10:46AM: X-rays were negative on Rodriguez, Jerry Dipoto said during an appearance on “The Front Office Show” on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link). It doesn’t seem likely that Rodriguez will play in today’s game and the M’s will continue to monitor the outfielder’s status, but the initial test results are “a good portent for the future,” as Dipoto put it.
10:06AM: Julio Rodriguez was hit in the right hand by a pitch in last night’s 5-4 victory over the Astros, and had to eventually leave the contest in the ninth inning. The rookie superstar was hit in the top of the eighth and he felt good enough to take the field for the bottom half of the inning, though pinch-hitter Abraham Toro replaced Rodriguez for a ninth-inning plate appearance.
X-rays were scheduled for last night, and the results could be a turning point in the Mariners’ season. A serious injury could sideline Rodriguez for most or all of the remainder of the schedule — a worst-case scenario that would both severely hurt Seattle’s chances of finally ending its postseason drought, and cutting short Rodriguez’s spectacular rookie campaign.
Widely seen as the top prospect in baseball, Rodriguez has hit .271/.334/.482 with 18 homers and 21 steals over his first 401 plate appearances in the majors. Between his power, speed, and strong center field defense, Rodriguez already looks like one of the sport’s top all-around talents at age 21, and has even drawn comparisons to Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr.
Friday’s acquisition of Luis Castillo is the latest sign that the Mariners are all-in on the 2022 season, and whatever further plans president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto might have would surely be impacted by Rodriguez’s status — if even a 10-day IL trip is required, the M’s could conceivably look to add some outfield depth to fill the void. Prior to yesterday’s game, Dipoto said the Mariners were “still open to the idea of adding a bullpen arm,” but downplayed the idea of the club making another huge move.
In regards to offense specifically, Dipoto told The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other reporters that the M’s were largely counting on internal returns of injured players. “We view Mitch (Haniger) and the addition of Kyle Lewis last week as the moves that our offense needed. That being said, we’ll keep our ear to the street in the event that opportunity exists. It’s just a little tougher to see where that might be,” Dipoto said.
The M’s already gave up quite a bit of land Castillo, though with a deep farm system, Seattle has more to offer in other possible trades. In a piece written prior to the Castillo deal, Divish cited several young players either already on Seattle’s MLB roster or in their farm system and ranked them on their likelihood as trade chips. Edwin Arroyo was the highest-ranked member of Divish’s list to be dealt in the Castillo swap, with Arroyo landing in the third tier — dubbed the “it would hurt, but if it’s the right player(s) in return” division. Since Noelvi Marte was in the fourth tier, Seattle only had to move two of its top 10 young assets to land Castillo in Divish’s estimation, though obviously some of those assets (like Rodriguez or Logan Gilbert) are untouchable or all-but-untouchable.
Jarred Kelenic was once seen as a can’t-move type of prospect, and yet Divish hears from a scout that “the Mariners have made it clear they are willing to trade Kelenic to fill their immediate needs.” Kelenic has hit only .173/.256/.338 over 473 PA in his first two big league seasons, with 17 homers and 142 strikeouts in that small sample size. Even as he continues to tear up Triple-A pitching, Divish notes that Kelenic is having trouble hitting breaking pitches in the minors, and MLB pitchers have taken full advantage of his flaw. There would seemingly be some kind of sell-low aspect to moving Kelenic now, yet the 23-year-old would surely generate plenty of interest in trade talks.
Oh, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune . . .
I believe prayer is in order here.
Dipoto just said that X-Rays were negative!
“And every single breath we drew was Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”
Glad they were negative. Still a trip to the IL, however. Bummer.
@jamaicajan,, what is worse, the Mariners’ 2 big top-of-the-order hitters (with lots of power) are on the DI. This has got to have a demorizing effect on the entire team.
And as I type, the Astros are handling George Kirby easily.
Hey Fred, kirby had done alright though the two runs he gave up early came back to bite him.. Runs became tight for both teams in the end pitching did do them in.
Omg. Right when it’s all going right for the Ms something horrible happens. I hope he isn’t out for long. I feel bad for this team.
Feel bad for Kelenic. They hype has been unfair. A burden a young player should not have to carry. You never know who will pan out and who won’t. So that he may potentially be dogged as a bust is BS.
Maybe if he hadn’t shot is mouth off numerous times about how good he was and was going to be……
After not being promoted, following his rejection of a long-term contract proposal:
“I know for a fact I could have helped that team out.” – Jarred Kelenic
You’re right, Sam. Shooting off like crazy. This kid deserves everything negative that rains down upon him.
Nature of the beast. He got a $4.5mil signing bonus out of high school for the other side of that hype.
Sources on Kelenic “shooting his mouth off”???
That would be brutal if J Rod is out for the year. Seattle must get in. New postseason team, please.
Kelenic is no longer being traded. He will be in the starting lineup when the Mariners play at Yankees Stadium this week.
Mets will trade dom smith and jd Davis for kelenic
But NOT Edwin Diaz!
