A month after the trade deadline, the Mariners are still waiting for their moves to pay off. Seranthony Domínguez has struggled to a 5.84 ERA and 6.57 FIP over 12.1 innings in Seattle, and Taylor Ward’s 13 OPS+ since arriving has put him among the worst hitters in baseball over that stretch.
The other side of the Domínguez deal has not gone much better. The White Sox have gotten rough results from Luis Castillo, who has looked even shakier than he did with the Mariners.
That trade has been a miss for both teams. The Ward deal, though, has worked out better for Baltimore.
Alex Hoppe has settled in quickly in the Orioles’ bullpen. He was sent to Baltimore as the only big-leaguer in the Ward trade, and the change of scenery has clearly helped.
As a Mariner, he carried a 5.79 ERA in 28 innings, but his 2.87 FIP pointed to bad luck rather than bad pitching. He limited home runs and struck out three times as many batters as he walked, which is exactly the kind of profile teams want from a reliever.
Since joining the Orioles, the results have finally started matching the underlying numbers. Hoppe has thrown nine scoreless innings and recently earned the first save of his career against the Athletics.
He already has 0.6 rWAR with Baltimore, which is more than Jose A. Ferrer has produced all season at 0.5.
The bigger shift has come in how Hoppe is attacking hitters. In Seattle, he struck out more batters, with a 27.6% strikeout rate, but he also allowed more hard contact, especially line drives. His 89.8 mph average exit velocity sat in the bottom quartile of pitchers and helped explain why the runs piled up.
In Baltimore, the strikeout rate has dropped to 17.1%, but Hoppe is living in the zone more often and throwing strikes with purpose. He said as much during his first week with the team.
His whiff and chase numbers have fallen, but he’s getting more pitches in the strike zone than 96% of his peers. The payoff has been a much softer contact profile: his average exit velocity has fallen to 82.4 mph since August 5th, his ground-ball rate is up to 53.8%, and he has yet to allow a barrel as an Oriole.
For Seattle, the season keeps tilting the wrong way. Even with Cooper Criswell back, the bullpen still looks thin, and it has little margin for error behind a lineup that ranks 29th in OPS at .685.
The Mariners rolled the dice on Ward, and it didn’t land. Baltimore, meanwhile, may have found a reliever who can matter in its bullpen for years to come.
In Other News...
Mariners Just Made A Desperate Roster Bet For Their Playoff Push
The Mariners kept their roster moving Friday with a pair of late-season additions that fit the urgency of a team still chasing October security. Seattle signed veteran left-hander Hoby Milner after he was waived by the Cubs, giving the club another experienced arm it can turn to down the stretch, and also brought up outfielder Lazaro Montes from Triple-A Tacoma for his major league debut. It was a reminder that every roster spot matters now, especially for a team trying to patch holes while staying in the hunt.
To make the moves work, the Mariners designated utilityman Connor Joe and pitcher Nolan Kingham for assignment. Milners arrival gives Seattle a pitcher who is eligible to help in October if the club gets there, while Montes adds a fresh look to the position-player mix. It is the kind of roster shuffling that usually comes with a club balancing immediate needs against the long view, and Seattle made clear it is willing to keep adjusting as the push continues. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Fans Know Why Luis Castillo Is Suddenly Hard To Trust
Luis Castillo looked like he might settle in quickly after the Mariners shipped him to the White Sox in early August. The start was encouraging enough, and for a while it seemed Chicago had added a dependable arm to a rotation that could use the help, even while the club kept itself in first place.
Lately, though, the warning signs have started to pile up. Castillo has been giving up more runs and more home runs in his recent outings, and with the White Sox still trying to sort through a shaky starting rotation, the questions are getting louder about what role he can realistically handle if they get into playoff games. Mariners fans know the profile well enough by now: the stuff can still look good, but the confidence in it is harder to justify when the margin for error gets thin. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Have One Obvious Call To Make As Offense Keeps Sliding
The Mariners have spent enough time trying to patch around their offense that the next move is starting to look pretty clear. Even with the recent losses and a record below .500, they are still hanging around the playoff race, and that matters because the problems are not coming from one isolated spot. Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez have had their moments, but the lineup as a whole has not provided enough steady production, and the pitching staff is leaning more and more on rookies as the season wears on.
Randy Arozarena has been the one regular who has looked like he is carrying his part of the load, with a stronger offensive run and better plate discipline backing it up. He still brings defensive concerns, but the Mariners need impact wherever they can find it right now, especially with the offense sliding and the margin for error shrinking. At some point, the question is no longer whether Seattle can afford to keep waiting on the lineup to catch up. It is which direction the club is willing to go to stop the slide before the standings leave less room to maneuver. [Read more 🡒]