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Bob Dutton handicaps the pending free-for-all that will be the back of the Mariners' rotation.  Cruelly, he leads with the thought that the reality could be alternative.

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"Pitching-staff wise, we’d still like to add," general manager Jerry Dipoto said last Friday after pulling off a pair of trades affecting the rotation. "We do have a little bit of room to be creative.  "The resources have always been there for us to be aggressive when the opportunity arises."

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Dipoto goes on to list his OWN six-person bullet list, with Dutton's annotations being

(1) Ariel Miranda - may be needed in bullpen

(2) Chris Heston - was a "soft three / quality four" in 2015, going 12-11 3.95

(3) Rob Whalen - pencilled in for Tacoma according to Big Bad Bob (but note well that March is March)

(4) Max Povse - intruguing minor leaguer, operative phrase minor leaguer

(5) Andrew Moore, AA, not on 40-man

(6) Ryan Yarbrough, AA, not on 40-man

...

Which one is favored by Dr. D?  Absolutely none of them.  You've got Miranda and five "sabermetric" pitchers -- none of which strike out a lot of guys. Siiiiggggghhhhh.  

True, you could say that of a lot of Billy Beane rotations.  These things shake out.  Let Andrew Moore throw a couple of Brian Holman-like shutdowns in Arizona and we'll all be pining for him the way we wanted Brandon Maurer.  

If these six dudes reported to the 1977 Mariners camp, or indeed any Mariners camp other than a Pat Gillick camp, I'd be figuring them all for 4-12, 5.23 records.  But the fact is that this is the Angels now, not the old guard Mariners, and big league organizations do come up with developed pitchers.  With our outfield, any one of 'em could succeed if they executed.

BABVA,

Dr D