The Seattle Mariners’ bullpen may have been the best part of their roster over the course of the last two seasons. A group that is now known as (Mariners) Los Bomberos.
Now, it’s still fairly early in the 2023 MLB season, but that group does not look as strong to start the season. The Mariners already lost starter Robbie Ray to the IL, which resulted in Chris Flexen transitioning into the rotation. Now, that Andres Munoz has been added to the IL, a ripple effect has been sent through the bullpen. One that has and will continue to test the depth of the Mariners relievers. The Mariners relible veteran relievers Diego Castillo and Paul Sewald have not looked like the 2021 and 2022 versions of themselves. Matt Brash and Penn Murfee have regressed a little to start the season. Matt Festa, who has now been optioned to Triple-A has pitched to 10.80 ERA to start the season in the majors.
Sunday struggles
The Mariners promoted J.B. Bukauskas prior to first pitch Sunday. Scott Servais brought the 26-year-old in the 11th inning of a 12 inning game against the Cleveland Guardians. Though, he was not credited with the loss, he blew the lead for the Mariners who went on to lose, 7-6. The Mariners optioned the right-hander on Monday and opted to call up Jose Rodriguez.
On Sunday, the Mariners had to turn to Penn Murfee in the 12th inning even though they wanted to give him a day off. He pitched Saturday and Sunday and leads the team with seven appearances. They got Sewald a day off, but without Muñoz to use late in game, they’ll have to resist leaning on Murfee and Sewald too much.
Decent Pick-ups
Through the first two weeks of the season there have been some bright spots, however. The trio of Gabe Speier, Trevor Gott and Justin Topa have been rather impressive across the 11.2 innings that they have pitched combined. Sure, its a small sample size but neither of them have allowed an earned run. They’ve also struck out a combined 11 batters. Gott who has pitched more than the others may get more late inning looks.
While its still early and, yes, the early season struggles have been less the ideal. Especially, the struggles amongst the (Mariners) Los Bomberos, which stands for, The Firemen. The Bullpen has featured three players who were not on the Opening Day roster. Following a season where the Mariners — somehow — avoided injuries to their pitching ranks, they’ve already lost Ray and Muñoz to the injured list less than two weeks into the regular season. This is less than ideal but their is still a lot to loke according to Servais.
“Last year was an abnormality,” Servais said. “It’s just what happens in baseball. You’re going to have some guys get a little banged up. We felt good about our depth, and we got to spring training and saw that play out with guys and now we’re going to see it play out here at the major-league level.”
“A lot of guys are going to get opportunities, and we need them to step up.”
As of now, the answer is…no. The Los Bomberos are not in trouble, especially if Muñoz only needs the minimum time on the IL. However, if there’s another injury to the group…it could be a different story, but even then it’s still early in the season.
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