About a week before the MLB season started, former MLB general manager Jim Bowden asked Seattle Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto if there would a contract extension announced soon for one of the club’s homegrown starting pitchers during Bowden’s MLB Radio show.

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Dipoto said the team had had some conversations with players this spring and he was hopeful something would get done, but that it wasn’t likely.

The Mariners ended up announcing a contract extension about a week later, only it was for top prospect Colt Emerson and not one of the homegrown members of the starting rotation.

Bowden joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Tuesday to discuss the Mariners and shared which of the team’s starter he would most like to see signed to an extension.

“I want Bryan Woo signed. That’s my guy,” Bowden said.

Woo, 26, is coming off his first All-Star season and a fifth-place finish in American League Cy Young voting in 2025. The right-hander posted a 15-7 record, 2.94 ERA and 0.93 WHIP with career highs of 198 strikeouts over 186 2/3 innings pitched last year.

Entering Tuesday, Woo’s 2.86 ERA since the start of the 2024 season trailed only two-time reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal for the best mark among AL pitchers minimum 300 innings pitched.

Woo and Bryce Miller are both set to his free agency last among the quartet of homegrown starters that also includes Logan Gilbert and George Kirby. Woo and Miller are under club control through 2029, and Woo doesn’t become arbitration eligible until next season. Miller reached arbitration this year as a Super Two player, which means he’ll have four years of arbitration instead of three. Gilbert is under club control through 2027, while Kirby is through 2028.

When it comes down to it, Bowden would like to see all of the Mariners’ homegrown arms extended, though he knows that isn’t likely to happen.

“I want them all signed, right?” he said. “I love Logan Gilbert. I love George Kirby. I love this young group they have. I love the group that’s coming. Kade Anderson, I can’t wait for him to get there at some point. They’re seven deep (at starting pitcher) and one of the things I’m so excited about is last year watching Seattle, I felt like some of the starting pitching have taken a little bit of a step backwards compared to where they had been a couple of years ago.

“And then this spring, (I was) encouraged with all the reports that we were getting (that) Luis Castillo’s velo was back up, Emerson Hancock has developed a better breaking pitch. I just kept getting all these great scouting reports back for how the pitching looks.”

But if it comes down to being able to retain just one or two of the arms in rotation, Bowden has Woo at No. 1 and Gilbert next in line.

“Woo (and) Gilbert would be my first two choices for extensions,” Bowden said. “I like getting that pitching locked in. Because when you have that kind of starting pitching and defense, you become perennial contenders. And they’ve done a tremendous job in building this starting pitching, both of the major and minor league level. And then being able to keep it together long term is just so important.

“So for me, it starts with Woo.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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