Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Mariners Rumors

Mariners’ Matt Festa To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By | at

Mariners right-hander Matt Festa is slated to undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2020 season, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Festa was outrighted off the 40-man roster this winter but had been in camp as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.

The 26-year-old Festa has pitched a total of 30 2/3 innings of relief over the past two seasons. To this point in his relatively young career, Festa has managed a 4.70 ERA with a 25-to-14 K/BB ratio and a 36.5 percent ground-ball rate in the Majors. He’ll now have to wait at least a year to for the opportunity to add to that resume.

Although Festa lost his roster spot over the winter, his absence still depletes the Mariners’ depth a bit. Based solely on his minor league results, Festa would’ve had a decent shot at eventually reemerging in the Majors in 2020. The overall sample is pretty small — Festa was drafted in 2016 and made his MLB debut in 2018 — but the right-hander has a sub-3.00 ERA in both Double-A and Triple-A and has generally posted sharp strikeout-to-walk ratios throughout his minor league tenure. In total, Festa has tossed 209 2/3 frames in the minors and compiled a 3.18 ERA with 11.0 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9.

Quick Hits: Peralta, Brewers, Mariners, Wallace

By | at

Happy birthday to Diamondbacks right-hander Stefan Crichton, who turns seven years…er, make that 28 years old on this Leap Day.  As you might expect, there haven’t been too many big leaguers born on February 29, though the date has produced a pair of very notable figures from baseball history.  Pepper Martin (born in 1904) was a four-time All-Star who won two World Series titles as a member of the Cardinals’ legendary Gashouse Gang teams of the 1930’s.  While the World Series MVP Award wasn’t instituted until 1955, it’s safe to consider Martin a retroactive winner for his performance in the 1931 Fall Classic, as he posted a 1.330 OPS over 26 plate appearances to lead St. Louis to victory.

Al Rosen (born in 1924) was also a four-time All-Star, as well as the American League’s MVP in 1953.  Rosen hit .285/.384/.495 over ten outstanding seasons with the Indians in a career cut short by injuries, though he got to the Show in time to earn a ring with the 1948 Tribe, the last Cleveland team to win a World Series.  After his playing career was over, Rosen served as the president/CEO of the Yankees (winning another Series in 1978), then president/general manager of the Astros (1980-85) and Giants (1985-92).

More from around baseball as we hit the last February 29 until 2024…

  • Freddy Peralta’s representatives “weren’t too happy” with the right-hander’s decision to sign a five-year extension with the Brewers, Peralta told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters.  Peralta is guaranteed $15.5MM over the next five seasons, plus as much as $14.5MM more if club options for 2025 and 2026 are both exercised.  The contract gives the Brewers a lot of control over a pitcher who only has slightly more than one year of service time to his name, and Peralta said his agents at Rep 1 Baseball “didn’t really want to take it.  At the end of the day, I know they wanted to wait a little longer.”  Still, Peralta was focused on locking in a life-changing amount of money, calling the contract “something I’ve been working for my whole life….It was a chance to help my family, to help myself, and be in a position where I can play relaxed.  My family can be a little more happy and relaxed.  It definitely changes my mind going into every season, knowing that I have a little bit of security.”
  • While Peralta could be leaving a lot of potential money on the table if he blossoms into a reliable pitcher, taking the extension could ultimately prove to be a wise choice considering that Peralta isn’t yet proven at the big league level.  These types of early-career extensions involve “a risk tolerance for both sides,” Brewers GM David Stearns told Haudricourt and company, and “in this case, there was a clear desire from the player and a clear desire from the club” to get a deal done.  Rather than specify a a specific starting or relieving job for Peralta, Stearns indicated “we think he could potentially have success in both roles, and as the game continues to evolve, as the use of pitching continues to evolve, there are probably going to be a whole bunch of pitchers who are asked to do both.  And it wouldn’t shock me if Freddy is one of those guys.“
  • The Mariners won’t use a set closer this season “unless somebody jumps up and grabs the position,” manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).  Barring a breakout performance from one of the many save candidates, the M’s will instead rotate between the likes of Yoshihisa Hirano, Carl Edwards Jr., Matt Magill, Dan Altavilla, Sam Tuivailala, and perhaps others in ninth-inning situations.
  • Special assistant Dave Wallace and the Braves have “mutually agreed to part ways” after three seasons, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets.  This was Wallace’s second stint in Atlanta’s organization, after working as a minor league pitching coordinator from 2010-13.  The 72-year-old Wallace is known for his many years as a pitching coach with five different teams, most recently working with Orioles pitchers from 2014-16.

