Mariners depth chart: 2 players moving up and 2 moving down

2 Mariners moving down on the depth chart

This one is kind of cheating, but I don't care. Diego Castillo and Matt Festa have been struggling so far, with respective ERAs of 9.64 and 10.80. Thats still just 9 ER in 8 combined innings, but it has been far from helpful for a team that prides itself on its bullpen and is normally involved in a lot of close games. Festa is the one that is more concerning to me, as he has walked six batters through just 3.1 IP. An ERA of 2.70 would be great. A WHIP of that same number is mind-boggling and seems like a mistake.

Guess what? Time to sort of cheat again. The Mariners are carrying three players that can play catcher, and two of them are doing awful. Cooper Hummel and Tom Murphy seem to have forgotten how to hit a baseball, going a combined 3-34 with 14 Ks, 1 BB, 2 runs, and 0 RBI. If we could just get one of them to hit, it would be easy to say to bench the other.

Maybe once Dylan Moore or Taylor Trammell come back we can relegate them both to the bench, playing only in the relief of Raleigh instead of regular days in the lineup as OF fill-ins or to DH. For now, they are insta-outs near the bottom of the lineup, and it limits the damage that the dangerous top of the order can do as they come back around.

What do you think? Is there anyone else on the team that should be seeing less playing time? Who would you have replace them? Here's hoping that some of the early struggles will be resolved as the team heads back to Seattle.