Seattle Mariners: What to make of today’s moves

The Mariners shook things up in a not-so-small way on the pitching front today.

When you allow 11 runs to an offense missing two of its key contributors, changes are bound to be made. That would be the case for the Mariners today, who designated two pitchers for assignment and demoted a third.

The busy day started with the addition of right-handed pitcher Andrew Moore, who returns to Seattle after being DFA’d by the San Francisco Giants as well as the Tampa Bay Rays before that. Moore has yet to pitch in the MLB this year, and has failed to help his case. In six appearances across Double-A and Triple-A, including five starts, Moore has posted an abysmal 14.21 ERA.

To make room for Moore on the 40-man roster, the Mariners in turn DFA’d reliever Nick Rumbelow. Seattle’s front office had been bullish on Rumbelow for some time, but the 27-year-old failed to back that confidence in his time with the organization.

Rumbelow’s awful start to the season may stave off any potential suitors, meaning the Mariners could be able to keep him and continue to work with him.

That most likely won’t be the case for the other reliever the Mariners DFA’d, Zac Rosscup. This is a massive head-scratcher, as the Mariners currently have just one left-handed reliever on their 40-man roster. It is especially confusing because Rosscup was having a pretty decent start to his season, holding a 12.86 K/9 and 3.21 ERA in his 14 innings of work.

It had seemed that Rosscup’s handedness and solid performance up to this point would make him somewhat of a valuable asset come July’s trade deadline. Instead, there should be some outside interest in Rosscup on the waiver wire and the Mariners may not be able to capitalize on his potential value.

The decision to DFA Rosscup over the struggling Anthony Swarzak and Mike Wright also doesn’t make a ton of sense. Either they’re extremely confident in their ability to sneak Rosscup through waivers, or they haven’t liked what they’ve seen as much as most have.

The Mariners also demoted rookie starting pitcher Erik Swanson, and in his and Rosscup’s place called up relievers Ryan Garton and Matt Festa. Despite a pair of impressive starts versus Cleveland, Swanson’s had a rough go of it so far, struggling with fastball command and a lack of an above-average secondary or tertiary pitch to lean on.

As for the promoted relievers, this is now Garton’s third season in Seattle’s organization, but just his second stint on the MLB roster and his first since 2017. In 26 innings with Triple-A Tacoma this year, Garton’s notched a 9.69 K/9 and a 3.46 ERA.

For Festa, this will be his second go at the MLB level this year. Before being sent down on April 12, Festa’s command woes led him to a 6.43 ERA in his six appearances. The struggles followed him to Tacoma, where he surrendered a similar 6.30 ERA in eight outings. With no resolution in sight for him yet, there should be some cause for concern about his seemingly unearned promotion.

It should be mentioned, however, that the Mariners will need to make a corresponding move for the expected activation of Wade LeBlanc from the 10-day Injured List. The 34-year-old southpaw is schedule to pitch in Saturday’s matchup versus the Twins.

So it’s likely that either Garton or Festa will only be in Seattle for the night, or a move involving Swarzak or Wright is on the horizon. Either way, there’s been a ton of movement on the Mariners’ roster and they’re not done.