8 AL West Pitchers Looking For Bounce-Back Years

By | at

Our preseason series exploring potential bounce-back candidates for 2020 began with a look at several AL West hitters hoping to rebound. Let’s stay in the division and focus on a group of talented pitchers who want to put disappointing seasons behind them…

Corey Kluber, RHP, Rangers: Kluber was the Rangers’ highest-profile offseason pickup and someone who’s now near the front of a revamped rotation, but the Indians decided the 33-year-old was expendable in the wake of a truncated 2019. In a limited number of innings (35 2/3), Kluber came nowhere near his two-time Cy Young form, notching a 5.80 ERA/4.06 FIP, and didn’t pitch past May 1 as a result of a broken forearm. Kluber did strike out almost 10 batters per nine when he was healthy enough to take the mound, but he offset that with some of the worst walk (3.79 BB/9), groundball (40 percent) and average fastball velocity (91.6 mph) marks of his career. With the Rangers holding an $18MM option or a $1MM buyout over him for 2021, this is an especially pivotal season for Kluber.

Jose Leclerc, RHP, Rangers: Leclerc was an absolute force during a breakout 2018, but his run prevention numbers took noticeable steps backward because of control problems. He lost his job as the Rangers’ closer at one point early in the year and wound up with a 4.33 ERA and 5.11 BB/9 in 68 2/3 innings. However, the 26-year-old did get a lot better after a terrible May, and he also concluded with 13.11 K/9 and a career-high 96.8 mph average fastball velocity (1.5 mph better than he recorded during his dream ’18).

Andrew Heaney, LHP, Angels: Considering their lack of high-end pitching additions in the offseason, it’s particularly important for the the Angels to get a healthy and better version of Heaney in 2020. Injuries victimized Heaney last year, holding him to 95 1/3 innings of 4.91 ERA/4.63 FIP ball. He also struggled to induce grounders (33.6 percent), which helped lead to an 18.3 percent home run-to-fly ball rate. But Heaney did log 11.14 K/9 against 2.83 BB/9 with a personal-best average fastball velocity (92.5 mph) and a career-high swinging-strike rate (14.1 percent).

Lou Trivino, RHP, Athletics: Trivino had an outstanding rookie year from the A’s bullpen in 2018, but with the clear exception of his 97 mph-plus velocity, just about everything went downhill last season. Fewer strikeouts and more walks meant far more runs against, with Trivino’s ERA/FIP shooting from the twos and threes to 5.25/4.53 over 60 frames during a year that ended early because of rib issues. And Trivino wasn’t as lucky as he was a rookie, as his batting average on balls in play and strand rate each went the wrong way. On a more encouraging note, the 28-year-old did rank near the top of the majors in a few notable Statcast categories, including average exit velocity against (85.5 mph).

Joakim Soria, RHP, Athletics: Soria was another A’s reliever who may not have produced as the team hoped he would have in 2019. The A’s signed Soria to a two-year, $15MM deal in December 2018 after a terrific season between the White Sox and Brewers, but for the most part, he couldn’t match what he did then. That’s not to say Soria was bad – he still posted a 4.30 ERA/3.62 FIP with 10.3 K/9 and 2.61 BB/9, and his mean fastball velocity remained in the 93 mph range. Also, as with Trivino, Soria was something of a Statcast favorite, mostly earning good marks in that area.

Yusei Kikuchi, LHP, Mariners: On the heels of an excellent tenure in his homeland of Japan, Kikuchi was a high-profile signing for the Mariners entering the 2019 campaign. They guaranteed Kikuchi $56MM on a contract that could max out at $109MM, but Year 1 of the deal probably didn’t go to the Mariners’ liking. In his first season in the majors, the 28-year-old recorded a 5.46 ERA/5.71 FIP – both among the worst in the game – across 161 2/3 innings. He relied primarily on a fastball-slider-curve mix, but all three of those offerings ranked among the least effective of their kind, per FanGraphs. Kikuchi did walk fewer than three hitters per nine, though his K/9 (6.46) placed sixth from the bottom out of 75 pitchers who accumulated at least 150 innings.

