Mariners 25-Man Roster Ultimate Preview: Roster-Projected Bullpen
By Asher Young

RHP- Casey Fien
IP- 28 W- 1 L- 4 ERA- 4.65 WHIP- 1.27 K-43 WAR- .0
Casey Fien was a fixture in the Twins bullpen from 2013-2015. He was never a star, but he was never a weak link. You knew what you could count on with him. You knew you could count on 60+ innings. You knew he was going to hover around a 4.00 ERA.
All of a sudden, in 2016 his reliability disappeared. In 39.1 combined innings with the Twins and Dodgers, he had a 5.49 ERA, and he gave up a remarkable 13 home runs. That’s a rate of 3 home runs per nine innings. That’s not a fun stat.
Related Story: Roster Moves Make Room For Fien
So when Dipoto signed him this offseason, it was a very classic Dipoto signing. A pitcher one year removed from being solid, at a very very cheap price. Dipoto’s philosophy that when you gather a surplus of spare parts, then eventually enough spare parts will be able to do their job.
Which spare part will Fien be? Will he be a reliable innings eater, or will his worrisome trends from last year continue? I don’t think he will be as bad as last year, but I don’t think he is a long term solution. I doubt he finishes out the year in the bullpen.