Analysis: Mariners Have Massive Bench Problem
The Mariners are mercifully ending the month of May on a bit of a high note, having taken two of three from the division-leading Astros.
Fans were treated to a display of dominant starting pitching, quality bullpen outings and an offense that appeared to run its deepest lineup since Opening Day. Seattle scored six runs on Friday and Saturday, only to be shut down by a combination of Luis Garcia and Houston's bullpen on Sunday. Nevertheless, it had plenty of opportunities to not only win but to put together another quality offensive performance.
Unfortunately for the Mariners, the "mighty" trio of designated hitter Mike Ford, outfielder Taylor Trammell and catcher Luis Torrens failed to come through during the team's best scoring opportunities in the seventh and ninth innings. However, the issue isn't the failure of these three players, nor is it manager Scott Servais' questionable decision to have second baseman Adam Frazier bunt in the seventh. The real issue actually lies in the fact that Servais didn't have a better option available to use off his bench.
The Mariners have, for most of the past two weeks, rolled with a bench consisting of Ford, Dylan Moore, Sam Haggerty and whichever one of Torrens or Cal Raleigh isn't catching that day. Ford leads these bench players with a wRC+ of 106, followed by Moore's 88 wRC+ (43 in May), Raleigh's 67 wRC+, Torrens' 51 wRC+ and Haggerty's -11 wRC+.
Evidently,Seattle has just one above-average bat to use from its bench on a nightly basis, and that is a recipe for disaster.
But the woes on the bench go even deeper. As we saw on Sunday, when outfielder Kyle Lewis isn't in the starting lineup, we should assume that he is unavailable to pinch hit. Servais had multiple obvious opportunities to go to the 2020 AL Rookie of the Year but told reporters after the game he wasn't available. If Lewis isn't available to pinch hit on nights he doesn't get the start, the Mariners will not have a viable bat to use outside of their starting nine.
There are ways for the Mariners and general manager Jerry Dipoto to improve their bench, but all of them require going outside of the organization for help—an idea that Dipoto was hesitant to embrace last week on 710 Seattle Sports.
“You usually don’t see trades until June, July, and I don’t sense that the market is really cooking yet," Dipoto said. "It’s a young season yet but I don’t think that we’re going to be able to address any of those needs via trade anytime soon, which is part of the reason we went and signed Justin Upton.”
The simple truth is: the Mariners simply cannot wait until catch Tom Murphy, outfielder Mitch Haniger, utility man Abraham Toro and Upton join the team.
Murphy and Haniger are working through serious injuries with sliding timetables, while Upton has been a subpar performer at the big league level since 2019. And though Toro has certainly flashed his abilities and appears likely to be a quality option down the line, he hasn't produced in 2022 to an acceptable level.
The Mariners need to get better wherever they can, either by building up their bench to give Servais legitimate late-game options or by acquiring talent that slots into the starting nine on a regular basis, therefore pushing a current starter to a bench role.
There is no question that as we push into the summer, the Mariners will need to add impact in their bullpen and rotation to stay in a playoff race. But while they chase that impact, they cannot forget about the players who often need to produce when the game is on the line. They need an MLB-quality bench.
