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Early Season Mariners Musings: Roster Construction Issues

By Trevor Pedro |
Milwaukee Brewers v Seattle Mariners
Milwaukee Brewers v Seattle Mariners / Steph Chambers/GettyImages
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We are three weeks into the season, and Mariners Twitter is already calling for massive changes to the roster. I've seen numerous tweets about John Stanton's unwillingness to spend big to raise the floor of the roster. Bryan Reynolds's hot start in Pittsburgh is bringing the "shoulda woulda coulda" crowd out of the woodwork. There is a happy medium where President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto and General Manager Justin Hollander could easily right the ship without spending assets or cash. Here are a few early seasons fixes that might help clean up the current roster construction issues.

Fire up the Tacoma Transit 

We’ve written about the bottom of the order and its early-season ineptitude. Dipoto joined Seattle Sports 710 Brock and Salk spending a good chunk of the interview talking about the offensive struggles. 

No, not the way we’re swinging the bat. I think there’s a hole,” Dipoto said. “We consistently wind up in a position where we have players that have not gotten off to good starts and the wheel is landing on their spot in the order with an opportunity to do damage.
Jerry Dipoto

Those struggling bats include A.J. Pollock, Cooper Hummel, Kolton Wong, and Tom Murphy. That’s a lot of dead weight. Luckily, Cade Marlowe, Dylan Moore, and Taylor Trammell started their rehab assignments this week, and all three are already making noise. 

Reinforcements are probably a week away due to a lack of spring training. But when they get a clean bill of health Tommy La Stella and Cooper Hummel are the first to go. 

Solidifying the Bullpen Rotation

Flamethrower Matt Brash came into this year with some serious expectations. Unfortunately, he has struggled to lock down the late innings, racking up three of the Mariners' eight blown saves. It is time to drop him back into low-leverage positions or send him down to Tacoma for a confidence boost. Who could replace him? An early-season demotion has Matthew Festa back on track and ready for another shot. 

A couple of other names to watch later in the year are Riley O'Brien and Bryce Miller. Both could help augment the bullpen, but the three newcomers to the Los Bomberos probably deserve to take the bulk of the late-inning work leading up to Paul Sewald. In addition, Bullpen ace Andres Munoz should be back soon and recovering from shoulder tightness, which should help Scott Servais better navigate through the back end of games. 

I know many fans are on edge due to heightened expectations of the team and poor performance in both the bottom of the order and the bullpen. The good news is there are multiple options to raise the floor and help lock down late-game roles. Look for some roster churning soon; Mariners Twitter and our sanity surely need it.  

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