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David Phelps To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Connor Byrne | March 21, 2018 at 9:47pm CDT

Mariners right-handed reliever David Phelps suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm and will miss the season, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. He’ll need to undergo Tommy John surgery, Greg Johns of MLB.com adds (Twitter links).

Phelps suffered the injury on the final pitch of his outing last Saturday, per Johns. It’s yet another significant arm problem in Phelps’ short Mariners career, as he previously underwent season-ending surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow last September. That procedure came after a lengthy absence because of an elbow impingement. Phelps’ issues limited him to just 8 2/3 innings with Seattle last year after it acquired him from Miami in late July.

As was the case when they traded him for him in 2017, the Mariners were counting on Phelps to play a major role out of their bullpen this season. And for good reason, too, as the 31-year-old was among the majors’ premier relievers from 2016-17. Phelps made 108 appearances during that span, the third-highest total in the league, and pitched to a 2.69 ERA/3.12 FIP with 11.11 K/9, 3.97 BB/9 and a 46.4 percent groundball rate over 133 2/3 innings.

This injury comes at an especially inopportune time for Phelps, given that he’s in a contract year. He’ll make $5.5MM this season and could have put himself in line for a sizable multiyear deal in free agency next winter. Instead, he’ll head to the open market off a major surgery, and because of the 12- to 15-month recovery time that follows Tommy John surgery, it’s likely he’ll miss at least some of the 2019 campaign.

The Mariners, meanwhile, will have to go without arguably their best reliever as they attempt to break a league-worst 16-year playoff drought. Seattle still has other proven options on hand (depth chart), including closer Edwin Diaz, Juan Nicasio and Nick Vincent, yet this is certainly an enormous blow with the season just over a week away.

With Phelps no longer in the mix, it’s possible general manager Jerry Dipoto will now seek to bolster his bullpen from outside, potentially via trade (his signature route), free agency or the waiver wire (which he utilized earlier Wednesday). There are a few household names remaining on the market, including Greg Holland (he’d come at a high price and would cost the Mariners a draft pick), Chad Qualls, Jason Grilli, Joe Blanton and Huston Street. Unfortunately for the Mariners, though, anyone from that group would have a hard time approaching Phelps’ recent production.

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View Comments (44)
Post a Comment

44 Comments

  1. joshua.barron1

    7 years ago

    Wow!! Poor M’s fans. Can’t get a ****ing break

    4
    Reply
    • Slipknot37

      7 years ago

      I feel like there is always one team, whether it is spring training or the regular season that have multiple players get hurt. Unfortunately, it’s the mariners this time

      Reply
      • terry g

        7 years ago

        this time?

        5
        Reply
        • Slipknot37

          7 years ago

          Probably the wrong words to use there. Sorry if i made it confusing there. mariners are definitely having a lot of injuries so far whether it’s major like Phelps or something minor like a day to day thing.

          Reply
  2. velorum

    7 years ago

    Can we just list the Mariners as out for the season yet?

    1
    Reply
    • AsNchill

      7 years ago

      They don’t even know who is out for the season yet, that’s the really sad part. Their FO has to operate under the assumption that everyone, except for Phelps obviously, will be back at some point this season.

      2
      Reply
  3. nj

    7 years ago

    and the injuries continue to get worse…..

    Reply
  4. customcrown

    7 years ago

    I Love Seattle

    … this is bad

    Reply
  5. matthew102402

    7 years ago

    Hurts. But Phelps did only pitch 10 games for the M’s last year, and we survived without him. So it isn’t the end of the world. I expect waiver claim(s), and a trade like the Mariners did with Vincent in 2016.

    4
    Reply
  6. ericm25

    7 years ago

    that’s horrible news. why can’t thst happen to the new yuck Yankees.
    hang in the m’s things will turn around sooner than later.

    3
    Reply
    • terry g

      7 years ago

      gonna have then dreams.

      Reply
    • YankeeMan

      7 years ago

      Just worry about your sorry team

      1
      Reply
    • steveb-2

      7 years ago

      There’s always some Yankee-hater who needs to bring the Yankees into the conversation.
      Got news for you Eric- when the Yankees come to play in your town, people get excited & attendance goes up. Your ballclub wishes they’d play in Seattle even more.
      oh, and ps- enjoy Robinson Cano’s waning years at $24 million/per and full no-trade protection.

      3
      Reply
      • Stevil

        7 years ago

        I think the Mariners are grateful for Cano…and Pazos, and Gamel, and Rumbelow. Wouldn’t surprise me if the M’s acquired someone like Gallegos from the Yankees.

        Reply
  7. biasisrelitive

    7 years ago

    yikes not good for the Mariners

    Reply
  8. xabial

    7 years ago

    KO news. Sorry, M’s fans. 🙁

    On the bright side, Trade..?

    Reply
    • GareBear

      7 years ago

      Paging Dr. Dipoto, you are needed in the ER

      5
      Reply
  9. 22222pete

    7 years ago

    Paging Mr Holland.

