The Seattle Mariners got some bad health news on Wednesday as starting pitcher Bryce Miller shut his bullpen down after just three pitches because of an oblique issue.

Miller, who was hitting 98 mph in his first spring training start, reported side discomfort following the start and has been slowed ever since. He threw a light bullpen over the weekend, but was unable to really ramp it up on Wednesday.

Miller won't be shut down from throwing entirely, but the calendar is not in his favor at this moment. With Opening Day coming in just two weeks, it seems likely that he'll need to start the year on the injured list in order to ramp back up, and that's even if this issue takes care of itself soon.

If that is the case, the Mariners have seemingly five options to take his place: Emerson Hancock, Cooper Criswell, Dane Dunning, Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan. Remember, Logan Evans is out for the season with Tommy John surgery.

Let's dive in:

The No. 3 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, this would certainly be a pick that gets fans buzzing. Anderson won Most Outstanding Player at the College World Series in 2025 while playing for LSU and struck out 180 batters in 119.0 total innings. The No. 21 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline, he has good stuff and could reach the big leagues soon, but do the Mariners really want to send him to the big leagues before he's ever even pitched in a minor league game?

That seems highly unlikely.

Furthermore, if Anderson pitches well, how would they handle the mess of sending him back down once Miller is healthy? That's a headache the M's don't need. It's much more likely that Anderson starts in the minor leagues, works methodically as to not burn through a surefire innings limit, and then is an option toward the end of the season.

The No. 33 prospect in baseball, Sloan was a second-round pick in 2024. He has thrown 82 innings in his professional career and is still just 20 years old. Everything we said about Anderson can be applied to Sloan, except he's younger and has even less of a track record.

The 31-year-old Dunning was a first-round pick of the Washington Nationals in the 2016 MLB Draft out of the University of Florida. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox along with Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez in 2017 for outfielder Adam Eaton and made his debut with Chicago in 2020. He made just seven appearance for Chicago before getting dealt to Texas for Lance Lynn in the offseason before the 2021 campaign.

Dunning went 5-10 for the rebuilding Rangers in 2021, pitching to a 4.51 ERA, and then he went 4-8 in 2022 with a 4.46 ERA.

He turned a corner in 2023, going 12-7 with a 3.70 ERA in 35 games (26 starts), helping the Rangers win the World Series over the Arizona Diamondbacks. In 2024, he went just 5-7 with a 5.31 ERA and he made only 12 appearances in 2025 between the Rangers and Atlanta Braves, going 0-0 with a 6.97 ERA.

He's on a minor league deal and needs to be added to the 40-man roster, which complicates things. Furthermore, he's off pitching for Team Korea in the World Baseball Classic and won't have built up steadily enough to start in Miller's place, presumably.

Now 26 years old, Hancock has played a valuable role for the M's each of the last two years, serving as an injury replacement in the starting rotation. He went 4-4 in 12 starts in 2024 and then went 4-5 in 22 appearances (16 starts) in 2025. The Mariners moved him to the bullpen at the end of the season and he made the playoff roster. It's been unclear what exactly Seattle's plan with him is for this season.

His stuff appears to play up in short outings which lends itself to a bullpen role, but there are complicating factors there (standby).

A five-year veteran of the Los Angeles Angels, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox, Criswell is now 29 years old. He's gone 8-7 with a 4.48 ERA lifetime. His most productive year was with Boston in 2024, as he went 6-5 with a 4.08 ERA in 26 appearances. 

He's looked good this spring, giving up just two earned runs in 10.1 innings. He's struck out 10 and only walked two. He is a fit as both a fill-in starter of a multi-inning reliever.

In my estimation, Criswell is the guy if Miller has to start the season on the shelf. The main reason? Criswell is out of options and Hancock has one remaining.

Therefore, Criswell can start the year in the rotation, alleviating the inflexibility in the bullpen. This would allow the team to carry Casey Legumina, who is also out of options, in the bullpen, and it would allow Hancock to make the team as a reliever. 

When Miller is ready to come back, Criswell can be moved back to the bullpen and then Hancock can freely be sent back to Triple-A to continue working as a starter.

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