but he might come back from his forearm strain to pitch again this season.
If Bryan Shaw and Zac Grotz never pitch again in a Seattle Mariners uniform, the fans will be forever grateful. The is no truth to the rumor that either of them has been banned from leaving the city limits of Tacoma through the end of September.
Filling the holes
DiPoto is like the little dutch boy trying to plug holes in the dike with his fingers. So the question is who will come out of the Seattle Mariners bullpen to pitch in the second half of the season?
If the decision were based on talent, Yohan Ramirez would close games. The young pitcher still hasn’t managed to control the canon attached to his right shoulder, so Yoshihisa Hirano or Anthony Misiewicz will get the job. Kendall Graveman just came off the injured list, but won’t return to the rotation. He’ll be a mid-game innings eater. By the way, Graveman hasn’t thrown a pitch in relief since his rookie year of 2014.
That leaves rookie Joey Gerber as the only reliever aside from Ramirez with nine or more innings of work and a 4.00 or lower ERA this year left on the Seattle Mariners. The rest of the relief group includes MLB castoffs Brady Lail and Walker Lockett as well as rookie Aaron Fletcher. How inexperienced is the staff? They have a combined 222.2 innings of experience coming out of the bullpen. This season accounts for 64 innings of the total and 119.1 belong to Hirano from his previous two seasons with Arizona.
There is an old Bill Cosby routine where he tells people that his father could never remember the names of Bill or his two brothers. The father called them What’s His Name, Whose That, and The Other Guy. Those names now apply to the new Seattle Mariners bullpen.