The right-hander was a great story in 2025, but it just hasn't been the same in the second half of 2026.
The Seattle Mariners need to give right-handed reliever Eduard Bazardo some time off.
Frankly, I think it's probably beneficial for him to just shut it down for the rest of the season, but if the M's can't do that for various reasons, then they need to really throttle back his usage.
It's time.
And no, I'm not going to sit here and say "Bazardo is bad," or "Bazardo can't be here next year," like many other M's fans are saying.
What I am going to say is that Bazardo is clearly worn down from two calendar years of extensive usage, and at this point, the Mariners aren't doing themselves - or Bazardo - any favors by using him this much.
Bazardo gave up four earned runs, plus two inherited runners, in Tuesday's 10-5 loss against the Texas Rangers. He surrendered three hits, a walk and a pair of home runs. He lasted just 0.1 innings.
He's allowed at least one run in each of his last three outings, and the fourth outing saw him allow multiple inherited runners to score, including the infamous play he failed to make at home plate against the Toronto Blue Jays. He's had just one clean outing in his last nine appearances. His ERA was 2.01 on July 10. It's now 3.90.
Let's dive in a little deeper.
The basic numbers as a whole
| Year | Games | Innings | ERA | FIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 73 | 78.2 | 2.52 | 3.64 |
| 2026 | 67 | 62.1 | 3.90 | 4.49 |
So, the FIP of the last two years will tell you that Bazardo has benefited from some luck and that his actual numbers have outperformed his expected numbers. But regardless of that, the results are the results. Bazardo had a very good results-oriented year for the Mariners in 2025, and he was relied upon heavily, helping carry them to the American League Championship Series.
The M's played deep into October as a result and Bazardo made nine more appearances in October, giving him 82 appearances in total for the season.
As a result of the deep season, Bazardo had a shorter than usual offseason by about a month. Then? He dialed things up quickly to pitch for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, shrinking his offseason even more and cutting into his spring training ramp-up.
Even despite that, he had a solid first half of the season.
Now, he's made 67 more appearances and it simply appears like everything has caught up with him. It's understandable, it's justifiable, but it's disappointing for both him and the Mariners. Part of the reason that the Mariners (67-78) have cratered in the second half of the season is because of the performance of the bullpen, which has been the worst in baseball over that time. Bazardo's regression is a huge part of that.
Even more numbers...
I liked what Ty Dane Gonzalez of "Locked on Mariners" pointed out on social media on Tuesday, even before Bazardo's poor performance. It further underscores how tired and worn down Bazardo likely is.
Eduard Bazardo before the All-Star break: .244 opp. AVG, 2.27 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 23.6 K%, 6.2 BB%
Eduard Bazardo after the All-Star break (not including tonight): .308 opp. AVG, 5.23 ERA, 5.80 FIP, 23.2 K%, 8.1 BB%
The latter numbers are obviously going to look even worse after tonight.
Hard to not feel like all the innings he's thrown since the start of 2025 finally caught up to him.
The Dan Wilson component
Bazardo is clearly overworked, and you blame a few people for that if you want.
1) You can blame Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander for not strengthening the bullpen, making Bazardo more necessary than he should be.
2) You can blame Matt Brash for being injured, which thinned the bullpen even more. The same can be said for early season injuries to Gabe Speier and Carlos Vargas, who just returned two weeks ago from a season-long issue.
3) You can blame Dan Wilson for overusing Bazardo, especially recently, given his struggles.
4) You can just blame Bazardo himself for struggling and not getting the job done.
The real answer lies somewhere in the middle, and fault lies with everyone for the entirety of the M's season. Sure, we can sit here and say that Wilson has too much trust and reliance on Bazardo, and he probably does, but where are the alternatives that are better?
In Tuesday's situation, Wilson went to Jose Ferrer before Bazardo, in the fourth inning. He wasn't then going to immediately burn Gabe Speier in relief of Ferrer - in the fifth inning. Seranthony Dominguez was an option, but you would have liked to save him for a spot in which you were winning, not trailing 4-3, as Seattle was at the time. Andres Munoz wasn't an option in the fifth and Michael Rucker is not built for that spot - yet.
That leaves Hoby Milner, Vargas and Cooper Criswell. Are any of them MORE trustworthy than Bazardo, or is everyone just some level of risk? I'll take the latter.
At the end of the day, Wilson trusts his guys. Bazardo has been one of his guys for the last two years. He needs a break, and with the season all but over, it's time to give some others a shot, even if they carry risk as well.
The Mariners and Rangers will play again on Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. PT. Kade Anderson is on the mound.
Of note
The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out, talking about the M's rotation woes, if Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo should play every day now, and if the M's really have a chance at the playoffs.
You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.
