Mariners writer's clever Bryce Miller rotation solution would be a missed opportunity

Bryce Miller's rehab assignment isn't over yet, but he's clearly ready for it to be. The question remains exactly when the Seattle Mariners are going to work him back into their plans, and how. They might have to get creative.

To this end, the strength with which Miller insisted he's ready isn't what stands out from a Thursday report from Adam Jude of The Seattle Times. The meat of the article covers all the ways the Mariners might deal with having six viable starters for five rotation spots, and there might as well be a record scratch when Jude floats the possibility of a piggyback role between Miller and Luis Castillo.

The idea, in Jude's words, would be for "one to start and throw, say, four innings and the other to come out of the bullpen and throw the next three or four innings." And yeah, we come down on the side of this being a cool and potentially workable idea… albeit one with the wrong pairing.

The right piggyback pairing for Mariners is Luis Castillo and Emerson Hancock, and here's why

No matter how you slice it, Miller's eventual return from oblique inflammation is going to force some kind of awkward conversation. And Castillo is at the center of it, as he's simultaneously the right guy to be the odd man out and the hardest guy to actually force out.

On the one hand, his 6.29 ERA through seven starts is merely the latest stop in an ongoing decline. On the other, he's a three-time All-Star with the team's highest salary and a ton of respect in the clubhouse. You can't just push a guy like that to the bullpen with the same respect afforded to Milhouse's dad.

Besides, Castillo has been really good in short spurts this season. Specifically, he's strong in the first inning (.401 OPS) and through his first 25 pitches (.661 OPS), after which his velocity declines and batters start teeing off.

This is where you can begin to see the appeal of using Castillo as the first half of a piggyback duo. He'd get to stay on the same routine and keep his status as a starter, but the Mariners could get him out of there before you-know-what hits the fan.

As for who should follow Castillo, well, you're listening to a site that has already advocated for Emerson Hancock to pitch in relief.

Even beyond the 2.59 ERA he has through seven starts, there's a lot to like about how he's pitching in 2026. Yet while he's allowed a .668 OPS overall, his OPSes for the third time through the order and after pitch No. 75 are both over .900.

Unlike Castillo and Miller, Hancock also has experience pitching out of the bullpen in the majors. And while the best argument for Miller to do so is that he isn't built up yet, the best thing the Mariners can do is let him cook.

He was quietly their best pitcher as recently as 2024, and his rehab assignment has seen him pick up where he left off in his lone spring training start. He's been hitting 98-99 mph on the fastball and just plain mowing hitters down, allowing only nine hits out of 55 total batters faced.

The caveat at the end of all this is that the piggyback thing isn't necessarily the best path for the Mariners to take out of their rotation crunch. That could be a temporary six-man rotation. Or it could be some kind of IL stint.

One supposes we'll find out. It ultimately depends on how the Mariners want to resolve the best problem a team can have.

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