Mariners recall relievers Matt Carasiti, Mike Wright from Tacoma as bullpen shuffle continues

Jerry Dipoto keeps shuffling the deck in the Mariners bullpen.

Sunday, Seattle recalled two right-handed relievers — Matt Carasiti and Mike Wright — from Class AAA Tacoma. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Mariners designated lefty Jesse Biddle for assignment and transferred Chasen Bradford from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list with what Seattle manager Scott Servais described as a “UCL-related” injury that might or might not require surgery. Right-handed reliever Gerson Bautista also was optioned to Tacoma.

The Mariners have used 33 pitchers so far this season, the most in the major leagues. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, then, that Servais still is getting to know his new relievers.

“I don’t know a ton about him. I’ve heard his name,” Servais said of Carasiti, who signed a minor-league deal June 7 after being released by the Cubs. “I think he’s only had four or five outings for us down in Triple-A, but he’s got a little big-league experience. We’ll find out quickly. These guys will get a chance to pitch.

“Mike Wright’s been throwing the ball pretty well. Mike made some pretty good adjustments when he was with us before, where he was getting banged around a little bit. But his results have been better, so we’ll use him in a couple different roles.”

In four outings with Tacoma this season, the 27-year-old Carasiti secured a pair of saves and posted a 3.18 ERA in 5 2/3 innings. He previously went 1-1 with a 2.67 ERA in 16 games with the AAA Iowa Cubs. Wright, meanwhile, went 0-1 with a 2.66 ERA over 20 1/3 innings in six games (four starts) for the Rainiers. In his first stint with Seattle in May, the 6-foot-6 righty struggled, posting a 9.00 ERA in 11 innings over seven appearances.

Likewise, the 24-year-old Bautista also has struggled, allowing eight earned runs over seven innings (10.29 ERA) in seven appearances.

“We decided that Gerson Bautista would go back,” Servais said. “I met with him yesterday after the game. (It’s) just the command of his pitches. Certainly, the fastball command is huge for him. We like his stuff, but he’s still a young guy. There’s things to work on.”

That’s also true of Biddle (and just about everybody else in the Mariners’ bullpen). Since being acquired from the Braves on May 20, Biddle allowed 12 earned runs and 20 hits in 11 innings, running up a 9.82 ERA.

That marks a disappointing decline for the 6-5 lefty, who posted a 3.11 ERA in 60 appearances with the Braves last season.

“With Jesse Biddle, we took a shot,” Servais said. “Jesse’s coming off actually having a decent year in the big leagues. Just the command, the consistency of him doing it … if he does clear waivers, he might come back to us and go to Tacoma.

“He’s left-handed. He does have a good arm. Those tools are all there. But it’s the do-good league. You do good, you stay. If you struggle a little bit, we’ve got to shuffle the deck a little bit in the bullpen.”