Seattle, WA
Dipoto: Where Seattle Mariners’ pitching depth, rotation plan stands
The Seattle Mariners have played themselves into playoff position, and their pitching deserves the lion’s share of credit.
The question now, however, is how well the depth of that pitching is holding up as the M’s go into the final 35 games of the regular season.
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Seattle was dealt a blow this week when rookie starter Emerson Hancock had to leave an outing in Houston after just two innings. Two days later, he was ruled out for a return this year, going on the 60-day injured list with a right shoulder strain. The good news is the Mariners received fellow rookie starter Bryan Woo back from an IL stint for right forearm inflammation on Tuesday, keeping the rotation full with five pitchers.
As things stand now, the rotation features All-Stars Luis Castillo and George Kirby, third-year standout Logan Gilbert, and impressive rookie Bryce Miller along with Woo.
How do the M’s feel about the state of their pitching? Seattle president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto shared his insight Thursday during his weekly show on Seattle Sports, and he said that while Hancock’s injury scuttled plans to go to a six-man rotation, the Mariners think they’ll be OK.
“Our most recent discussions, which were last night actually, we’re at a place on the schedule where the off days are going to start helping us,” Dipoto said. “… It might have been a different story had we had Emerson, but even when we were talking about a six-man, we were only talking about a six-man through the first week of September, which is when the schedule starts to give us a little bit of freedom. So it was one, maybe two more starts, and you might see something like a skipped start or a shorter start but not a traditional six-man rotation.”
Those smaller adjustments over the final month will likely be based around Woo. The 23-year-old right-hander has already thrown more innings this year for the Mariners (59) than he did all of last year (57) in the minors, which was his first year of pro baseball. He also threw 44 innings this season for Double-A Arkansas, meaning he’s closing in on doubling his workload from 2022.
“Obviously, the pitcher that we are most in-tune with trying to make sure we help across the the long season is Bryan Woo, just because he’s not done anything like it before,” Dipoto said. “So you might see a skipped start or some type of truncated start, but we’re gonna go with our five starters that are currently out there. We might get into a skipped-start situation, but we’re not going to disrupt the other guys. Let them continue to do the thing that they’re doing. … We’ve got another month and a half to play and our guys that have carried us are hopefully going to continue to carry it.”
Reinforcements for the M’s staff
While Seattle is mostly sticking with the five-man rotation, Dipoto’s front office still made an addition this week to help with depth in the form of veteran right-hander Luke Weaver. Perhaps best known to Mariners fans as the player who got into a National Anthem standoff with Robbie Ray last season in Kansas City, Weaver was actually on Seattle’s roster briefly during the offseason but ultimately was not tendered a contract for 2023. He came back to the M’s on Tuesday on a one-year MLB deal after being recently released by the Reds.
Dipoto said the need for depth following Hancock’s injury led to Seattle going a different direction than typically seen during the season to add an arm, but one that was necessary after the Aug. 1 trade deadline passed.
“It’s part of the reason why we quickly pivoted and picked up Luke Weaver when he was accessible to us,” Dipoto said. “We’re at a time in the baseball calendar where you don’t have a lot of access to players that don’t play in your own organization, so being in tune with the transaction wire and and what’s happening in the non-traditional markets – you know, waiver wires, it’s free agents, it’s players with outs (in their contracts). That’s where your depth’s coming from if it’s not from your own organization, but having lost Emerson, with no Robbie Ray, with no Marco Gonzales, already having tapped into Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo and then Emerson Hancock, there’s only so far you can go before you start to wobble a little bit. We left the house to go find a guy that we thought could help both in providing length in our bullpen and potentially stepping in if we needed a next depth starter.”
So far, so good with Weaver. He pitched two perfect innings in his Mariners debut Wednesday against the White Sox, striking out the first five hitters he faced.
As for other options for spot starts in the organization, the Mariners have a couple with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers who Dipoto pointed to. First is 36-year-old left-hander Tommy Milone, who has filled in admirably several times in situations like this for Seattle over the past two seasons. Second is 28-year-old righty Adam Oller, who started a combined 15 MLB games and appeared in 28 overall for Oakland in 2022 and 2023.
The Jerry Dipoto Show airs at 8:30 a.m. each Thursday during Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. Listen to this week’s edition at this link or in the podcast player near the top of this post.
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Manuhunt underway for Mason County assault suspect
Mason County deputies are looking for a man wanted in a shooting in Belfair on Monday.
MASON COUNTY, Wash. – The Mason County Sheriff’s Office is currently searching for a convicted felon wanted in a recent shooting.
The sheriff’s office says Michael Allen Beyer is wanted for first-degree assault and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Deputies believe Beyer was involved in a shooting that happened in Belfair on January 6.
Beyer is considered armed and dangerous. If you see him, do not approach him and call 911 immediately.
Anyone with information regarding Beyer’s whereabouts is asked to call Detective Helser at 360-427-9670 x657, or Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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Two more Seattle restaurants are calling it quits thanks to the untenable minimum wage hike.
At the same time that the Seattle minimum wage rose from $19.97 an hour to $20.76 an hour, the city ended the tip credit of $2.72. Under the previous rules, restaurants were able to pay $17.25 hourly wage if their staff earned at least $2.72 in tips per hour. But as cost of business continues to skyrocket in Seattle, a minimum wage hike without a tip credit is simply untenable for many small businesses.
