Seattle Mariners Could Make Interesting Pitching Decision Before All-Star Break
The Mariners could potentially be exploring looking at Bryan Woo in the bullpen before the All-Star Break.
Video Transcript
Hey everyone, Tarren Kovach here with Roundtable Sports for a quick Seattle Mariners update.
So the Mariners are coming off a 2-0 loss against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday, which gave them the series loss for the set against Miami after a 6-5 loss on Tuesday, in extra innings against the Marlins.
in the outing on Tuesday, Brian Wu got the start, went five innings, and the Mariners, on the heels of their 2-0 loss, released their, probable pitchers for the series against the Tampa Bay Rays, which will be the last series the Mariners have before the All-Star break.
Wu was noticeably absent from the list of probable starters, which means assuming he starts the first game post All-Star break, he would have a 10-day, layoff in between his previous start on Tuesday and his next potential one, which would be Ju- July 17th against the San Francisco Giants.
According to a report from Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, the Mariners could have Wu start out of the bullpen for either the final series against the final game against the Marlins on Thursday or the series against Tampa Bay.
Now, the immediate impact and practical a- aspect of that would be to keep him fresh and stretched out, given the long layoff in between his two starts.
But, that could also have long-term ramifications.
the Mariners ideally would have a 13-man rotation going forward for the stretch of the season, eight relievers and five starters.
the Mariners have reportedly explored, calling up top pitching prospects Ryan Sloan and Kade Anderson for the bullpen.
Those two, in conjunction with, Matt Brash when he comes back healthy, Gabe Spire, Edward Bazardo, Jose Urquidy Ferrer, and Andres Munoz would give the Mariners a seven-man bullpen, which would leave one spot for one of the starters in the Mariners' current six-man rotation to move to the bullpen.
Now, Luis Castillo has been a player who a lot of, analysts have pointed to as the likeliest candidate to move to the bullpen, given his struggles in the first two and a half year-- first two and a half months of the season.
But he has started to find his form over the last three, four, five starts or so.
and Wu has pretty drastic home and away splits.
this year, he has a 4.23 ERA, 102 strikeouts, 104 and a third innings pitched across 18 starts.
2.10 ERA at home at T-Mobile Park with an opposing slash line of 156, 195, 222, and 51 and a third innings on the road.
6.28 ERA with an opposing slash line of 295, 333, 461 and 53 earnings at work.
Now, if the Mariners do trade a starter at the deadline, obviously this is a, a moot point.
they wouldn't have to move a starter to the bullpen, and there's no reason why they would want to, given, they have a solid five-man still.
regardless of who they trade with a bullpen, worst case scenario, you have o- one low leverage guy, or you have a slot available for Carlos Vargas as well when he's activated from his respective injury.
but if they don't trade a starter, and they do opt to go with the eight-man bullpen and five-man rotation in the stretch, it would be, Wu could be a potential candidate to move.
And how he looks out of the bullpen, if he does pitch out of the bullpen in the series, in this upcoming series against Tampa Bay, would be a, potential indication of what his role could be, what he would look like, and whether or not the Mariners could potentially move him to that role.
Now, obviously, this is a lot of ifs, ands, and potentials, given the fact that the trade lot-- trade deadline is still yet to arrive.
There's a whole second half left to play, and the Mariners still have, bullpen options in the minor leagues with Teddy McGraw and Brock Moore.
So still a lot of things could happen, given the fact that Wu potentially pitching out of the bullpen is no indication whether the Mariners would lean that way or not, but something to monitor going forward.
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