Mariners: Is Jerry Dipoto a secret genius?

Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto scrambled, wheeled, and dealt all winter to acquire as many usable pitchers as possible, now that depth is paying off at a crucial time.

The Mariners are in trouble. As I’ve written about already, they’re keeping their starting “rotation” together with duct tape and elbow grease. Number-five starter entering the season Yovani Gallardo is the last man standing in a rotation wracked by injuries.

These next few weeks could make or break the entire season for the Mariners. A few weeks of mostly minor league pitching for Seattle could be when the ship sinks. But, after a disastrous four-game sweep in Toronto, the Mariners have managed to stay afloat thanks to a few excellent performances by unheralded and unheard-of starters.

It was actually Gallardo who snuffed the four-game losing streak the M’s returned home to Safeco Field with. He earned a win over Oakland in spite of now-deposed closer Edwin Diaz‘s best efforts to throw the game away in the ninth inning, tossing 6 1/3 innings and allowing three runs.

Then a guy named Christian Bergman took the mound in the rubber match against the A’s. Dropping a series at home to a division rival would have been a demoralizing blow during this stretch of injury hell, but Bergman delivered 7 1/3 shutout innings for an easy 4-0 win.

To open the series against the Southside Sox, another relatively unknown pitcher, a rookie from Oregon named Sam Gaviglio held Chicago scoreless for five innings.

How is Mariners GM Dipoto a Secret Genius?

After a season of constantly shuffling the starting rotation and bullpen around in 2016, Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto knew he had to stockpile arms and try to avoid the letdowns that kept Seattle from the playoffs again. His approach led to a surplus of quad-A arms in the Mariners’ system–players who go up and down from the big league club to AAA to spot start or fill in as a fresh arm in the bullpen.

Gaviglio was the 10th starting pitcher used by the Mariners this year. This is not a good approach to consistently win baseball games. The only way the M’s will successfully navigate this storm is if the replacement players Scott Servais keeps calling up from Tacoma can hold opponents to three runs or less in five innings or more with enough regularity.

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Gaviglio was a scrap heap find by Dipoto. The Oregon State Beaver was previously knocking around the St. Louis Cardinals organization before appearing in Tacoma for the Rainiers.

Bergman is a former reliever for the Colorado Rockies who Dipoto signed this offseason. Toss in the revelation that is Ariel Miranda, who Dipoto acquired from Baltimore in the Wade Miley flip last season, and the M’s rotation just might make it.

James Paxton returns at the end of the month to provide a boost to what should be an incredibly overtaxed and underwhelming rotation. But Dipoto has assembled a workable staff so far by picking up cast-offs and trading for usable arms. We like to make fun of his constant trading, but maybe there’s a method to his madness.

Next: Resentment for Russell Wilson? And?

We’re not out of squall yet, but maybe Dipoto knows something we don’t. Maybe, just maybe, he’s keeping this team afloat. Maybe…. he’s some kind of secret genius.