    2
    Reply
    • matthew102402

      7 years ago

      Don’t even joke about it.

      Reply
    • BarryMackockiner

      7 years ago

      yes please

      Reply
  10. Ken M.

    7 years ago

    Never trade for a pitcher from NY.

    Reply
    • srechter

      7 years ago

      Let’s see some examples.

      Reply
    • KnicksFanCavsFan

      7 years ago

      Technically, you traded with the Marlins to acquire him.

      1
      Reply
    • xabial

      7 years ago

      Michael Pineda, but it was the other way around, with worse injury diagnosis, and happened alm. immediately following his trade. It can happen to anyone, any team.

      he’s just a troll.

      1
      Reply
    • steveb-2

      7 years ago

      Huh?
      The trade was with the Marlins.
      Phelps is from St Loo

      1
      Reply
  11. skrockij89

    7 years ago

    Could they release him and only pay a set amount since he went through arbitration? If not, I would hope Dipoto would see if he’s willing to sign for a cheap contract for the following year.

    1
    Reply
  12. Stevil

    7 years ago

    First Zych, now Phelps. They were likely going to add Lawrence to the roster to plug the hole Ramirez will leave open to start the season. Now they will likely have to find another reliever.

    They coughed up a lot to acquire Smyly, SImmons, and Phelps last season. Talk about bad luck…

    2
    Reply
  13. cuscus85

    7 years ago

    Wow. Seems like the injury bug followed DiPoto from the Angels to the Mariners. That’s tough.

    2
    Reply
  14. whereslou

    7 years ago

    The funny thing is Seattle was the last team to pitch a whole season with the same 5 pitchers it came out of spring training with. I believe it was 2006. I know Phelps is a reliever but he was supposed to be a huge part of the BP. Hopefully a few months into the season all the starters will be healthy and ready to go. Felix will be on limited innings and saved for the end of the year.

    The ALW is going to be tough but if we stay healthy we have a chance. Mikey Z has 3 HRs tonight he is looking good this spring. Gordon looks like he had played CF all his life and has a cannon. Have an injury problem for LF but they will soon be healthy. Haniger is good in RF. The IF is solid. The team is not as bad as people think.

    Reply
  15. Ichiro51

    7 years ago

    Didn’t we just improve our health and condition department?

    2
    Reply
  16. 24TheKid

    7 years ago

    They need to sign Holland if he’s willing to not be a closer. With Dipoto and Servais both in contract years the team needs to improve for their own sake, and with the way the rotation is setting up, the M’s won’t win many games without a good bullpen.

    Reply
    • Jbigz12

      7 years ago

      Holland may be alright with not closing but he’s not going to be alright with not getting closer money.

      1
      Reply
      • Stevil

        7 years ago

        Would be interesting to see if Jerry was willing to cough up a draft pick to get him. I could see him turning to a lefty instead, such as Bastardo or Abad.

        Reply
        • 24TheKid

          7 years ago

          Yeah Jerry doesn’t hasn’t seemed like the guy to give up picks so I’m not sure if adding Holland is realistic, even though he’d be a good fit.

          Reply
    • whereslou

      7 years ago

      Kid you are the one who earlier said Haniger was a bad OFer but MLB listed him the 9th best RFer in MLB. Who is right you or them? I don’t think I will take much of your advice doesn’t seem too solid.

      Reply
      • 24TheKid

        7 years ago

        What does this have to do with any thing? I never said he’s bad at hitting, and I thought this “fight” between us ended a long time ago but you keep bringing it up.

        Reply
  17. Buddy “Bud” Hull

    7 years ago

    I was thrilled when my M’s acquired David Phelps last Summer.

    I was much less than thrilled when my M’s announced David Phelps was done for the entire season this evening.

    Reply
  18. Buddy “Bud” Hull

    7 years ago

    This was certainly not the big announcement regarding David Phelps that I’ve been hoping for.

    Reply
  19. Realtexan

    7 years ago

    The battle for last place in the AL West has really heated up for this year. The M’s and the Rangers

    1
    Reply
    • whereslou

      7 years ago

      We shall see.

      Reply
  20. formerlyz

    7 years ago

    David Phelps is a gamer. He does whatever is asked of him in whatever role. Even liked him when he was a Yankee. That deal was probably the Marlins only decent trade in the last 6 or 7 years. I hope he recovers from this, and eventually gets himself paid. He deserves it. Really unfortunate timing

    1
    Reply
  21. steveb-2

    7 years ago

    Very sorry to hear about David Phelps. I really thought 2018 was going to be his year. I’ve been a big fan of his since his great Trenton Thunder days- have followed his career since..

    2
    Reply
  22. stantonismvp17

    7 years ago

    @STEVEB his year was 2016 with Miami

    Reply
  23. privy

    7 years ago

    Spring brings hope to every MLB team. However Mariner fans deep down you know this is no more than a .500 club.

    Reply

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