SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners decided to retool at the trade deadline and sent reliever Paul Sewald to the Arizona Diamondbacks for utility player Josh Rojas, outfielder Dominic Canzone, and infielder Ryan Bliss.
For the Diamondbacks, it was a no-brainer. The team who once led the NL West fell to third after a rough June and July, partly due to them lacking strong bullpen arms. Their bullpen ERA was the eighth highest in baseball entering play this week.
Now that Sewald is gone, the Mariners need to figure out who will take the bulk of what would have been save opportunities for Sewald, who collected 21 of them as a Mariner—fittingly, he got his last save for Seattle against Arizona on July 28.
On Thursday’s episode of Locked On Mariners, hosts Cody Patnode and Ty Dane Gonzalez discussed the Mariners’ plans for their bullpen going forward.
“So as far as the overall bullpen goes here, no Paul Sewald. That’s the guy who was taking the ball in two-thirds of your save opportunities. You lose a high-leverage arm here overall,” Gonzalez said. “Now, a lot rides on Andres Muñoz, Matt Brash, Justin Topa is getting an uptick in usage as well. We’ve seen Taylor Saucedo take the ball in a couple of high-leverage situations lately.”
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As for the guys Gonzalez mentioned, Muñoz, a 24-year-old right-hander, has appeared in 27 games in 2023, finishing five and picking up three saves. He’s 2-4 with a 2.81 ERA and has given up eight earned runs in 25 and one-third innings of work.
Brash, another righty, has appeared in 53 games for the Mariners this season and is 7-3 with a 3.35 ERA, and has picked up one save.
Topa has made 47 appearances, is 1-3 with a 2.57 ERA, and has two saves under his belt, while Saucedo, the lone lefty of the group, is 2-1 with a 2.27 ERA in 33 appearances.
Both hosts believe it will be a group effort to cover Sewald’s innings or what other teams like to call a closer by committee. The players' usage depends on the situation, the handedness of the batters, and the score.
Patnode also believes you might see some of the relievers go for more outs than they have in the past, so it’s possible there may be an uptick in four-out appearances and even five-out appearances out of the bullpen. He thinks those outings could be from Muñoz and Brash, and he thinks if you’re looking for traditional closer stuff, Topa might become the ninth-inning guy.
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