But no way would they trade Edwin Diaz!
Funny how the trade doesn’t look as bad for NY now.
The trade was meant to get Cano out of Seattle and it was more than worth it to send Diaz to do it. Seattle already replaced Diaz with Munoz. Who was basically free.
It really doesn’t matter how it looks because the Cano money is off the books. You really seem to be missing the entire point of that trade. Seattle wanted Cano off the books, and they saw an absolute moron running the Mets office and they took advantage.
Praying for a Julio medical miracle.
Rest assured that the Mariners tried to put Kelinic in the trade but Cincy wasn’t having any of it,
I don’t think that’s true. Kelenic has shown really good glimpses and I think our FO along with a lot of our fans would only trade him in the right circumstance. His value isn’t exactly at its peak and I would rather take a shot on him then sell him for pennies on the dollar.
Sling low? Many teams would take a shot including the Red Sox.
This would be quite an amazing turn of events if the Mariners trade Kelenic after they already moved on from Justin Dunn. Mets fans were tearing into the organization after giving up on both of them to acquire Canó and Diaz a few years ago. Sugar has turned out to be the prize of the trade, though Uncle Steve Cohen will have to open up his pocket book to sign Diaz for a few more years. He’ll probably command a record $20M AAV for a reliever.
Prediction: its a bruise.
Seattle needs some bullpen arms and Detroit has a few good ones. Kelenic was in consideration for the top pick when he was drafted. So maybe Fulmer or Chaffin with maybe Daz Cameron could make a deal happen? Maybe both bullpen arms?
Not in your wildest dreams.
Houston took out the RoY for Peña…
Dude swung at the pitch and it hit him.
Keep being bitter homey
That Diaz trade seems to have taken a complete 180 over the past year or so. Kelenic seems like he’s destined to go the Joc Pederson route. I saw some other commenter make that comparrison a while back. He’s become an average runner who can fake it in centerfield, but is probably best suited for a corner. Decent power, but strikes out way too much.
Hope J-Rod can recover quickly and get back into the M’s lineup. As a Phillies fan I want both the Mariners and the Phillies to break their postseason droughts each!
The droughts are not comparable. Not even in the slightest.
Whew, no broken bones. Need new blood in the postseason. Tired of the same tired acts.
How many times have Astros pitchers hit the M’s hitters this year? A lot of bad blood between these teams.
Houston pitchers have hit Seattle batters 15 times this year:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/split.cgi?t=p&team=HOU&year=2022
And the Julio Rodriguez injury was not on a HBP. Rodriguez struck out on that pitch.
The Los Angeles Angels are the next closest with six HBP.
Thanks for the breakdown.
Beanball game today M’s vs Stros?
No bad blood on the Houston side. They aren’t concerned with a team a dozen games behind them.
The Astros should always get the benefit of the doubt: classy organization that always does the right thing.
Hahahahaha
They actually are. They took the fall without throwing other teams under the bus, they took care of their minor leaguers before any other team, they helped an opponent get to the all star game when his team didn’t do it.
Haniger and Lewis are no where near enough. Castillo isn’t enough. We will miss the playoffs again and it will be the lack of offense that does it.
I bet you’re wrong
I’m always hesitant to trust initial X-rays on hands due to the multitude & size of bones; I hope that it’s right & J-Rod is only bruised tho.
Haniger and Lewis aren’t nearly enough. Yikes.
Yea you said just up above. Just look like 2 comments above and you will find where you posted it.
Clearly a troll. Don’t feed him anymore
When are they going to start banning pitchers for beaning players? This needs to end.
That’s never going to happen no matter how much you whine about it homey. It’s not the hill you wanna die on, I’m telling ya
Go back to the well for more. Kelenic for drury and pham
You may be joking but it wouldn’t shock me if something like that indeed did happen. We have already seen them make two blockbuster deals so may as well put together a few smaller ones too. Plus, they’ve given fans of both teams a team in the other league to root for. I know I’m pulling for the Mariners now with Castillo, Wink and Suarez in Seattle.
Edwin Arroyo is 31 years of age and had hit .300+ in all of his independent/minor league campaigns. I think it’s time to call him up or trade him already as he isn’t getting any younger.
He’s a top prospect not a 31 yr old and he just got traded for half a season of a pitcher with the most losses last year. Along with three other top prospects unfortunately
Frazier in CF. Winker in LF. Some random guy just called up in RF.
Everything is fine. We just need George to have 27 strike outs in order for us to win today. No problem
How did Kelenic look?
(I don’t have TV today).
Did he melt down again after not getting a hit?
Hey Fred, I only saw Kelenic come up once, and he was disappointing he did not get a hit. but more then that he look overmatch again the confidence is not there he’s not ready yet.
Maybe they can trade Kelenic for a Quarterback for the Seahawks.
It took Dansby Swanson years to learn how to hit a slider, so I wouldn’t be quick to give up on Kelenic. That’s a problem coaching can fix.