Mariners bullpen could be uniquely set up for playoff run

By most accounts, the Seattle Mariners were one of the big winners of this year’s MLB trade deadline.

Seattle Mariners activate Luke Raley, place starting pitcher on IL

With the additions of Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez, the M’s picked up two of the biggest impact bats available to make their push for the postseason.

However, there has been some questions as to whether or not the team did enough to bolster its bullpen. The lone move Seattle made to upgrade there was the trade for Pirates left-hander Caleb Ferguson.

The Mariners’ bullpen was the topic of the conversation during a recent segment of Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. Co-host Mike Salk made the case that even with just the addition of Ferguson, the bullpen may be uniquely set up for a playoff run.

The biggest reasons Salk believes the Mariners could have enough in their bullpen for a postseason run are impending return of starter Bryce Miller and the fact that most teams need just four starters in the playoffs, meaning one could slide into the bullpen if needed.

“If you just take the 13 best pitchers you have, regardless of what they’ve been doing, start four of them and put nine in the pen, think about what your bullpen then becomes,” Salk said. “(Andrés) Muñoz, (Matt) Brash, (Gabe) Speier, Miller – let’s put him there for now. What is Emerson Hancock gonna look like if you’re saying, ‘hey, man, throw as hard as you can for one inning and use that changeup.’ He might be pretty good (out of the bullpen), and that doesn’t mean he’s gotta do it forever. Ferguson becomes (your sixth reliever), and then you’re going (Eduard) Bazardo, (Carlos) Vargas and maybe Logan Evans as a long guy. You don’t really need much more help than that. That is a really, really good playoff bullpen.”

There is always the risk that a starter may not perform as well in different role coming out of the bullpen. Mariners fans undoubtedly have the memory of Robbie Ray allowing a walkoff home run to Yordan Alvarez in Game 1 of the 2022 ALDS seared into their memories. However, there are plenty of instances of starters excelling while coming out of the bullpen in the playoffs. The Mariners experienced that side of the spectrum, too, in 2022 when George Kirby picked up a save in a scoreless inning to clinch their wild card series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

No reason to overpay

The Mariners were also in heavy pursuit of standout Twins closer Jhoan Duran at the trade deadline, but he ended up going to Phillies in deal that sent two top 100 prospects to Minnesota.

“At the very least, there was no need to overpay for it. If they had been able to make a deal for Griffin Jax or Duran or some of the other guys, even (David) Bednar, I can understand it. Certainly it would be better to have another high-leverage reliever,” Salk said. “But I think you can afford to be a little choosier about how much you’re willing to give up because (relievers) are up and down. … They’re only gonna pitch so many times over the course of the rest of the season. Maybe you’re not gonna give up a top-five prospect – one of the near untouchables – when you have the opportunity to (use starters out of the bullpen) to get through the end of the year if you want to. They’re in a pretty unique position having that many starting pitchers.”

“They’ve got options,” Salk added. “They were in a better situation than some other teams were, where they didn’t need to go out and acquire the highest leverage arm right now and overpay for it. They could afford to overpay for Naylor and overpay for Geno and all of that maybe a little bit, but I think they put themselves in a pretty good spot.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Cal Raleigh nailed it with quote on Players’ Weekend bats
• Stacy: There’s a path for Seahawks, Mariners to reach rare feat together
• Seattle Mariners prep for final sprint with reinforcements expected soon
• How Luis Castillo has been invaluable to Seattle Mariners’ success
• What would it take for Seattle Mariners to re-sign Josh Naylor?

Related

ESPN’s Passan believes Cal Raleigh ‘will fix himself’Salk: Mariners will solve a big conundrum at trade deadlineSalk: Two things need to happen for Mariners in second halfBrock: Seahawks will have a top-10 offensive line in the NFLAn outside-the-box trade idea for the MarinersSalk: Leonard Williams is a superstar, and we don’t talk about it enough