A roster issue we knew was coming for the Seattle Mariners is apparently just about ready to come to a head.

After another rehab start in which he hit 61 pitches on Wednesday night, M's starter Bryce Miller says he's ready to return to the rotation, and apparently, the Mariners leaning toward activating him during the upcoming seven-game road trip through the White Sox and Astros.

If and when Miller is activated, the Mariners will have six starters for five spots. Emerson Hancock has been too good to send to Triple-A or the bullpen, while Luis Castillo has never pitched in the bullpen and is also making $24 million this season. That's a real thing that the M's have to navigate. Miller has too much of a recent injury history to pitch in the bullpen, or so it feels like, and couldn't be counted on to throw multiple days per week out there.

So how do the Mariners handle the six guys for five spots? We offered a creative solution on the most recent edition of the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast.

"But I believe that the best scenario right now for the Mariners in handling all of this is to piggyback Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller. Piggybacking is a minor league term. It is not something you see for guys making $24 million and guys who pitched in the ALCS, like Bryce Miller did, and pitched well. I think that is the best situation for the Mariners at this particular moment in time.

Why do I think that?

Well, Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo, I think, both need to have their pitch count kept up. I mean, we don't know when the next Mariners injury is going to come. Emerson Hancock — is he gonna be able to throw 180 innings this season? Is he gonna be able to throw 150 innings this season? He's never done it. So how do you know that you don't need Emerson Hancock to get a breather?

Yes, Kade Anderson is coming as well, and maybe he could fill in at some point. But I think having both Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo stretched out in their pitch count for a while longer is a good thing. The ability for both of them to say, "Hey, we're still at 65-plus," I think that is a beneficial thing because I'm not convinced that you're not going to need a full-time starter again for someone else who's going to go down in the future.

We saw the Mariners lose Bryce Miller twice last year. Logan Gilbert. We saw them not have George Kirby. We saw Bryan Woo go down at the end. So to take one of them and put them in the bullpen full time and immediately shrink their pitch count from, in Miller's case, 61, and in Castillo's case, 100, and shrink it down to 20 at a time, I don't think that that's smart.

You're going to need them, at least one of them, to step in to be a full-time starter again before this season ends. I absolutely believe that. So keeping them available as starters I think is very, very important.

I think it's probably the best way to negate the hurt feelings and the hurt egos. Bryce Miller knows that he pitched well in the ALCS last year. He doesn't wanna be, quote, "demoted to the bullpen." Luis Castillo knows that he's a multi-time All-Star who's nicknamed 'The Rock,' who's the highest-paid pitcher on this team. He doesn't wanna be demoted either, I'm sure.

Telling each of them, "Hey, you're each gonna throw 4 innings today, and that is how we're gonna keep you fresh, keep you strong, keep you healthy, and keep you effective, and help this team," I think that that is probably the best way to go about this, at least for a little while."

The Mariners begin a series with the White Sox at 4:40 p.m. PT on Friday. The Mariners are 18-20 on the season. Hancock will take the mound.

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