The Mariners rotation will soon be receiving one more left-handed starter as Ryan Rowland-Smith is due to come off the disabled list a week from Wednesday, June 10.
Rowland-Smith, one of two starters on the DL, has been out since April 10 due to tightness and fluids in his left elbow. All this time, he has been longing for one thing—to throw a baseball.
"I'm ready to go, seriously," he said. "I just want to pitch."
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In 12 starts for the Mariners last season he had a 3.49 ERA with eight consecutive quality starts to end the season.
Before his injury, he started only one game, giving up four hits and two runs, none earned, in 3.1 innings of work.
The problem with Rowland-Smith in the rotation is the excessive amount of left-handed starting pitchers the Mariners currently carry—Erik Bedard, Jason Vargas, Garret Olson, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Jarrod Washburn.
Those four follow ace Felix Hernandez while the only other right-handed starter would be 30-year-old rookie Chris Jakubauskas.
Olson recently replaced Jakubaukas, who has a 6.45 ERA in 10 games and eight starts. That leaves six starters—five lefties and then Hernandez.
None of those pitchers have struggled lately, so figuring out who makes the staff and who doesn’t is going to be a decision that will surely leave one of the six disappointed.
Of course, Hernandez makes the rotation, as does Washburn and Bedard. Vargas, Olson and Rowland-Smith will likely take the two spots left in the rotation.
This problem does, however, encourage a trade to send either Bedard or Washburn elsewhere. Bedard has a 2.48 ERA, second best in the American League, while Washburn boasts a 3.45 ERA coming into Monday’s game.
While Olson, Jakubauskas, Rowland-Smith or even Vargas could get traded, don’t expect them to be out of a Mariners uniform for quite awhile.
Unless you count a Tacoma Rainiers uniform, which Rowland-Smith has worn for his last two starts—his last being a three-hit shutout over five innings to defeat Nashville 5-3.
But this is a good situation and a good test for rookie manger Don Wakamatsu.
Reach Ben Brown at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
