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Mariners: Lefty reliever options to even out the bullpen

By 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.

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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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