The Mariners today provided an update on infielder Ryan Bliss, who was placed on the 10-day injured list yesterday with a torn left biceps. Today’s announcement relays that an MRI confirmed the severity of the tear and the need for surgery, with an expected recovery timeline of four to five months.
It’s obviously a frustrating development for Bliss and the club. It’s unclear if that timeline includes an eventual rehab assignment or if it will take that long just to begin rehabbing. Either way, he will miss the majority of the campaign even in a best-case scenario and it seems possible that he won’t return in 2025 at all.
For the team, it’s the second big blow to their position player group in the past few days. Víctor Robles has a shoulder fracture and is expected to miss about three months while avoiding surgery, though that timeline could change if surgery eventually is required. Now Bliss is also going to be sidelined for multiple months.
Lack of offense was an issue for them last year and their infield was particularly concerning. Justin Turner and Jorge Polanco became free agents at season’s end, with Josh Rojas non-tendered as well. That left them with J.P. Crawford at shortstop and a few role players or unestablished young guys as candidates for the other spots. There were many offseason rumors surrounding their infield pursuits but they only made a couple of modest moves, bringing back Polanco to play third and signing Donovan Solano to chip in at the corners in a part-time/platoon role.
That left second base open for internal options, including Bliss, a nice opportunity for him. He came into 2025 with just 33 major league games under his belt but some intriguing minor league numbers. Over 2023 and 2024, he produced a combined line of .290/.378/.497 for various minor league clubs. That production led to a wRC+ of 120, indicating he was 20% above league average. He also stole 105 bases in 133 tries. The M’s acquired him from the Diamondbacks as part of the July 2023 trade that sent Paul Sewald to the desert.
Bliss hit just .200/.282/.314 to start this year but in a small sample of just ten games. He won’t be able to adjust that line any time soon. Between him and Robles, the club has to improvise a new lineup around two vacancies. Polanco is battling some knee issues and has been serving as the designated hitter lately. Luke Raley has moved from first base to right field to replace Robles, with Rowdy Tellez taking over at first, platooning with Solano. Dylan Moore, Miles Mastrobuoni and Leo Rivas figure to cover third and second base, at least until Polanco can take the field again. Cole Young is one of the top prospects in the league and could take over the keystone at some point but he is hitting .171/.292/.244 through 11 Triple-A games to start the year.
All clubs deal with injuries but it’s perhaps a little more concerning for Seattle. They didn’t have many resources available for upgrading their lineup this winter, giving them a somewhat narrow margin for error to begin the year. They have now limped out to a 5-8 start and will be without two lineup regulars for multiple months. Bliss should be moved to the 60-day IL whenever the Mariners need a roster spot.
Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images
More like misery
Nothing blissful about missing almost the entire season…
Mariners shouldve added more hitting deprh in the osffseason. I forsee a lot od ‘3 to 2’ and ‘2 to 1’ losses in the future.
I’m so used to 1-0 and 2-0 losses nowadays
Our offense hasn’t been the same ever since we couldn’t score a single run in 18 innings against the Astros
Our offense hasn’t been the same since MLB started testing for Steroids.
Yeah we had a-rod and Boone as the obvious ones and Edgar randomly got muscular in his late 30s and I would be shocked his buhner didn’t take roids
Yeah, M’s tied the MLB Wins record the year Bonds hit 73 HR. That ain’t clean haha
The Mariners win totals pre-testing: 91, 116, 93, 93. Win total after steroid suspension: 63, 68.
And, yeah, **off the record because I can’t publicly criticize Edgar**, his OPS+ went from 141 to 92 and he retired at 41. hmmm
Gar’s eyes went in the tank when he got into his late 30s, early 40s. Yet he still hit better than most of today’s hitters.
