Following his ninth-inning meltdown against the Red Sox Thursday, Tom Wilhelmsen is out of the closer role, and though the Mariners have said they'll take a by-committee approach to the ninth inning for now, one reliever stands out as the right choice to inherit the role full-time.
His name is Danny Farquhar. He has the stuff of a closer, racking up 50 strikeouts in 33 innings so far this season, and lately, he's had the reliability of one, allowing just two hits over 9 1/3 scoreless innings in his last five appearances. His overall ERA is still an unimpressive 5.45, but considering he has an xFIP -- which measures what ERA theoretically should be -- even lower than Craig Kimbrel's, those last five appearances could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Of course, I don't know if xFIP will enter the discussion for the Mariners. They may just play it safe with a lefty-righty platoon of Oliver Perez and Yoervis Medina. But because Farquhar stands out as the one of the three with legitimate staying power, I'm prioritizing him on the waiver wire.