TORONTO -- Bryce Miller is heading to the Mariners’ bullpen.
It’s a move that came with a difficult discussion but is also one that the club hopes will help him get back on track -- because the Mariners still view him as a starter long term.
It is also not a piggyback situation, as they intend to use him as a traditional reliever.
“He's been a very good Major League starting pitcher for a long time, and he's going to be one again,” general manager Justin Hollander said on Friday at Rogers Centre, where Seattle opened a three-game series. “I think, for him right now and for our team right now, the right thing is to shrink it down a little bit, let him focus for an inning or two at a time.
“Obviously, when you make choices about how many starters you have, whether it's [a six-man rotation] or six with a piggyback, you give up things in the bullpen. And right now, we feel like he needs a blow and to get refocused on the best version of himself.”
The Mariners had delayed announcing their rotation plans for this weekend until Friday afternoon, to inform Miller of the move before doing so publicly.
They did so in a meeting after Wednesday’s game in Seattle, which included Hollander, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, manager Dan Wilson and pitching coaches Trent Blank and Pete Woodworth.
“Definitely a weird day,” Miller said, adding that it was a “relatively lengthy discussion” and that he wanted to keep most of it “in-house.”
Seattle’s rotation for this weekend will be Emerson Hancock (who started Friday), Kade Anderson (Saturday) and Logan Gilbert (Sunday) -- the latter of which would’ve been Miller’s spot.
“This is not a permanent thing,” Wilson said. “And Bryce is going to be a pitcher for us for a long time, win a lot of games for us. And I think there's a long history of starters that have gone through some of the same kind of things. And it’s a chance to go down there and get himself right and help the team out in the process.”
In the immediate future, Miller’s availability in relief remains TBD.
The Mariners will try to find pockets to ease him in. But they don’t intend to exclusively use him in mop-up duty and/or long relief.
“As he gets comfortable down there, we'll let the role sort of evolve over time,” Hollander said. “But I do think the best version of Bryce could pitch the highest-leverage moments of anybody's season.”
How does Miller envision the workload adjustments?
“It's a tough question,” Miller said. “I've thrown once a week for the last five years, but I've also typically thrown more than 20 pitches. So I'll just have to see as it comes.”
This move appeared to be brewing in the days leading up to Wednesday’s conversation.
Miller was hit hard in his most recent start, last Sunday against the Cubs, which marked his eighth straight start that the Mariners lost dating back to July 9. In that stretch, he carried a 7.19 ERA and was tagged for an .893 OPS.
The day prior, the club called up Anderson -- MLB Pipeline’s top pitching prospect -- though that was related to Bryan Woo needing a few extra days to recover from right shoulder discomfort. However, the club also suggested that Anderson is here to stay, which expanded Seattle’s rotation to six starters.
Then, in the fifth inning on Wednesday when Woo returned, Miller made an unexpected walk out to the home bullpen at T-Mobile Park. Wilson later revealed it was because Miller was available in a just-in-case measure to account for Woo’s return.
But then Miller did not end up pitching in that one and instead threw a bullpen postgame, as it was his scheduled day to do so in between starts. It was after that session, and a conversation with reporters, that the meeting took place.
“I view myself as a starter long term,” Miller said. “I have never doubted myself or doubted my ability to start, so I don’t have any question about that within myself. I believe that when things are going right with me, I’m one of the best starters in the league. I told them, ‘Whatever I need to do, I’ll throw whatever they tell me to.’”