You know Doc, I wasn't really suggesting that there was anyone on the other side of the argument. I get the impression that we're all on a similar page about how good Ariel Miranda is right now, and I figured asking some pointed questions would bring that into focus. Maybe you just haven't gotten the feel for my vociferous argumentation style *arches a brow, then waggles them*
Anyway, what I was trying to highlight is that when you look at the rotation and ask who might throw a greater-than-pitiful number of lockdowns, you have Zeus... and Miranda just did it for ten starts. And that's it. So the question is, can Miranda keep pitching at the top of his game for the next month or so, until Felix figures something out and/or we pick up Sonny Gray? Or maybe it's actually, is this the top of Miranda's game, or has it been a combination of that and a lot of luck? And if Miranda is due for massive regression, and we're -4 from 500 while he was overperforming... that's not great.
Basically, my point is that our rotation is bad. I'm not sure it's that much better than when it was plagued by injuries. You look at our scads of hitters, and how well our starters have performed relative to expectations, and this feels like a 95 win team. Then you look at other teams around baseball, and past Mariners teams, and realize that in a vacuum with no previous expectations, the starters just don't have the immediate upside that they need to. One year from today, I expect some number of Felix, Miranda, Paxton, and Moore to have leaped a plateau. Maybe 2 of those 4. But next month, at the outset of the playoff race? Not likely. We're in dire straits if the offense doesn't step up and carry us.