Mariners' Luis Castillo, Bryce Miller piggyback snafu barely hides awkward truth

The fallout from the fallout of the Seattle Mariners' plans for Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller just keeps, well, falling out. Neither of the two pitchers is happy about the arrangement, yet the team has made it clear that the piggybacking will continue until morale improves.

Depending on your perspective, therein lies either the problem or the solution: piggybacking Castillo and Miller is working. As real as the communication issues are, so are the results through the first two uses of the pairing:

• Innings Pitched: 17
• ERA: 2.12
• WHIP: 0.82
• OPS: .485

If Castillo and Miller were one pitcher, his OPS over his last two starts would be akin to those of Jacob Misiorowski (.449) and Cam Schlittler (.481). Yes, it's a small sample size. And yes, we're assuming some kind of Tuvix scenario. But still, you get the point.

As Miller showed in 2024 and is not-so-subtly showing once again this year, he might be Seattle's best pitcher when he's right. And while Castillo has largely struggled this year, it was clear even early on that he could be good in shorter spurts.

Moreover, these two hurlers show hitters very different looks. They have different release points, with Castillo's shorter and more sidearm and Miller's more over the top with more extension. They also lean heavily on different fastballs, as Miller's is faster with rise and Castillo's is slower but with extreme arm-side movement.

Perhaps this is overthinking it. Perhaps this really is as simple as two good pitchers being asked to do more with less. But whatever the case, it all comes back to the same conundrum.

What if the Mariners have a hard time quitting their Luis Castillo-Bryce Miller piggyback?

It is, of course, ridiculous that the Mariners are only now getting around to stressing communication with Castillo and Miller. That needed to be a priority as soon as the piggyback plan came about. The team's failure in that regard has already resulted in two disgruntled pitchers, which is a barely concealed threat to the good work they've actually done together.

Or, as ESPN's Jeff Passan put it in his latest interview with Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports, "effectiveness is only as good as the contentment of the people involved with it.”

Granted, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto clarified that the Castillo-Miller piggyback is "still not an ideal solution" as the club navigates having six starters for five spaces. This naturally begs the question of what is, and the only feasible answers are someone moving to the bullpen, someone going on the injured list, or a trade.

Until one of those things happens, the piggyback arrangement will only get more unfair the longer the Mariners keep using it. And with all respect to Castillo and his status as a three-time All-Star veteran, it's more unfair to Miller. Castillo has been there, done that and gotten his. Miller is a 27-year-old who isn't eligible for free agency until after 2029, so it's not right that he's being kept on a leash when he should be allowed to go out there and shove.

Clearly, the Mariners should be looking for a way out of this thing. The alternative involves continuing to feast on the piggyback's bounty, all the while hoping that the powder keg doesn't blow.

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