Mariners' make roster moves by adding a couple of players to their bullpen

With teams now able to extend their 26-man rosters to 28, the Mariners made a few roster moves to fill the extra spots:

• 3B Luis Urías selected from Triple-A Tacoma
• LHP Jhonathan Díaz recalled from Triple-A Tacoma
• RHP Eduard Bazardo recalled from Triple-A Tacoma
• LHP Gabe Speier optioned to Triple-A Tacoma

Luis Urías hit decently enough with the Rainiers since losing the starting third base job to Josh Rojas. He slashed .260/.378/.413 over 350 plate appearances. While his surface-level numbers aren't remarkable, he's likely being called in to fill a specific role in the lineup. Rojas has been one of the worst breaking ball hitters in the sport, posting a .405 OPS against them this year. Meanwhile, Urías has a .798 OPS against breaking balls while being less effective against four-seam fastballs. Expect him to tap into the game against a movement-heavy pitching staff.

Despite being groomed as a starter for most of his career, Jhonathan Díaz has been added to the bullpen for the time being. In his sole start for the Mariners this year, he gave up three earned runs and nine hits to the Chicago White Sox, a potential indicator of his lack of readiness to pitch longer outings at the major league level. He was serviceable as a starter in Triple-A either, posting a 4.36 ERA over 22 outings but his outstanding breaking ball arsenal might help him make a real difference as a reliever. HIs slider/curveball combo have combined for a strikeout rate of 39.3% and a FIP of 2.17, far better numbers than what he has been able to accomplish with his four-seam/sinker offering.

Eduard Bazardo had a rough major league stint this year, posting a 6.27 ERA over 18.2 innings pitched. His 4.29 ERA over 21 innings doesn't help his case too much but he has been a strikeout machine, striking out 31.5% of batters faced across both Triple-A and the majors this year. Similar to Díaz, his breaking arsenal is great except it contains just one pitch: his slider. It's his most thrown pitch and sits in the low-80s with more than 40 inches of vertical drop, allowing him to post a strikeout rate of 38.8% with the pitch.

It works well with his sinker which has a movement profile that covers the rest of the strike zone. Bazardo's biggest concern in his four-seam fastball giving up a ton of hard contact and conceding home runs at a rate of 7.4% over the 145 pitches he has thrown. He may be an underrated threat if he gets rid of that pitch.

While these new pitchers and depth bat are great, it still doesn't seem like a roster competitive enough for the team to overcome the Herculean task of wrenching the AL West from the tight grasp of the Astros. With FanGraphs giving them just a 7.3% probability to make it to the postseason, a true pessimist would argue that these roster call-ups are simply a chance to give current prospects a taste of major league competition without too much at stake. The Mariners will (likely) try their best to overcome their current six-game deficit but with things as they are, fans might have to wait until 2025 to recreate the magic of 2022.