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Mariners: Lefty reliever options to even out the bullpen

Christopher O'Day|
OAKLAND, CA - AUGUST 23: Andrew Chafin #39 of the Oakland Athletics pitches during the game against the Seattle Mariners at RingCentral Coliseum on August 23, 2021 in Oakland, California. The Mariners defeated the Athletics 5-3. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - AUGUST 23: Andrew Chafin #39 of the Oakland Athletics pitches during the game against the Seattle Mariners at RingCentral Coliseum on August 23, 2021 in Oakland, California. The Mariners defeated the Athletics 5-3. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
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Mariners: Andrew Miller could be a target
SEATTLE, WA – JULY 3: Reliever Andrew Miller #21 of the St. Louis Cardinals delivers a pitch during a game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on July 3, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. The Cardinals won the game 5-2. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

Group 2: The Mariners could get a good reliever that was once great.

Andrew Miller

No, Miller isn’t the guy who made waves in the mid-2010s with one of the most dominant runs we’ve seen by a reliever. From 2013-2017 he had a 1.82 ERA, 1.96 FIP, an ERA+ of 234, and a K rate of 14.5/9. He isn’t that guy anymore.

You know what though? He’s still good.

Over the last four years, he’s got a 4.31 ERA with an 11.2 K/9. It’s not stellar, but he’s still fun to watch and if things work out, would be a steal. A small deal for the 37-year-old with incentives could easily be a win/win for the Mariners and Andrew Miller.

Jake Diekman

Diekman had an amazing all-time 2020 season. 21.1 innings and one earned run, with just eight hits and a 13.1 K rate. Other than that, he’s been a high 3 ERA guy with a good K rate. I almost put him up above, but a rough 2019 and a bad 2018 convinced me to keep him down in group two. He did have awful luck with BABIP those years (.331 and .319).

His numbers may be a little better than they look, as he has a FIP of around 3.40 for his career, and a stronger strikeout rate as he’s gotten older, up to 12.5-13.0 per 9.

Sean Doolittle

Hey, that’s the guy the Mariners had in 2021. Yeah, they could bring him back, and I wouldn’t mind it at all. He hasn’t been as good as he was prior to 2019 but is still solid. He had a bad two-game stretch in Seattle where he gave up five runs in two innings. Other than that, he gave up just one run through nine appearances and 9.1 innings.

Which one of these guys would you most want the Mariners to go after? It would be nice to see them add another dominant piece to the bullpen, giving them a chance to have one of the best compilation of arms we have seen in quite some time.

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