How should Mariners handle impending starting rotation crunch?

The Seattle Mariners are about to face a tough decision many likely wouldn’t have seen coming entering the season.

Ace Logan Gilbert is scheduled to make his third and perhaps final rehab start with Triple-A Tacoma on Tuesday. If Gilbert is ready to return after that outing, the M’s need to open up a spot in the rotation.

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When The Seattle Times’ Tim Booth joined Bump and Stacy on Monday, he mentioned that he’ll be closely watching how right-hander Emerson Hancock fares in his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks that evening. The reasoning is because the decision the M’s will face when Gilbert returns is if he’ll take Hancock’s spot or that of struggling right-hander Bryce Miller. The team has said it doesn’t plan to use a six-man rotation, either.

That conversation led to a discussion between co-hosts Stacy Rost and Michael Bumpus and producer Curtis Rogers about what the M’s should do with the rotation when Gilbert comes back.

“Do you reward the player who is better or the player who’s been playing better?” Rost asked.

“Playing better. It’s a, ‘What have you done for me lately?’” Bumpus responded.

Hancock or Miller?

Coming into the season, Hancock was the clear-cut No. 6 starter while Miller was firmly in the Mariners’ top five options on the mound.

Miller posted a 2.94 ERA and 0.976 WHIP over 180 1/3 innings last season. From Aug. 9 on, he was second in the majors with a 1.34 ERA over nine starts.

But it’s been a rough start to 2025 as the third-year big leaguer dealt with elbow inflammation early and spent a brief stint on the injured list in May because of it. He has a 5.73 ERA and hasn’t reached six innings or recorded a quality start in any of his 10 outings. In his two starts since returning to the rotation, he allowed eight runs over nine innings while striking out just four batters.

Hancock has trended in the opposite direction despite his overall numbers not looking too much better. The 2020 first-round pick has a 5.19 ERA over 50 1/3 innings in 10 starts. But his ERA is inflated by a dreadful first outing when he gave up six runs and recorded just two outs against the Tigers, after which he was demoted to Triple-A. In his nine starts since being recalled, he has a 4.17 ERA, four quality starts and four outings of at least six innings.

“I’m not looking at last year at this point of the season,” Bumpus said. “Sixty games in, we’re not looking at last season. If we’re 10 to 20 games in, we’re saying, ‘Alright, give it some time. He’ll figure it out.’ But no, Emerson Hancock I think has established himself in this (rotation).”

Rogers agreed.

“I think Bryce Miller has just not been as sharp as we had hoped he would be this season,” Rogers said. “And for that reason, I would have to go with Emerson Hancock in that spot over Bryce Miller. I don’t know what you do with Bryce Miller…

“You could send him down,” Rogers continued. “But maybe you put him back on the injured list to make sure that he is absolutely 100% healthy for the season’s most important months, because I think you can get by with Emerson Hancock right now here in the season’s middle part. But I don’t know if running Bryce Miller out there every fifth day is going to get you back in the hunt here in the (AL) West.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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