SEATTLE -- Bryan Woo will be reinstalled to the Mariners’ rotation for Wednesday’s series finale vs. the Phillies after telling club officials that he “feels 100% confident” that he’s ready to go.
And now that the club has clarity on the right-hander’s status after he experienced right shoulder discomfort, it will take the coming days to map out a rotation that now houses six starters.
“We're going to continue to talk about that as a staff,” Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said before Monday night’s game against the Phillies at T-Mobile Park. “We haven't made any decisions as of today. I don't anticipate a six-man rotation as like a new thing the Mariners are going to do for the rest of ‘26 and ‘27 and ‘28, and we're just going to be a six-man rotation team. We'll evaluate the situation as we go.”
Woo’s uncertain status had been the primary factor in the club calling up uber prospect Kade Anderson over the weekend, as the wunderkind left-hander made his MLB debut on Saturday during Woo’s scheduled slot.
But Anderson had long been envisioned as being among the club’s late-season plans -- and now that MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 overall prospect is up, he’s here to stay.
Which also pushes the Mariners back to the surplus-of-starters situation that they experienced earlier this season, before moving Luis Castillo at the Trade Deadline.
They do intend to stick with a six-man rotation for now. But Hollander said that the club will assess the situation based on how its arms are navigating the grind of the late season -- as well as performance.
Hollander also did not rule out a return to the piggyback.
“The results do matter, as do how guys are feeling,” Hollander said. “So we'll take all that into account, and we'll make a call as we need to make a call.”
Woo became the latest among the group that necessitated extra rest, having exited his most recent start Aug. 16 in Houston after 75 pitches with an issue he described to club officials as “unusual.”
But Woo said in an interview after his first off-the-mound bullpen session that he was optimistic about his progression.
“He had never felt anything like that before,” Hollander said. “He has not been able to reproduce it since then. It felt a little sore in the couple days afterward; felt nothing out there [on Sunday]. He felt great. So he feels ready to go.”
Beyond Woo, the club has also built in extra rest since the All-Star break for George Kirby and Bryce Miller, who Hollander said on Monday experienced lat discomfort during a July 24 outing at Texas that necessitated him being pushed back one day ahead of his next turn.
Miller, in particular, has experienced pronounced struggles over nearly two months, as Seattle has lost each of his past eight outings, over which he has carried a 7.19 ERA. That included Sunday’s 19-2 loss to the Cubs and last Tuesday’s 22-0 loss in Milwaukee.
“We checked in with Bryce again yesterday ... and he's not concerned about how he feels right now, was the report that I got,” Hollander said.
“Bryce is not making excuses at all, and I don't think he wanted it to come off that way. I do think he was a little bothered by some lat soreness when we pushed him back. He has not been on the injury report since Aug. 2. He did not want to have an MRI at that time, and even as late as 20 minutes ago, [he] expressed that he feels good and ready to go.”
Another factor in the club’s calculus is the byproduct that carrying six starters has on its bullpen, which has a 6.81 ERA since the All-Star break, second highest in MLB.
Doing so essentially removes one arm from that group, as teams are only permitted to carry 13 pitchers and 13 position players. However, help in this area could be coming via September roster expansion, when clubs are permitted to add one apiece from each group on Sept. 1.
“There’s just different challenges,” Hollander said. “It’s not as much of a challenge if you have six starters and they’re all pitching six innings at the top. When you have six starters and getting much shorter outings than that, it’s a huge challenge. But we will figure out a way to do the right thing for the Mariners and the right thing rest-wise for the starters.”