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After a week of anticipation, the Mariners' ace takes the hill tonight. Yovani Gallardo has been the second best starting pitcher by fWAR for the Mariners, which would have horrified me and probably most of us before this season if I'd told you it. Actually, pretty much everything a narrowly focused time-traveler could deliver about the 2017 Mariners and their roster's decimation would devastate us if we were visited by them in March. Today we saw another roster move.
Sam Gaviglio has been selected from Tacoma. Hisashi Iwakuma to the 10 day DL. Evan Marshall to the 60 day.
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) May 10, 2017
Hisashi Iwakuma has struggled this year and perhaps a DL stint will help several parts of his body get right. Perhaps he is a 36 year-old man whose body gave its last full measure in 2016. We'll see if he looks better in a week or two. Sam Gaviglio is a 26 year-old RHP with a sinker at 88-92, a decent slider, and an extant change-up. Ethan described Gaviglio as his "Dark Horse" of starting pitching depth before the season, which is a fun article to rehash, by the way.
"Gaviglio is old enough and average enough of a pitcher to where I don't really consider him much of a prospect anymore, but he's also yet to reach the big leagues so here we are. Enjoyed the best year of his career in 2016, shining for Double-A Jackson before taking over as one of the more reliable arms on Triple-A Tacoma's staff.
How likely are they to start for the Mariners in 2017: Very unlikely. Gaviglio doesn't do anything spectacular on the mound, but if he's pitching well and the Mariners need immediate help and he's rested, well, he could be this year's Jarret "who in the hell is this guy I literally didn't know he existed until this very moment" Grube.
So yes. Gaviglio is here, likely just as a reserve. He gets lots of groundballs. He walks very few. He strikes out very few. Chase De Jong will start tomorrow and Christian Bergman will go Friday, with Saturday still up in the air and likely pending the length at which the next three starters can make it into the game.
Here the Mariners stand, with their lone starter from the Opening Day 25-man rotation on the hill, looking rejuvenated and like his 2013 self. He'll face the Phillies, whose offensive prowess we saw last night is far from the joke it had been in years past. Blessedly, their pitching is still a little ways off. Even more blessedly, Robinson Canó's quad strain appears to be less serious than anticipated, and he's able to start again tonight. We'll take what we can get.