The Mariners have a dominant X-factor emerging in their bullpen

While the consensus was that the Seattle Mariners had a tremendous trade deadline, the one perceived negative was that they didn't pick up an additional reliever to join Caleb Ferguson in the Pacific Northwest. As much as the bullpen has talent such as Andrés Muñoz, Matt Brash and Gabe Speier, the narrative is that there is not enough talent elsewhere to support this trio.

Well, it turns out the Mariners might have already had the quality reliever solution on the roster this whole time: Eduard Bazardo.

At a career-high 61.1 innings this season, he leads all arms out of the bullpen and was already trusted to a certain extent by M's manager Dan Wilson, but he's also been kind of nails in recent weeks.

Eduard Bazardo on a roll since early July

In fact this improved form by Bazardo actually pre-dates the trade deadline in some respects, with him having the highest strikeout rate of any Mariners reliever since July 3, at an excellent 33.8 percent. July also saw him throwing his sinker more than ever this season at 52.0 percent of the time, which has interestingly increased even more to 63.5 percent so far in August.

This has evidently improved Bazardo's overall effectiveness coming out of the bullpen, and in turn the Mariners are benefiting. His average velocity during August is a high for this season at 96.2 mph, with his slider also specifically being noteworthy for producing a 55.6 whiff percentage so far this month.

The righty already has a career-high 1.2 WAR this year, while his 2.79 ERA and 1.043 WHIP are both projected to be his best since 2022 in Boston, with the Red Sox. However, he only made 12 appearances that season for a combined 16.1 innings, compared to 55 outings in 2025 (tied second-most out of the M's bullpen behind Speier) for the aforementioned 61.1 innings.

Bazardo's value can be further highlighted on his Baseball Savant page by ranking in the 92nd percentile for Breaking Run Value and in the 91st percentile for Pitching Run Value. This is not to say he isn't without some issues , highlighted by a 10.2 percent walk-rate, but his pros far outweigh any of his cons.

The bullpen still offers some concern for fans as a collective, but it hasn't been that bad, as evidenced by their team ERA of 3.66 ranking seventh in the majors. Bazardo is certainly playing his part and maybe ... just maybe ... he's the additional high-leverage reliever the Mariners wanted to acquire at the trade deadline, but didn't get.