Mariners swingman's late-season return is too little, too late for decrepit bullpen

It's nice to see some familiar faces trickling back into the Seattle Mariners' bullpen. Carlos Vargas was seen for the first time all year on August 22, and Cooper Criswell returned after over two months on the injured list on Monday against the Red Sox in Boston. It was a happy occasion… at least until reality kicked in by kicking the bullpen while it's down.

Though it was technically an 8-8 tie, the game felt over by the time Criswell entered in the bottom of the 10th. The Mariners relievers who entered before him had already squandered a three-run lead in the eighth and ninth innings, so all Trevor Story did with his walk-off knock against Criswell was drive home the final nail in the coffin.

Look, Criswell didn't ask for his first appearance since June 8 to be one of the most pressure-packed assignments of his career. And once Dan Wilson ordered back-to-back intentional walks to Caleb Durbin and Jarren Duran, the 30-year-old righty could not afford to make a mistake. He was set up to fail.

At least one felt better about Criswell in that spot than one would have if it had been, say, Michael Rucker, Nick Davila or one of the other Kirkland-brand randos who filled in for Criswell during his absence. Criswell has largely been a successful pitcher in recent years, including this one. You gladly take a guy who can post a 3.48 ERA as an arm for any occasion.

This Mariners bullpen needed a better fix than Cooper Criswell, and hope has pretty much run outhe's

Even so, Criswell is best used as a low-leverage type who can get you bulk outs in game that is not close. Such guys are useful, but less so in times when a bullpen that was crying out for major upgrades at the trade deadline is reeling from not getting any.

We're talking a 7.71 ERA since the deadline, folks. There's some noise in there from Leo Rivas, Jhonny Pereda and Weston Wilson, but it's hard to come down on one appearance from each of them when Andrés Muñoz, Gabe Speier, Jose A. Ferrer and Seranthony Domínguez have each made at least five appearances and posted an ERA over 5.00 in this span.

This isn't even counting Eduard Bazardo, though he's been responsible for two runs crossing the plate in each of his last two appearances. Fans' trust in him is pretty much broken, so it's something out of Hell's ironic torture division that Wilson keeps going to him when key outs are needed.

The only hope left is Matt Brash, who should be back sometime this month. Yet even knowing that he'll bring a 0.54 ERA with him when he's back, he's just one guy and it's too late anyway. Even if this Mariners bullpen miraculously flips the switch from "bad" to "good," the wreckage left by the "bad" has a lot to do with why the team is 10 games under .500 with only 24 games left to go.

Maybe the Mariners wouldn't be much better off if they had gone and gotten a Luke Weaver, a Jeff Hoffman or even an Erik Miller. Yet they certainly wouldn't be worse off, so it's fair game to consider an alternate scenario in which the Mariners are still clinging to some hope right now.

You know, as opposed to none.

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