Mariners GM Justin Hollander provides health updates ahead of big May homestand
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – While the Seattle Mariners continue to try and get their offense clicking, the ballclub still has some pieces of the team trying to get back to full health that could help them in multiple areas. Mostly bullpen relief is what the Mariners should get back when the team gets these players back from rehabbing injuries suffered this season, but there are a group of players that are a bit of a surprise, whether it be that their outcome is positive or negative. Seattle general manager Justin Hollander met with local media ahead of the team's game on Monday, May 22nd against the Oakland Athletics to provide updates on players that are dealing with injury/have been given a notable change in their status.
Seattle Mariners pitcher Easton McGee in his lone outing of the season, against the Toronto Blue Jays (Photo by Jon Blacker/AP)
Easton won’t have it easy
The legend of Easton McGee (sarcasm) took a sad turn following his impressive start on April 29th in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Before the ballclub brought up starter Bryce Miller, the team got starts out of Tommy Milone and Chris Flexen after Robbie Ray’s season ended. One of those starts was also taken by Easton McGee, who was acquired from the Boston Red Sox for cash considerations. McGee delivered far more than anybody could’ve expected, especially considering that it was against this Blue Jays team, allowing just one hit over six and two thirds' innings pitched. He went down with an injury nearly immediately following that, and we now know the severity of that injury, which leads us to believe we won’t see him anytime soon.
“McGee, he’s going to see Dr. Meisner again, it’s likely going to result in Tommy John surgery for him. What they are seeing is that the instability in his UCL is causing the flexor to not heal properly. So no matter how much you do under rehab for the flexors, UCL ligament seems to be causing a problem so again don’t know for sure, but likely headed for Tommy John, I’ll get you an update when we can, when he’s when you guys go see Dr. Meisner, but that seems likely.”
Dylan Moore throughout the 2022 season (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Moore making progress
Super utility man Dylan Moore hit a snag in the offseason and really hasn’t been able to catch a break, but the tide seems to be turning for DMO as of recently. The infielder/outfielder and everything else has played three games for the teams High-A affiliate Everett Aquasox, posting decent numbers, but obviously the big concern for Moore is getting through these games without setbacks. Perhaps a next step in his road back to the big-league club, which will cause some roster shuffling, Moore will be sent out on an assignment with the team's AAA affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers. Moore’s versatility will be happily welcomed back, but the roster moves that corresponds with it will be interesting to follow.
“Obviously you guys have seen him around here. He’s here today, he’s gonna transition his rehab to Tacoma tomorrow, when they pick back up. Hopefully sometime on this homestand he will be back and ready to go. Try to be cognizant of the idea that he has not had a spring training at all. It’s a little unique in that, right? He’s had no build up from the winter for roughly to go. He will tell us roughly and how comfortable he feels day to day. But right now, seems to be doing well and we hope to be active on this homestand.”
Andres Munoz in his outing against the Cleveland Guardians on Opening day (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Munoz and Murfee in similar situation
Perhaps the two names that could provide the biggest impact immediately amongst these injury updates are those of relievers Andres Munoz and Penn Murfee. Two players out of the bullpen that were huge for Seattle this past season, losing them to injury has hurt the Mariners in a few ways and has seen them use Matt Brash heavily. While Brash has largely shown good numbers, some fans only seem to note the bad outings he has, which is tough considering how heavily he’s been used since Murfee and Munoz have gone down to injury. Getting these two back, let alone one of them, will be a big boost to the team and will make the pitching staff even better.
“Munoz, I think the update was he had gotten the PRP, he feels great coming off the PRP. He is progressing toward what we hope is an activation sometime on the next road trip. This is as optimistic as he has felt as he’s ramped up the run and as good as he’s felt each time through. So hopefully we are progressing towards an activation sometime on the road trip. I believe he’s throwing a touch and feel bullpen today. And that will lead into progressively more significant throwing off the mound and facing hitters. And then rehab assignment. Again, with the hope sometime on the next road trip of an activation Penn Murfee’s kind of in the same spot. He had a PRP last week, he’s about on the same timeline as Muni. Obviously, it has been less downtime for Penn. Once he gets on a mound, it will be faster, the buildup, for Penn. Again, hope is to activate him sometime on this upcoming road trip.”
Penn Murfee in his Spring Training outing against the Oakland Athletics (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Nothing new on Robbie
There was no update of any sort of substance on starting pitcher Robbie Ray, who is in the recovery process from Tommy John Surgery he had to undergo following his first and only start of the 2023 season. It was a big blow in the moment for Seattle, and even though his one and only start didn’t go well, the Mariners lose a ton of innings that Ray was going to eat up. While it did clear the way for us to see the young Bryce Miller really start to come into his own after failing to make the opening day roster, it sucks to have Ray out due to injury on multiple levels, whether it be him personally, burning a year of his contract, amongst other things.
“There’s nothing new. He’ll head to Arizona on the 26th. It’ll be a long time before we have like substantive updates beyond that. Just wanted to give you a heads up, he is heading to Arizona on the 26th. For those that were in Detroit, you guys have seen it more recently than I have. So there’s that.”
Robbie Ray in his July 9th, 2022 outing against the Toronto Blue Jays (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Back in the Sadle(r) again?
Someone who’s been on the shelf for a bit is Casey Sadler, and we finally have some sort of idea when we may see him return to playing with the Mariners. After an incredible 2021 season that saw him record a 0.67 ERA over 42 games and 40.1 innings pitched, Sadler has been dealing with injuries since. Seattle has been able to find some diamonds in the rough to complete their bullpen over the past two years, but if they’re able to get any sort of version of Sadler similar to that 2021 season, they’ll be getting a huge boost in the form of another reliever. It needs to be remembered that bullpens are volatile and can change often, but the Mariners and pitching coach Pete Woodworth have been able to get the most out of their hurlers.
“Sadler has been cleared to begin a throwing program. Again, we’re actually cautiously optimistic, given the progress he’s made with the PT up here. If it goes well, we’re thinking roughly I get very early on but all-star break type of readiness for him right now. He has made a lot of progress since we shot him back down. He’s feeling better, and we’re hopeful that he will do that and be able to avoid a second surgical procedure.”
Casey Sadler (Photo by Steph Chambers)
Worry surrounding White
Things continue to go against gold-glove winning first baseman Evan White. Since his 2020 season that saw him display power at the plate and obviously win the aforementioned gold glove, White hasn’t been able to stay on the diamond long enough to properly display what he can do and get back on the roster. After he closed last season out with the Tacoma Rainiers and came into Spring Training healthy, many were talking as if he was just going to return to form and take the starting first baseman job from Ty France, which was a foolish thought in its own right. White couldn’t get through Spring Training cleanly, and now he’s dealing with another big setback that will take months, not weeks.
“Evan had surgery today in New York with Dr. Kelly, the surgery and I’m just gonna read this so I don’t botch it; The surgery released the tendon that was impinging his joint and also cleaned up significant scar tissue in and around the hip area. We anticipate him coming to Arizona at the end of next week. Then we’ll need to see how he responds to the rehab in order to map out a timeline for return. It will obviously be a lengthy rehab process. I don’t think he’s four weeks away from rehab, I’d say three months minimum for him to be back out on a baseball field in some sort of rehab type activity, baseball activities type thing. They do feel like the surgery helped by releasing detected and cleaning out what they deem significant scar tissue around the hip.”
Evan White in action against Cleveland on May 13, 2021 (Photo by Steph Chambers)