Hyphen sees pitfalls in Mariners’ rotation situation

With Bryce Miller set to make his return from the injured list on Wednesday in Houston, the Seattle Mariners have elected to go to a six-man rotation for at least one turn.

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After that, the M’s plan to reassess their rotation moving forward. According to Mariners insider Shannon Drayer, a piggyback situation with Miller and Luis Castillo could be in the cards, meaning one of the two starts the game and the other comes in next, resulting in both pitchers covering most if not all of the game.

Mariners color analyst and former MLB pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith weighed in on the Mariners potentially going to a piggyback with Miller and Castillo when he joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Monday. The former M’s left-hander is very much opposed to the idea.

“Honestly, it never works out,” Rowland-Smith said.

Rowland-Smith pointed out a couple of the pitfalls of piggybacking pitchers. One is that if Miller or Castillo were to start a game and pitch well, the team may have to cut that start short in order to get the other the work they need. Another is that if the pitcher who started is performing well and allowed to throw an inning more than planned, all of the sudden the second pitcher’s workload could be cut short, especially in a tight game where leverage arms are needed late.

The Mariners have been opposed to using a six-man rotation over the years, but there is still the possibility they continue with it after this first turn through. However, Rowland-Smith sees a negative impact that creates as well.

“It never works out for the guys that you want to see pitch every fifth day. I’m talking George Kirby, Bryan Woo and Logan Gilbert,” Rowland-Smith said.

What Rowland-Smith would like to see the Mariners do is make the tough choice of deciding which of the six is no longer in the starting rotation.

If performance is any indicator, that tough call would seemingly be moving Castillo, a respected veteran and longtime starter, to the bullpen. The right-hander has a 6.51 ERA in eight starts this season and has allowed four or more runs in six of his past seven starts.

“Watching Luis Castillo right now, there’s something missing with him,” Rowland-Smith said. “I watched him pitch on Saturday (against the White Sox) and (there was) just a lot of contact, a lot of healthy swings. He’s just not fooling anyone right now, plain and simple.”

“You want him to be a factor like he was last year at the end of the year,” he added. “I just don’t know how you manage this… You have to make a stern decision (and) say someone’s going to the bullpen. If that’s, at the moment, if it’s Luis Castillo, well then so be it.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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