The Seattle Mariners just completed a brutal stretch of 13 games in 13 days, going 7-6 to pull themselves to 11-15 on the young season. 

While the Mariners did some very nice things in those 13 games, they also did a lot of things that left some potential wins on the table. 

The offense struggled with runners in scoring position, they got a disappointing start in San Diego from Luis Castillo and the bullpen leaked at times - in multiple spots.

Andres Munoz blew saves against both the Padres and Athletics while Casey Legumina took a loss against the A's. Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier were both tagged for runs - and threw a ton of pitches - and Cole Wilcox has failed to shine brightly just yet.

Jose Ferrer continues to bend, but not fully break, leading fans to express worry about him as well.

I was a recent guest on the 'Mitch Unfiltered' podcast with Mitch Levy and Joe Doyle and it became clear through our conversation that the concerns about the mid-leverage and pivot part of the bullpen are real.

Who would have thought that the team would miss Carlos Vargas so much?

The 26-year-old was acquired in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks before the 2024 season and made his debut with the M's in 2025. He appeared in 70 games for Seattle, pitching to a 3.97 ERA in 77.0 innings. A hard-thrower, Vargas doesn't miss many bats, as evidenced by his only 54 strikeouts in those 77 innings, but he serves a valuable role in that bullpen.

He has the ability to come in in the fifth or sixth inning and pivot the game to the higher-leverage guys, and he also has the ability to get outs across multiple innings. 

As a result, he's able to limit the workload on the highest-leverage options for manager Dan Wilson, while also limiting exposure to some of the lowest-leverage options.

Vargas is currently on the 60-day injured list because of a lat strain and won't be eligible to come back until the end of May. We have yet to hear any updates as far as a potential rehab assignment goes.

Starting pitcher Bryce Miller, who has missed the entire season with an oblique issue, will be pitching for High-A Everett on Friday night. Our own Teren Kowatsch will be in attendance with his thoughts and takeaways.

We caught up with Triple-A Tacoma broadcaster Rylee Pay on Tuesday's 'Refuse to Lose' podcast to talk about how Miller looked in his first rehab start.

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