Living in Competition: Seattle Mariners Acquire Joe Wieland

What does the move to acquire Joe Wieland reveal about the approach the Seattle Mariners are taking to the 2016 season?

On its surface, the Seattle Mariners’ acquisition of Joe Wieland from the Dodgers for infield prospect Erick Mejia is minor. Wieland has limited major league experience entering his age-26 season, posting a 1-5 record with a 5.85 ERA in only 47.2 innings. He has fared well in the minors, tossing a no-hitter last year in Double-A, and scouts like his delivery.

Most project him to be a backend or middle of the rotation starter at best. Not a big deal, right? Well… it depends. While Wieland may not end up contributing much to the 2016 M’s roster, his acquisition shows Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto’s willingness to load up on low-risk arms in an attempt to create depth during the regular season and healthy competition during Spring Training.

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Wieland’s acquisition earlier this week came on the heels of the M’s bringing in Ryan Cook, a reliever for the Oakland A’s and strikeout machine in the 2012, 2013, and 2014 seasons before hitting a wall and sliding down last season. Cook joins a multitude of pitchers who have varying chances of making the major league bullpen staff for the Seattle

Mariners next season while coming off rough 2015 seasons. Outside of the few incumbents from last year’s bullpen and Joaquin Benoit, the Mariners’ bullpen is a hodgepodge of buy-low players who will presumably try to show that they can return to form during Spring Training and pitch well in the regular season. Steve Cishek had a horrible 2015 season after a stellar 2014 as the Marlins’ closer.

Justin De Fratus had an excellent 2014 season for Philadelphia before posting an ERA over 5 last year in 80 innings. Almost everyone in the M’s bullpen has something to prove.

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Because we don’t know what we have in most of the pitching staff for 2016, there is a wide range of possible outcomes. One extreme is that the competition for roster spots will fuel a Pete Carroll-like development process that produces several excellent contributors all at the same time. The M’s no-name bullpen is one of the best in the league and routinely shuts down games after the sixth inning, and backend starters Nate Karns, Wade Miley, and maybe even Joe Wieland put in quality innings.

The other extreme is, of course, the exact opposite. No one can get outs consistently late in games, leading to dozens of extremely frustrating losses after blowing late leads. The starting spots in the rotation after Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma become a revolving door of inept pitchers trying to prove they belong at the major league level.

Dipoto and his scouts have seen things they like in all of the players they acquired for the pitching staff. They obviously believe that at least a few of these buy-low investments will pan out.

Next: What To Expect From The 2016 Mariners

My guess is they’re accumulating as many cheap arms as possible to piece together an effective staff as the season goes along. Only time will tell if they took the right approach.