Mariners drama with Luis Castillo, Bryce Miller should send message to Dan Wilson

The early results suggest that the Seattle Mariners' piggyback experiment with Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller is working. The question now is whether their feelings should be part of the equation for Dan Wilson, because the two pitchers clearly aren't fans.

That the Mariners rode Castillo (4.0 IP, 0 R) and Miller (5.0 IP, 2 R) to a 9-2 win over the Athletics on Monday is the good news. Yet the vibes weren't good at the outset, and both Castillo and Miller held them back from a turn for the better. Cameras caught Castillo slamming his glove into the bench after Wilson lifted him, and Miller didn't mind saying how he really felt after the game.

"This set-up's not very comfortable," Miller told Brad Adam of Mariners TV in a postgame interview, notably following looooooooong pause after Adam specifically asked if the piggyback plan is getting more comfortable.

Sure, you can credit Wilson for taking most of the top of the fifth inning to explain to Castillo that he was about to take him out. The 33-year-old deserves that level of respect, and he even paid lip service after the game to the notion that he'll get used to the piggyback.

However, that dugout tirade showed us his true feelings. Miller, of course, literally told us how he feels. And whereas all we can do is squirm about it, it's on Wilson to do something to cool the temperature.

Dan Wilson can't keep Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller in the dark with his piggyback plans

Just from the outside looking in, one of the clear problems with the piggyback plan is that it hasn't been equitable despite Wilson's assurances that it would be exactly that.

When Miller got the piggyback start last Wednesday, he got to go 5.2 innings before Wilson went to the bullpen. With Castillo getting lifted after just 4.0 innings so that Miller could handle the final 5.0 innings on Monday, it does beg the question about why the two switched roles in the first place.

There is nuance at work, notably to the extent that Miller's pitch count last week (72) basically mirrors Castillo's pitch count on Monday (68). Yet given the quality of Castillo's work (i.e., just two hits and two walks allowed) to that point, he had every right to ask Wilson for one more inning. And as such, every right to be pissed that he was denied.

One naturally wonders if better planning and communication by Wilson and the front office could have made a difference. This piggyback experiment requires careful explanations of various scenarios and circumstances. It instead feels like Wilson is just winging it, and waving the piggyback off as "not an easy science" certainly isn't helping.

For that matter, it was only a day or two before Monday that Miller found out he would be coming out of the bullpen in the second go-round with the piggyback. That's just a failure to communicate, and one that is disrespectful of Miller's status, much less his routine.

Because piggybacking Castillo and Miller has yielded 17 innings and only four runs allowed, the Mariners and Wilson have at least one good reason to stay committed to the bit. But if Castillo and Miller continue to resent it, even further success will threaten to make it a Pyrrhic victory.

The energy around this team is weird enough as it is, and there's more going than just the 26-29 start. Beyond the Castillo-Miller drama, there's the awkwardness of Wilson's platooning and the question of if/when J.P. Crawford will actually move off shortstop so that Colt Emerson can play there.

Perhaps these are all little fires. But if left unchecked, it's just a matter of time before a bunch of little fires become one big fire.

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