Mariners Hypothetical: Imagining a Healthy Pitching Staff

Over the last few weeks, I have been focusing a lot on trades that the Mariners could make. Should they be buyers? Should they be sellers? What kind of prospects would I be okay with seeing the team deal away in order to try and get better. What level of trade piece would I want them to go after? A second baseman? Pitching? A former MVP? Pitching and a former player? The questions are endless.

Instead, I wanted to take a break to think about what could’ve been. Who doesn’t like doing that. Whether it be the person you never asked out, the time you wished you would’ve tried out for your college team, or even wondering if you should’ve ordered the double chocolate cake. Life is full of what-ifs. It applies to the Mariners as well.

What-ifs can grab ahold of your mind, and the Mariners have done it to me.

What if. What if the Mariners had a healthy pitching staff this season? I know that injuries are a part of sports, a part of baseball, and more so than any other group in sports besides NBA All-Stars in the 2021 playoffs, they’re a part of pitching. But for now, I’m pulling a trick most people do for MLB the Show and am turning injuries off.

If the Mariners had been healthy all year. I mean all year, from training camp all the way to now, what would their team look like on the mound and in the bullpen? How much different could things be this season?

We jump in by starting on the mound, and looking at the starting rotation if they were 100% healthy.

Mariners would have a true ace if he was healthy

April 6th, 2021. That was the day that James Paxton took the mound for his Mariners return. It was supposed to be a return to something wonderful for Mariners fans, seeing the Big Maple back at the front of the rotation. Instead, just 24 pitches in, he would be taken from the game and later diagnosed with a torn Ulnar Collateral Ligament and would need Tommy John.

Then, there is Marco. I don’t know if he is still injured or not, but he doesn’t seem healthy. A lot of people expected him to return to 2018-2020 Marco, when he had a 3.85 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP, with six innings per start.

Then there is Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn. Dunn was looking great this season, while Sheffield was struggling. If, like me, you think the Sheffield struggles were due to injury, he likely would’ve done better. Still, once we look at all these starters as being healthy, there are some moves that would need to be made. Even with a six-man rotation, it would look something like this.

• James Paxton
• Marco Gonzales
• Yusei Kikuchi
• Chris Flexen
• Justin Dunn
• Justus Sheffield

That leaves no room for Logan Gilbert. Let’s say they still wanted him up for this season (it’s a hypothetical, so my rules, and I want Logan Gilbert in the rotation), they likely would’ve moved Sheffield to the pen. I’ve heard that rumor a bit, so that’s where we are going to put him. Which leads to the rest of the pen. What would it look like?