Carl Edwards Jr., RHP, Mariners: It wasn’t long ago that Edwards was a key component of the Cubs’ bullpen. As recently as 2018, he put up a 2.60 ERA/2.93 FIP with 11.6 K/9 across 52 innings, though that stellar production did come in spite of a 5.54 BB/9 and a lowly 28.9 percent groundball rate. Edwards found a way to dodge home runs then, as he gave them up on just 3.8 percent of the many fly balls he allowed, but he wasn’t able to do so during an abbreviated, shoulder injury-plagued 2019 in the majors. Edwards only totaled 17 innings between the Cubs and Padres (his other 17 2/3 frames came in Triple-A ball), and he gave up HRs 15 percent of the time en route to an abysmal 8.47 ERA/5.74 FIP. His control got worse along the way, as he surrendered almost seven walks per nine, and so did his strikeout rate. Edwards fanned a little over 10 hitters per nine, but his strikeout percentage fell almost six points from the prior year, while his swinging-strike rate dropped nearly 4 percent. Still, for $950K, you can’t fault the Mariners for rolling the dice.

Yoshihisa Hirano, RHP, Mariners: Hirano’s another low-cost bullpen flier for the Mariners, whom they inked for $1.6MM last month. No doubt, they’re hoping they get a version of Hirano closer to 2018 than ’19. The former Diamondback recorded a 2.44 ERA/3.69 FIP in his first year in the majors, but those numbers rose to 4.75 and 4.04, respectively, last season. Hirano also generated fewer ground balls, gave up more home runs and issued more walks, though he did see his K percentage go up almost 4 percent, finishing with 10.36 per nine. Like the Edwards signing, there’s little to no harm from the M’s perspective in taking a chance on a rebound.

Pitcher Notes: Twins, Wacha, Mariners, A’s

By | at

Veteran right-hander Jhoulys Chacin had to settle for a minor league contract with the Twins at the outset of the month, but he may be impressing the club enough to end up on its season-opening roster. Manager Rocco Baldelli said (via the Star Tribune) that Chacin has “done everything he can to this point to put himself in position to eventually win a spot.” As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored earlier this week, the 32-year-old Chacin is one of a few candidates in the running. Lefty Lewis Thorpe is also in the mix, but he tweeted Tuesday: “I’ve left camp for a week or 2 for personal matters. I’m healthy and excited for this year. I’ll be back shortly.” Baldelli wasn’t willing to divulge why Thorpe’s taking a leave of absence. However, he noted that the Twins do believe Thorpe will return “at some point during camp, [but I] can’t tell you when that’s going to be” (via Dawn Klemish of MLB.com).

  • The Mets reportedly aren’t sure how the No. 5 spot in their rotation will look this year, but righty Michael Wacha made a strong case for the job Tuesday, as Mike Puma of the New York Post writes. Wacha’s fastball ranged from 94 to 96 mph during his outing. “They told me I am a starter, so that is what I am here for,” Wacha said. The former Cardinal, 28, has worked almost exclusively as a starter to this point, but he did yo-yo between St. Louis’ rotation and bullpen during a rough 2019 campaign. The Mets then added Wacha for a $3MM guarantee in free agency, and he’s now competing against lefty Steven Matz for the last place in their starting staff.
  • Mariners righty Kendall Graveman has made good progress in his recovery from July 2018 Tommy John surgery, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times details. Graveman was with Oakland when he underwent the procedure, but he hooked on with the Cubs as a free agent for 2019 and didn’t end up pitching for the club. Now healthy, the 29-year-old Graveman – whom the Mariners signed for $2MM in November – figures to begin 2020 in the M’s rotation. It has been quite some time since Graveman turned in a full, effective season; at his best, he totaled 186 innings of 4.11 ERA/4.39 FIP ball with a 5.23 K/9, 2.27 BB/9 and a 52.1 percent groundball rate in 2016.
  • Athletics righty Daulton Jefferies is dealing with a biceps strain and will undergo an MRI later this week, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. However, manager Bob Melvin suggested it’s not an especially serious injury. The 24-year-old Jefferies, who originally joined the Athletics as the 37th overall pick in 2016,  was a standout in Double-A ball last season. In his first experience at the level, he posted a 3.66 ERA/3.19 FIP with 10.13 K/9 and 0.98 BB/9 in 64 innings.