Jackson’s Catfish Corner in Seattle’s Central District closed its doors in this new year. In an interview with Converge Media, owner Terrell Jackson argued Seattle is too expensive to operate in.
“I know that the minimum wages went up to 20 bucks an hour … I know that’s hard for my business as a small Black business,” Jackson said. “I’m not Amazon or Walgreens or Walmart who can pay their employees that much.”
Jackson isn’t alone in his complaints.
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A second West Seattle eatery closes, citing the minimum wage hike
Bel Gatto, a bakery and café, became the second West Seattle eatery to close its doors over the Seattle minimum wage hike. The owner posted a sign to the front door to thank supporters but said she can’t afford to stay open anymore.
“Our revenues, unfortunately, are not able to cover the close to 20% increase in mandated wages, salaries and payroll taxes put into effect by the Seattle City Council effective 1/1/25. This ruling has made the continuation of our bakery operations untenable,” the sign read.
The owner, Peter Levy, explained to the West Seattle Blog that, “we were approaching close to a break even status in the last quarter of 2024, but the requirement to absorb another $4,000 per month in payroll expenses with the new mandate by the city put a break even further from our grasp which is what led to the closure.”
Last week, a video by Corina Luckenbach, owner of Bebop Waffle Shop in West Seattle, went viral as she said the minimum wage hike was forcing her to close after 11 years. She said she didn’t have an extra $32,000 a year to pay her staff what the city mandates.
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Will more restaurants close?
Ahead of the minimum wage hike, restauranteurs offered many warnings over what’s to come.
Ethan Stowell operates a number of Seattle’s top restaurants, including How to Cook a Wolf, Staple and Fancy, and Tavolata. He warned this change would be exceptionally costly for businesses in an industry notorious for razor-thin margins. And restaurants can’t merely raise menu prices again.
“I know everybody wants to say, ‘Just raise things (on the menu) a dollar or two,’ and that’s what it’ll be. That’s very simplified math. I wish it was that easy, but it’s not. This is a large increase that’s probably large enough to be equal to or close to what most restaurants in Seattle profit,” Stowell told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.
Portage Bay Cafe co-owner Amy Fair Gunnar noted the minimum wage change will cost her about $45,000 more a month. She said restaurants will have to “seriously change what they’re doing or they’re going to close their doors.”
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Ignoring the warnings, mocking the business people
The warnings from restaurant owners were mostly ignored or mocked.
Efforts by the Seattle City Council to address the forthcoming crisis fell apart after activists said they didn’t want restaurants to get an exception. Council president Sara Nelson told “The Jason Rantz Show” they will take up the issue again this year but there’s no specific idea yet to forward for legislation. The Mayor of Seattle, Bruce Harrell, has been almost completely absent from the issue.
Left-wing voices, meanwhile, claim to not care. That if businesses “can’t afford to pay a living wage,” then they shouldn’t be in business.
One reporter with The Stranger mocked one of the closures, quipping on X, “Has anyone ever eaten at bebop waffle lol.” Left-wing Seattleites condemned the business for “creating a right wing media darling to complain about paying people a living wage.”
KING 5 reporter Maddie White helped elevate this talking point by citing the National Low Income Housing Coalition, claiming “the average renter needs to make upwards of $40 an hour to afford rent.” But she’s quoting a stat for two-bedrooms. Minimum wage jobs aren’t meant to cover the cost of a single person renting a two-bedroom home or apartment.
Ironically, as activists dismiss the concerns of small business owners, they fail to acknowledge the inevitable consequence: when those businesses shut down, people lose jobs. A $20.76 hourly minimum wage — even with a $2.72 tip credit — means nothing if you’re unemployed.
Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on X, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
A pair of candidates have surfaced in the Seattle Seahawks’ search for a new offensive coordinator.
An NFL insider’s view on Seahawks OC change and what’s next
The Seahawks are scheduled to interview Detroit Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley and Chicago Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown, according to multiple reports. NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero first reported the news Thursday morning.
Seattle will interview Fraley on Friday and Brown on Saturday, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.
The Seahawks moved on from offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb on Monday after an up-and-down season for Seattle’s offense that included one of the worst rushing attacks in the league.
Fraley, 47, has been on Detroit’s coaching staff for the past seven seasons, including the past five as the team’s offensive line coach. Fraley has coached an offensive line that’s paved the way for one of the NFL’s best rushing attacks. The Lions rank third in Pro Football Focus’ run block grading and finished the regular season sixth in both rushing yards per game (146.4) and yards per carry (4.7).
During his time in Detroit, Fraley has helped develop four-time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow and three-time Pro Bowl right tackle Penei Sewell. As a player, Fraley started 123 games at center and guard over a 10-year NFL career with the Eagles (2001-05), Browns (2006-09) and Rams (2010). According to Breer, Fraley has done groundwork in searching for a pass game coordinator that he would pair with as an OC.
Brown, 38, began the season as Chicago’s passing game coordinator. He then was promoted to offensive coordinator when Shane Waldron, a former Seahawks assistant, was fired as OC on Nov. 12, and then to interim head coach when Matt Eberflus was fired on Nov. 29. Brown went 1-4 as the Bears’ interim head coach.
Brown was the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator in 2023. Prior to that, he spent three seasons under head coach Sean McVay in various roles on the Los Angeles Rams’ coaching staff.
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