These Two Relievers Have Been Among Most Disappointing Players on Seattle Mariners Roster

Heading into the season, Troy Taylor and Gregory Santos were supposed to be pillars of the team's bullpen, and thus far, both have left much to be desired.

Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Troy Taylor (59) looks for a pitch sign during the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at T-Mobile Park on May 11. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Entering play on Tuesday, the Seattle Mariners are 22-18 and in first place in the American League West. Though the overall record through 40 games is good, the M's have lost four straight and cracks are really starting to show.

Thus far, players like Jorge Polanco and J.P. Crawford have provided better than fans could have expected but there are others who have struggled to hold up their end of the bargain.

The two biggest disappointments for the M's right now? Relievers Troy Taylor and Gregory Santos.

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In a perfect world, the M's would get six or seven innings from their starters and then turn the game over to a group of power arms. Matt Brash, Taylor, Santos, Gabe Speier and Andres Munoz are supposed to provide a solid back-end of the 'pen that goes five deep and can start helping the Mariners as early as the sixth inning.

Thus far, the bullpen dream has been just that.

Munoz and Speier have been excellent, but Brash still hasn't regained his form from 2023 as he comes back from Tommy John surgery, and Taylor and Santos have been simply unreliable.

Santos has made just eight appearances, going 1-1 with a 5.14 ERA. He failed to record a single strikeout over seven innings and then was sent to Triple-A. He's since undergone knee surgery and will be out for multiple months.

Taylor, 23, burst onto the scene last season, making 21 solid appearances and pitching to a 3.72 ERA. He began the year on the injured list with a strained lat and just hasn't had the same ability since returning. He's got an ERA of 12.00 over seven appearances.

You couple their struggles with the fact that the starting rotation is struggling to even go five innings on most days, and the all-of-a-sudden struggling bullpen is even more exposed. The team can't easily get the ball to Munoz and Speier because not enough people in front of them are doing their jobs.

We talked more about all this on the Refuse to Lose podcast, which you can listen to below:

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