7 AL West Hitters Looking For Bounce-Back Years

By | at

As the season draws closer, we’ll be examining several prominent players around the majors who are hoping for bounce-back years. Let’s start with a group of well-known American League West position players whose numbers dipped dramatically in 2019…

Justin Upton, LF, Angels: The 32-year-old Upton has been terrific for the majority of his career (otherwise, the Angels wouldn’t have given him a five-year, $106MM guarantee after 2017), but last season was a nightmare. A foot injury kept Upton out until June, and his season ended prematurely in September on account of a right knee issue. When Upton was healthy enough to take the field, he batted a disappointing .215/.309/.416 with 12 home runs and a career-worst 30.5 percent strikeout rate (5 percent worse than his lifetime mark). Compared to 2018, his fly ball percentage and launch angle went way up, but his average exit velocity dropped almost 4 mph, and his hard-hit rate plummeted. The banged-up Upton was even worse in left field, where he accounted for minus-13 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-5.2 Ultimate Zone Rating. Upton recently told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he’s healthy and aiming for a rebound. The Angels will likely need one from him if they’re going to break a five-year playoff drought; if they get one, Upton should form a lethal offensive quartet with Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani.

Andrelton Simmons, SS, Angels: Like his teammate Upton, Simmons missed a significant number of games last year because of injury issues. Ankle troubles limited Simmons to 103 games, his fewest since 2012, and his effectiveness at the plate waned compared to the prior couple years. While Simmons has never been an offensive force, the defensive maven’s slightly above-average work with the bat from 2017-18 helped him combine for 10.4 fWAR in that span. Simmons only put up a .264/.309/.364 line in 424 PA last year, though he did continue to avoid strikeouts (8.7 percent), and his wizardry in the field helped him to a respectable 1.7 fWAR. However, he still finished near the bottom of the majors in several key offensive Statcast categories. For instance, Simmons’ xwOBA (.265) ranked in the bottom 2 percent of the league and fell 59 points from 2018. The ankle may have been holding Simmons back, but regardless, a return to form in 2020 would aid the Angels and the pending free agent’s bank account.

Khris Davis, DH, Athletics: Yet another injury case from 2019, Davis’ normally elite power was sapped during a season in which he fought hip, oblique and hand problems. After three straight 40-home run seasons (and four in a row in which he hit .247), he finished with a .220/.293/.387 line and 23 HRs over 533 PA. His ISO sunk like a stone, going from .302 in 2018 to .166 last year, and his hard contact went way down in the process. The 32-year-old has already been slowed by a calf injury early in camp, but indications are that it’s minor. Oakland will need that to be the case, especially considering the commitment the low-budget club made to Davis before last season. It still owes him $16.75MM on a two-year, $33.5MM contract that hasn’t worked out for the team so far.

Stephen Piscotty, RF, Athletics: The missed time theme continues. Piscotty’s 2019 ailments ranged from frightening (a melanoma on his right ear) to more conventional (knee and ankle injuries). The 29-year-old made just 93 appearances as a result, and he didn’t produce like the big-hitting, 3.0-fWAR player he was in 2018 when he did play. Piscotty hit .249/.309/.412 with 13 homers and 0.6 fWAR in 393 PA, though his hard-hit percentage and average exit velocity both increased. There may be hope for return to his career-best output, then, but Piscotty will first have to get over yet another health issue. He’s dealing with an oblique/rib cage injury that could jeopardize his status for Opening Day.

Mitch Haniger, RF, Mariners: Haniger was quietly great in 2018, but his playing time and his numbers sagged last season. He sat out 99 games after suffering a ruptured testicle at the beginning of June, didn’t play again after that and still hasn’t returned to health. Haniger just underwent his second surgery in the past few weeks – a microdiscectomy on his back – leaving it up in the air when he’ll debut in 2020. The 29-year-old is the Mariners’ best player, though, and if they can get a healthy version back sometime in 2020, he’s as logical a bounce-back candidate as anyone.

