Mariners’ Bullpen Search Should Target a Setup Man for Andrés Muñoz

Seattle needs another arm to get tight games to Muñoz.

Sep 18, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Andres Munoz (75) pitches in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Give Jason Kanzler a one-run lead in the seventh, two men on and the other team’s best hitter walking to the plate. Who does he call? After the bullpen churn in 2026, it has to be a name we can trust. That’s the question Jerry Dipoto should take into free agency. We already know who we want pitching the ninth. We’d like that lead to still be there when Andrés Muñoz enters the game.

Dipoto told Teren Kowatsch at Mariners Roundtable he likes this winter’s bullpen market and has already identified relievers who could help. Seattle finished 22nd in bullpen ERA at 4.46 last season, and Kanzler is about to inherit a group that spent much of the year scrambling before Muñoz. Dipoto should spend enough to give his new manager another late-inning option he can trust from Opening Day.

Muñoz also gave us plenty of reasons to wince in 2026. His ERA climbed from 1.73 to 4.24, and he finished the season tied for the major league lead with 10 blown saves. He also struck out 37.1 percent of the hitters he faced, his best mark since 2022. The problem was what happened when hitters did get the ball in the air. His home run rate climbed to 1.41 per nine innings, up from 0.57 across the previous four seasons.

It’s still fair to give Muñoz the ninth. But we’d also give Kanzler another pitcher he’d feel good about using with the game on the line. The Mariners spent most of last season short on those options.

The Mariners Need Someone Who Can Get the Tough Outs Before Muñoz

Matt Brash threw just 16 1/3 innings after a lat strain cost him most of the season. Gabe Speier missed nearly a month with shoulder inflammation. We’d love to see both healthy and back in their setup roles. Every team has to get through stretches without its best relievers, and last season showed how thin the Mariners can get when theirs go down. Seattle needs enough depth to protect late leads even when the bullpen it drew up in spring training is missing a couple of arms.

Adrian Morejon would be a huge get. A lefty who can touch 100 and locate it gives Jason Kanzler someone he can send straight into the heart of the order in the seventh, even with two righties coming up. We’d see what it takes. But if Morejon turns down San Diego’s qualifying offer, the Mariners would have to weigh the contract and the draft-pick cost against everything else they need to do this winter.

If that price gets too steep, we’d call Bryan Abreu. His slider gives Seattle another swing-and-miss weapon for the inning when a ground ball might still get the tying run home. Alex Vesia is another name we’d look at if Dipoto wants a second late-inning lefty alongside Gabe Speier. Either signing would give Kanzler a real choice. If Matt Brash gets the toughest stretch of the lineup in the seventh, the new guy can take the eighth. If that stretch comes up an inning earlier tomorrow, flip them. Muñoz can still have the ninth.

That’s worth spending on even if Brash comes back throwing the way we remember. Relievers work back-to-back nights. Sometimes the biggest at-bat of the game happens an hour before anybody hears the closer’s entrance music. A manager with three or four arms he trusts can pitch to the lineup in front of him instead of saving his best options for innings that may come too late.