Steve Berthiaume raves about Mariners’ rotation
May 25, 2011, 6:00 PM | Updated: 6:12 pm
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By Tanner Bogardus,
710Sports.com intern
The Mariners’ rotation has been outstanding this season, and after another solid performance by Erik Bedard on Wednesday, The Calabro show hosted Baseball Tonight’s Steve Berthiaume, who wrote about Seattle’s rotation on ESPN.com earlier in the day.
In his interview, along with his article, Berthiaume concentrated on how the Mariners pitchers are more effective than last year and what they’re doing differently.
“The numbers of changeups for King Felix is way up, Jason Vargas is throwing way less fastballs and more sliders than last year and Erik Bedard added a really effective changeup to his repertoire,” Berthiaume said.
At the back end of the rotation, Berthiaume believes Doug Fister has the stuff to be a solid starting pitcher. He has the second lowest run support in the American League and has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven out of his last 10 starts.
Everyone in the country is starting to realize there might be a new rookie sensation in Michael Pineda. A 1-2 punch between Hernandez and Pineda is a formidable one, but Berthiaume couldn’t help but ponder what the Mariners could get in a trade for one of them.
“You have a very top-heavy rotation, obviously dominating with King Felix and Pineda,” he said. “It’s a 1-2 combination that’s so good you start wondering if you break it up because they’re both equally great and could you afford losing one and maybe figure out how you could get a Herschel Walker trade and restock your ballclub.”
