Mariners broadcaster Ryan Rowland-Smith suggests new Opening Day starter for 2025

With Opening Day a little more than a month away, Seattle Mariners fans have already begun to step through the yearly preseason traditions. Pitchers and catchers reporting, the start of spring training, and the first few combined workouts are annual signals of what's to come.

Another recurring tradition is the naming of Opening Day starters, something a few teams have already done. Seattle has yet to name someone to take the ball in the team's first game against the Athletics, but Mariners broadcaster (and former pitcher) Ryan Rowland-Smith thinks the team should go in a different direction than they did last season.

In 2024, Luis Castillo was the figurative ace and was an unsurprising recipient of the honor. He had placed fifth in AL Cy Young voting the season before and was the highest-paid pitcher on the team by quite a comfortable margin. However, despite pitching to a decent 3.64 ERA, he was just the sixth-most valuable pitcher on the team last year. This is likely a big reason Rowland-Smith thinks the honors should instead go to Logan Gilbert.

Gilbert was the second-most valuable pitcher for Seattle in 2024 and led the American League in starts (33), innings pitched (208 2/3), and WHIP (0.887) on his way to placing sixth in Cy Young voting. While Bryce Miller edged him out in rWAR, Gilbert's productivity over a longer span of innings can't and shouldn't be undervalued. He was targeted as a trade piece by several major contenders, and for good reason.

The question then becomes ... does he deserve the honor over Castillo? Well, it depends on how one sees the criteria for being named the Opening Day starter. On one hand, Castillo has a much longer MLB career and still is the highest-paid player on the staff by almost $12 million.

On the other hand, he seems to be hitting a career plateau while Gilbert is projected to improve and lead the rotation in ERA, as per ZiPS on FanGraphs. Despite not technically being the first arm in the rotation last year, he was seen as the team's true ace given his outstanding work on the mound.

If nothing else, this conversation should serve as a reminder of how much pitching talent the Mariners organization possesses. Even if one were to remove Castillo and Gilbert from consideration, any of the other three starters on staff (George Kirby, Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo) could easily step into the role simply based on last year's numbers. Thus, it shouldn't be any surprise that teams across MLB were heavily interested in trade talks this offseason.

Despite no major deals being signed off on, the organization still has until the trade deadline to change their mind. But for now, one of these studs will be featured on Opening Day.