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Dream Mariners starting rotation for the 2024 season

My dream Mariners starting rotation may not look all that different from the real 2024 rotation, so let's check out what it could look like in Seattle.

By Jeffrey Nooney |
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If there is one thing you can say the Mariners have done well, it would be pitching development. Starters like Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller, and Bryan Woo are all home-grown prospects who have panned out for the Mariners. Pitchers like Paul Sewald, Kendall Graveman, and other bullpen arms have come through the Mariners pitching lab and turned into great pitchers.

Do the Mariners need to add a frontline starting pitcher for 2024? No, they do not. But they may need to if they were to trade a pitcher or two to help get the offense going. We have already posted our "Dream Mariners lineup for 2024", so if you're looking for a dream offense go check that one out. Remember, this is supposed to be fun. Will the Mariners sign every free agent available? No. Will they sign any of these guys? Probably not. This time, I am going to go through my "Dream pitching rotation for the Mariners". Will it look much different than the real 2024 Mariners pitching rotation?

5. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (RHP)

Besides Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto could be the hottest commodity in this year's free agent class. He is one of the best pitchers to ever come out of Japan. He has a career record of 75-30 with an ERA of 1.72 over 967.2 innings. He has won the Japanese MVP twice, the Triple Crown 3 times, and has been an all-star 5 times. He has thrown 2 no-hitters (one this last September). Yamamoto has been posted by the Orix Buffaloes, and he could cost whatever team gets his services a record amount of money.

Yamamoto is just 25 years old, and entering his prime years. He has also won the last 3 Sawamura awards (The NPB's equivalent to MLB's Cy Young Award). What are the chances the Mariners actually land Yamamoto? Probably slim to none. But that is the fun of the offseason, right? This is the time of the year that baseball fans feel like kids at Christmas, wondering who their team will get. If he does not end up signing with the Mariners, just hope he signs in the National League.

4. George Kirby (RHP)

Just imagine a pitching rotation with George Kirby as your 4th starter. George will turn 26 before Spring Training, and is just now entering his prime. He finished 2023 with a 13-10 record, with a 3.35 ERA and a 1.0 WHIP. He only surrendered 19 walks in 190.2 innings. He led all of baseball in walks per 9 innings (0.9) and strikeouts per walk (9.05). He got his first All-Star nod in 023 as well.

George is about as consistent of a pitcher as there is in all of Major League Baseball. In a game where the 3 true outcomes rules, George eliminates one of those outcomes (walks). His strikeouts per 9 inning dipped from 9.2 in 202 to 8.1 in 2023. While he may never be labeled a strikeout pitcher, He could go down as one of the greats because of how he limits walks. George is a great top-of-the rotation pitcher, and having him in the 4 spot is a luxury I would love the Mariners to have.

3. Blake Snell (LHP)

Blake Snell is a mirror opposite pitcher than George Kirby. George Kirby does not walk anybody, and Blake Snell led Major League Baseball in walks in 2023. He also is the favorite to win the 2023 Cy Young Award for the National League. How can that be? Well, Snell was virtually unhittable in 2023. He led all of baseball with an ERA of 2.25 and hits per 9 innings with just 5.75. That is the lowest H/9 since Trevor Bauer in 2020 with 5.05 hits per 9 innings.

Adding Snell brings a ton of risk. If he does win the Cy Young Award this year, it will be the second time he has won that award. He won it back in 2018 with the Tampa Bay Rays, going 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA. Besides 2018 and presumably this year, Snell has exactly 0 Cy Young votes. He can be very Jekyll and Hyde when it comes to consistency. He has struck out 11.1 batters per 9 innings in his career, but he also has walked 4.1 batters per 9 innings. He even led Major League Baseball in walks in 2023 with 99.

Blake is also a local kid, who apparently wants to come home to pitch for his favorite team, the Seattle Mariners. He graduated from Shorewood High School, in Shoreline. It is not very often that a top Free Agent has reports leak that he WANTS to play for the Mariners. Jerry, do the right thing. Bring Blake Snell home (and maybe fix his walks, too).

2. Corbin Burnes (RHP)

Okay, so you can tell now that Logan Gilbert is not on this list. Do not get mad and call me names just yet, hear me out. In this dream rotation, I have decided that Gilbert would be traded to add offensive help. Who he would be trade for is not going to be covered in here, and remember, this is not news. This is all in fun.

THe Milwaukee Brewers are open for business, and Corbin Burnes is going to be available. He is a no doubt ace. He won the Cy Young Award for the Brewers in 2021, He finished 2023 with a 10-8 record, with a 3.39 ERA. He has been an All-Star the last 3 seasons, and he i entering the final year of his contract. Before you roast me again, remember, Championship banners last forever. Adding a guy like Corbin Burnes to the Mariners rotation would be almost unreal. Who knows? Maybe they would be able to resign him, the way they did with Luis Castillo.

1. Luis Castillo (RHP)

The final name on the list is a familiar one, Luis Castillo. Castillo was in the Cy Young conversation before September, where he did struggle a bit. He finished 2023 with a 14-9 record, with a 3.34 ERA and a WHIP of 1.09. In his 6 starts in September and October, he had an ERA of 4.96 in 32.2 innings. Castillo is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and his first complete season with the Mariners showed that.

Castillo is signed through the 2028 season, so he will be here for the bulk of his prime years he has left. I have Castillo as the ace in the rotation because he signed a long term deal with the Mariners after they traded for him. He set a goal of starting Opening Day last season, so it means a lot to him to be the first starter. Every player I mentioned above can make a legitimate case to be the number 1 starter. In reality, it does not matter the order, just who is in that order. As always, Go Mariners!

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