Mallex Smith, OF, Mariners: Smith looked like a quality pickup for the Mariners when they acquired him from the Rays after the 2018 campaign. At that point, the speedster was coming off a 3.5-fWAR, 40-steal showing in Tampa Bay. Smith amassed even more stolen bases in is first year in Seattle (46), but the rest of his stats tanked. The 26-year-old hit a weak .227/.300/.335 in 566 trips to the plate, while his defensive output was similarly poor (minus-12 DRS, minus-9.5 UZR).  The combination of subpar offense and defense led to a replacement-level fWAR for Smith, who also fell victim to a massive decline in batting average on balls in play. He logged an inflated .366 BABIP in ’18 and a .302 mark in that category last season, which partially explains the drastic difference in year-to-year production.

Rougned Odor, 2B, Rangers: If you’re a Rangers fan (or even part of the organization), you may be tired of Odor’s inconsistency. He has been a 2.0-plus-fWAR player three times in his career, most recently in 2018, but a replacement-level or worse performer twice. That includes last season – even though Odor walloped 30 homers, he was only able to slash .205/.283/.439 in 581 tries. Along the way, the left-handed Odor posted his worst strikeout percentage (30.6) and was eaten alive by righty pitchers, who held him to a dismal .190/.260/.417 line. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Odor was much better in the second half of the season, ending the year with a flourish after general manager Jon Daniels expressed frustration with his production in late August. The Rangers still owe Odor $36MM through 2022, making it all the more important for the club to receive at least passable production from him.

Red Sox Claim Phillips Valdez Off Waivers, Place Pedroia On 60-Day IL

By | at

The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Phillips Valdez off waivers from the Mariners, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Dustin Pedroia was placed on the 60-day injured list.

Valdez, 28, had been designated for assignment on Friday following the Mariners’ claim of Taylor Williams, another right-handed reliever. He debuted with Texas last year and was claimed off waivers by Seattle in November, but was unable to stay on the roster for the entirety of the offseason. In his brief Major League stint last year, he tossed 16 innings of 3.94-ERA ball, striking out 18 batters. He was deployed exclusively as a reliever after spending the majority of his minor-league career as a starter. We’ll have to wait and see how the Red Sox view his future role, but evidently they like Valdez enough to give him a shot with the team.

Pedroia’s placement on the 60-day IL isn’t reflective of any new developments in his recovery from left knee complications: after suffering a “significant setback” this winter, Pedroia targeted late May or June as the most optimistic date for his return to the field, meaning that those first 60 days were always out of the question. And with Pedroia having only appeared in nine games over the last two seasons, Boston surely hasn’t been planning around a sizable contribution from the former MVP.

Mariners Sign Rymer Liriano

By | at

The Mariners have signed outfielder Rymer Liriano to a minor-league contract with an invitation to MLB spring training, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (via Twitter). The club has since confirmed the agreement.

Liriano hasn’t reached the majors since a brief stint with the 2017 White Sox. Between that time in Chicago and some work with the 2014 Padres, he has compiled 167 MLB plate appearances with a .220/.293/.287 slash (66 wRC+).

He spent 2019 with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse, where he hit .209/.346/.403 with ten home runs in 247 plate appearances. Still just 28 years old, Liriano came up as a center field prospect in the San Diego system but was used exclusively in the corners last season. He’ll presumably vie for a spot in an uncertain Seattle corner outfield mix this spring.

AL Notes: McKay, Gordon, Astros

By | at

Rays left-hander Brendan McKay has been dealing with shoulder stiffness early in camp, Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times writes. McKay’s “fine,” though, according to manager Kevin Cash. He long tossed from 120 feet Friday, and the hope is that he’ll throw his first bullpen session of the spring in the next couple days. If healthy, the 24-year-old figures to rack up at least some starts for the Rays this season. McKay totaled 13 appearances and 11 starts last season, when he pitched to a 5.14 ERA/4.03 FIP in 49 innings. He – like his organization as a whole – is an unconventional player, as someone who’s also capable of hitting. Two-way McKay batted a respectable .239/.346/.493 with five home runs in 78 Triple-A plate appearances last season. He only garnered 11 trips to the plate during his first MLB campaign, though.

