A third straight series loss has the Seattle Mariners entering Friday's crucial series opener against the Houston Astros with a 57-65 record, 3.5 games back of a Wild Card spot and, perhaps more importantly, 5.0 games behind the first-place Astros in the AL West. It goes without saying that if the Mariners want to win another division title, they'll need a good showing in Houston.
For the Mariners to go on a magical run to get them back into the AL West race, they'll need to make some changes. While there's nothing they can really do to wake Cal Raleigh and other struggling stars up, these four changes would give Seattle a better shot at catching their rivals in the standings.
Promote Kade Anderson to the Majors
The first change is a move Mariners fans have been wanting to see for quite a while. The team really should promote FanSided's No. 5 prospect Kade Anderson to the Majors. Sure, this would be an aggressive promotion of sorts, as the southpaw is in his first professional season and hasn't thrown a pitch in Triple-A, but what he's done in Double-A is so absurd that it suggests he could be big-league ready right now.
Anderson has a 1.13 ERA in 17 starts and 87.2 innings for Double-A Arkansas. He's struck out 128 batters while issuing only 12 walks. Whether the Mariners choose to deploy a six-man rotation or even opt to use Anderson out of the bullpen, they could use all the depth they can get right now. The Mariners should be carrying the best 26 players on their MLB team, and Anderson staying in the Minors suggests they aren't doing that.
Promote Michael Arroyo to the Majors
While Anderson should be up, I can understand Seattle's reluctance to promote someone as inexperienced as he still is to the Majors. What's their excuse with Michael Arroyo, though? Arroyo, FanSided's No. 75 prospect, has been with the Mariners organization since 2022 and has spent all of this season in the upper Minors. He earned a promotion to Triple-A after posting an .820 OPS in 65 Double-A games, and has been even better at the higher level, as his .926 OPS in 29 contests would indicate.
The Mariners just sent struggling prospect Colt Emerson down to the Minors and have J.P. Crawford on the IL, so there is certainly room to play Arroyo at second base while sliding Brendan Donovan over to the hot corner. This team needs a spark, and Arroyo has as good a shot at anyone at providing it.
Get Taylor Ward out of the leadoff spot
The Mariners' trade for Taylor Ward made sense at the time, as even amid a down power year, he was getting on base at a high clip with the Baltimore Orioles and promised to provide much-needed thump against left-handed pitching. Well, Ward has struggled mightily as a Mariner, going 5-for-32 without a single walk and only one extra-base hit. In fact, in his last 20 games, Ward has a .271 on-base percentage with two extra-base hits and zero home runs in 85 plate appearances.
It makes sense for the Mariners to play Ward every day given his track record and Luke Raley's injury, but he's led off in six of his eight games in Seattle. Is there a reason for that? I get there might not be a fantastic alternative, but the lineup the Mariners have just isn't working. Shaking things up by moving Ward down, at least until he starts getting on base again, feels like the move.
Fire Dan Wilson
But the person responsible for shaking things up should not be Dan Wilson. Look, I get that blaming the manager for an underperforming team is a bit of a cop-out. It certainly isn't Wilson's fault that so many key cogs of this team are simply not performing. With that being said, Wilson's bullpen management has been a constant issue throughout his tenure, and it feels like it might be time for a new voice.
Firing the manager won't guarantee a turnaround, but the Mariners have seen success with this before. Wilson replaced Scott Servais after an underwhelming road trip in late August of the 2024 campaign, and Seattle responded by going 21-13 to end the season and nabbing a playoff spot. Could a repeat of history be in order? I don't know, but again, this just isn't working. The Mariners have been arguably the most disappointing team in the Majors this season given their lofty preseason expectations, and someone needs to take the fall for that.
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