When the Seattle Mariners acquired left-handed reliever Jose A. Ferrer this offseason from the Washington Nationals, the expectation was that he would be another shutdown lefty in the bullpen to pair with Gabe Speier.

So far, Ferrer hasn't been that.

In four appearances, he has an ERA of 6.00. He's allowed three runs (two earned) and a whopping seven hits. He's only struck out three.

On Sunday, he surrendered an inherited runner in the bottom of the fourth inning and two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, turning a 5-4 Mariners lead into a 6-5 deficit. The M's eventually lost 8-7 in 11-innings, a tough loss that dropped them to 4-6 through the first 10 games.

However, if you want a bit of optimism regarding Ferrer, it's this: As noted by Anderson Hirst of 93.3 KJR, he's been much better than his early stats suggest.

According to statcast:

He has a 1.73 xERA, has yet to give up a barrel and has yet to walk anybody.

He's a guy who gives up soft contact and ground balls, which relies on defense to get results, and the Mariners infield defense is among the worst in the league.

The problem though is just what Hirst indicates. Ferrer is not going to be a swing-and-miss guy, by and large. He struck out 71 batters in 76.1 innings for Washington last season. People will put the ball in play and the Mariners need to field it.

While he was pitching on Sunday, J.P. Crawford sailed a throw to first base which was ruled an infield single and an RBI for Nolan Schanuel. That made it 4-2 in the fourth.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Randy Arozarena dove for a ball, letting it get past him for a double. Then, a soft single by Jo Adell tied the game at 5-5 and Adam Frazier hit a single to left field through Leo Rivas, who was playing in for some reason with two outs at third base.

Now, when Brendan Donovan gets back healthy and Colt Emerson debuts, the M's defense can get better, but there's no guarantee that it does. Donovan has struggled at third base as well after spending much of the last two seasons at second base and in left field.

The Mariners are going to have to start making the routine plays behind Ferrer, otherwise he's going to continue to punished by the BABIP Gods. 

The M's have a critical week in front of them, with seven games against AL West foes. They'll take on the Texas Rangers on Monday night at 5:05 p.m. PT. Logan Gilbert pitches against Jacob deGrom.

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