  • The pricey Dee Gordon has seemingly become superfluous to a Seattle team that doesn’t figure to contend this season, the last guaranteed year of his contract. The Mariners are planning to start Shed Long, not Gordon, at second baseman. However, although Gordon and Long are friends, the veteran’s not ready to give up his position, as Greg Johns of MLB.com relays. “I’m the best player in the locker room,” Gordon said. “I’m the best player when I walk on the field. Y’all ain’t seen it. I’ve been hurt. I’ll just get ready and you’ll see something fun.” Injuries did limit Gordon to 117 games last season, but it has been a couple years since the speedster has been productive. He turned in a 60-steal, 3.6-fWAR campaign in 2017 – his final season as a Marlin – but has combined for 52 stolen bases and 0.5 fWAR over 1,009 plate appearances as a Mariner. In an ideal world, they’d probably like to get his $14.5MM guarantee off the books, but they haven’t been able to do it on the heels of back-to-back replacement-level seasons for Gordon.
  • The Astros’ pitching depth has taken a couple blows. The team shut down right-hander Rogelio Armenteros on account of soreness in his elbow and shoulder, and it has also shut down fellow righty Riley Ferrell because of shoulder soreness, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The 25-year-old Armenteros threw 18 innings in the majors last season; he spent most of the year at the Triple-A level, where he pitched to a 4.80 ERA/5.08 FIP with 9.07 K/9 and 3.31 BB/9 over 84 1/3 innings. Arm injuries are nothing new for Ferrell, who dealt with biceps tendinitis last season and didn’t pitch much as a result. Miami took him from Houston in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft, but the Marlins returned him to the Astros last June.

Mariners Claim Taylor Williams, Designate Phillips Valdez

By | at

The Mariners have claimed reliever Taylor Williams off waivers from the Brewers, per a club announcement. The Seattle org designated fellow 28-year-old righty Phillips Valdez to create roster space.

Williams, who recently lost his spot in the Milwaukee bullpen mix, seemed like a possible waiver target. While the hard-throwing righty hasn’t yet entrenched himself in a MLB relief unit, he turned in 54 innings of 2.83 ERA ball at the Triple-A level last year. He racked up 9.5 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 while carrying a strong 54.0% groundball rate.

As for Valdez, he was claimed earlier in the winter but didn’t last long in camp before losing his roster spot. If he clears waivers, he’ll presumably remain on hand as a non-roster player. Valdez debuted in the majors last year, recording 16 innings of 3.94 ERA ball, but spent most of the year as a swingman at Triple-A. He worked to a 4.92 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, and a 51.6% groundball rate in 78 2/3 innings of action in the PCL.

Latest On Mitch Haniger’s Injury

By | at

Mitch Haniger has undergone two surgeries in the past several weeks — core surgery and a microdiscectomy — and while there’s no clear timetable on his return to the diamond, the Mariners’ right fielder offered some additional context on his injury today while speaking to reporters. MLB.com’s Greg Johns tweets that Haniger can’t do any lifting or much activity at all for the first month following the microdiscectomy on his back. Haniger fully expects to play in 2020, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, but he’s limited to walking as his only means of exercise at the moment.

Suffice it to say, that’s not a great outlook and doesn’t bode well for a return in the early portion of the 2020 season. After that initial month has elapsed, Haniger will surely need to build up some strength before returning to full baseball activities, and he will of course need an eventual minor league rehab assignment to get up to game speed.

The level of escalation in Haniger’s injury troubles has been stark. The 29-year-old (28 at the time) sustained a ruptured testicle when he fouled a ball into himself last June. That alone is gruesome enough, but Haniger revealed today that he tore the adductor muscle attachment last summer while rehabbing that injury (Twitter link via Divish). That issue went undiagnosed, leading to the herniated disc in his back and the microdiscectomy that is now limiting him to a walking regimen. (Haniger also provided Divish with a more … colorful? … description of the injury, courtesy of his surgeon.)

That sequence of events — particularly the lack of diagnosis on the adductor issue — will surely be a frustrating revelation for Mariners fans, but Haniger explained today that he felt healthy all offseason long and only incurred a setback upon resuming baseball activities.

With Haniger on the shelf for an indeterminate period of time, the Mariners will have themselves something of a competition in right field. Jake Fraley, Braden Bishop, waiver claim Jose Siri and non-roster invitee Carlos Gonzalez will all be in the mix for playing time alongside projected left fielder Kyle Lewis and center fielder Mallex Smith.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top