Mariners have perfect timing for Paul Sewald reunion after Diamondbacks move on

The Seattle Mariners are in between effective bullpens right now. They started the year with a strong mix of relievers. Then Carlos Vargas, Matt Brash and Cooper Criswell got injured, and are only now tracking toward returning. In the meantime, might as well give old friend Paul Sewald a call and ask what he's up to.

As of Monday afternoon, what he was up to was getting designated for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was the next logical step in Sewald's desert tenure after he was removed from the closer's role at the end of July. He's likely to clear release waivers and become a free agent.

There will be a bit of radioactivity working against Sewald's pursuit of his next landing spot. He has a 6.23 ERA for the season, mostly owing to a career-high 12 home runs allowed in just 39.0 innings. It's a HR/9 rate of 2.8. The all-time record for a reliever with at least 45 appearances in a season is 2.9.

Mariners wouldn't have much to lose in reaching out to Paul Sewald about a return to Seattle

And yet, here's a question: Would you rather have Sewald in the Mariners' bullpen, or some combination of Josh Simpson, Michael Rucker and Nick Davila?

That's who Dan Wilson has to support an otherwise strong core of relievers, consisting of Andrés Muñoz, Jose A. Ferrer, Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo and Seranthony Domínguez. Any one of the three is likely to be used in one of two situations: garbage time, or a leverage spot that fell on them because Wilson's other options were limited.

Either way, we're talking about a relief trio with a low floor and a low ceiling. With Sewald, you at least get a promise of a high ceiling to go with the very real threat of a low floor.

Yes, a lot of time has passed since the Mariners unexpectedly made A Guy out of Sewald in the early 2020s, when he made 172 appearances for them and pitched to a 137 ERA+. His vertical approach angle-based approach is no longer a novel thing, and hitters have made that clear by tagging him for a 5.13 ERA across the last three seasons.

And yet, he's rocking a 4.89 K/BB ratio and drawing whiffs at a rate that ranks in the 70th percentile. He's also held righty batters to a .593 OPS, making him good for platoon matchups if nothing else.

Even after claiming Nolan Kingham from the Texas Rangers on Monday, the Mariners' 40-man roster has 37 men on it. They therefore have ample space for Sewald, who could be signed as a major league stopgap to hold things over until Vargas, Brash and Criswell are back. Either that, or he could get a minor league contract and be stashed with Triple-A Tacoma until needed.

If it sounds like our pitch for Sewald is basically "Screw it, might as well," then congrats on successfully interpreting it. We know he's not what he once was. We also know he can't hit. Yet given the state of things, anyone who can promise anything should be welcome in the organization.

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