The Seattle Mariners' bullpen was pretty effective last season, ranking ninth in MLB in ERA, fourth in WHIP, and second-best in walks allowed and opposing team batting average. They still had their issues however. They struggled to come through in tight games, relied too much at times on Andrés Muñoz and Trent Thornton, and wore down as the season progressed.
It also didn't help that offseason acquisition Gregory Santos was only limited to eight games due to injury, while Matt Brash missed the entire 2024 campaign as a result of undergoing Tommy John surgery. Having both back and healthy this coming season should go some way towards making the Mariners' bullpen even better.
On the subject of Brash specifically, Mariners fans received an encouraging update about the righty on Monday. It now seems as if he will be returning to play sooner than previously projected, according to president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto.
Dipoto confirmed the news during a Zoom conference call on Monday with the media. Among other things, he discussed the re-signing of Jorge Polanco, his confidence in the lineup, and the importance of the bullpen.
Mariners provide positive injury update on Matt Brash
Here's what Dipoto said about Brash: "Matt’s had a great rehab. You know fingers crossed, he's down in Peoria already. He has really not had a roadblock to date. Our current expectation is that he's ready to go when we start rolling in spring training and our present timeline is that we should get him back somewhere around the third week of April, which is pretty exciting."
This is as unexpected as it is encouraging, given that Tommy John surgery for a pitcher usually takes anywhere between 12-18 months to recover from, depending on the severity of of the injury. For Brash specifically, the previous timeline had him returning sometime in late May.
At the same time, Dipoto did also give himself a get out of jail free card by adding that the improved timeline for Brash's return was tentative. "It could change and obviously wouldn’t be at all shocking if he did experience some setback as he starts to ramp up into game mode, but we haven’t seen that yet and I think Matt's very encouraged with how he feels."
Whenever Brash does come back, he will surely help the bullpen assuming he returns to his previous form, as he finds a rhythm and gets used to game action. He was an extremely reliable option for the Mariners in 2023, as he led all MLB relievers with 78 appearances.
Additionally, the 26-year-old was very effective, producing a 3.06 ERA, 2.26 FIP and 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings. Not that he doesn't have some things to still work on, as per an issue with walks, which contributed towards a 1.330 WHIP and plenty of anxiety for Mariners fans (although, even here he saw some improvement from his rookie year, when he averaged 5.9 walks per nine innings and compiled a 1.559 WHIP).
The Mariners have brought in a number of relievers during the offseason to provide depth, including Hagen Danner, Will Klein, Neftalí Féliz, and most recently Casey Legumina. However, these all arguably pale in comparison to Brash, who has the potential to put the bullpen in a stronger position compared to last season.
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