His body broke down when he got older just like most human beings but I still wonder how he became G.I. Joe and hit 37 homers in 2000
This season especially
The Mariner’s are something
Like 4-8 Already in games
Decided by 3 runs or fewer
Great pitching will
Loose alot of games
If offense cannot score
More than 1-2 runs
that sucks, he was doing good
Were we watching the same Mariners games? He K’d in about 1/3 of his AB and provided pretty much no slugging. When he came up in extras with 2 outs and a runner on 3rd it was so obvious he was going to K to end the game. That said, he was performing very well defensively, I’ll give you that.
He was 5 for his last 12 with a HR before the injury
In his last 3 games, he went 1-4, 1-2, and 1-5, which is 3-11, thus making 5-12 impossible. Maybe he was 4-12? Regardless, my point is that he was not truly doing well offensively, and a tiny sample size where he hit bad pitching well doesn’t change the small sample size of 2025, overall.
Fair enough Ma2 ….one can def look just at the numbers on the back of Ryan’s 2025 baseball card and think, “that was not exactly a hot start.” However I personally saw a lot to like from a young player who was acquired for 2.5 months of Paul Sewald! Whats that saying? You get what you pay for….
Ryan Bliss will never be Robbie Cano or Ketel Marte but his improvement on Defense and the speed he brings on the base paths gives him a decent floor to help him stay at that position… provided he continues to learn how to hit at the Major Lg Level.
I think that’s a fair take, ayrbhoy. In fact, I think I agree with all of it. It seems to me that Bliss can at least be a bench player in the MLB and that’s certainly not a bad thing, particularly given those positive qualities you mentioned. He can end up being a valuable commodity, there’s no doubt. I just think he has a ways to go.
I’m catching this late, but it’s worth noting he was on a 6-game hitting streak. He had 4 Ks on Tuesday, but that was also the day of the injury.
I have my reservations and it amazes me how Seattle has taken such a high-risk, cheap approach to addressing the infield, but I liked what I was seeing in the small sample size.
I’m sure we will see a move to the 60 day IL soon.
When a player gets so severely injured, why don’t the teams place him on the 60 day IL straight away?
Get well.
Not too sure, but my best guess it’s that they’re waiting on multiple opinions.
There is little-to-no harm in waiting out the move to the 60, but if a team does it right away after 1 serious opinion and later get 3 new opinions that it’s only minor, they could be stuck without the player even once they’re back in game shape.
“So, this is the same guy who claims he could easily strike me out?..Otta whatever could only strike me out in his dreams” – From his final resting place, the late, great Babe Ruth.
Dipoto loves trading. Maybe A’s can trade some of their middle infield depth for mariners pitching depth
The Mariners have very little pitching depth.
I wish you hadn’t said anything about it. Ignorance is bliss.
“[The Mariners chose to not] have many resources available for upgrading their lineup this winter, giving them a somewhat narrow margin for error to begin the year.”
corrected your typo
Does it really matter? It’s a wasted season anyway. The only good news about this team is bobblehead nights.
Giving up in the second week of the season? You sound like a real fan.
Been a fan 40 years… Not one league title. Wouldn’t you?
I am a Rockies fan. I still have hopes and we are in a much worse situation.
If I were that pessimistic/miserable, I’d start following a different team.
The Mariners have no depth. This will move Polanco back to 2nd and pick up a 3B….oh, that’s right, they should have done that in the offseason.
They have 3-5 infielders who could be called up this year. April depth isn’t a need. Samad Taylor or Leo Rivas are just as good as Bliss until they start bringing up Young, Williamson, Ford, Locklear, etc.
Careful being sensible. Most mariners fans can’t handle it
The Mariners will alternate between Dylan Moore and Leo Rivas at 2nd base until Cole Young is ready to be called up.
The Mariners’ current replacements—Moore, Mastrobuoni, Rivas, and a struggling Cole Young—lack Bliss’s basepath impact. It’s a small but potentially costly setback for a team already limping out to a 5–8 start with limited offensive depth.
Bliss is Ignorance
Said Russel Bliss
Not Ryan Bliss
DMo is not an everyday 2B or 3B. He’s a plugin at every position but catcher. Polanco is obviously injured. Tellez and Solano have careers to turn around, and like almost everyone else, their hitting is putrid and strikeouts are still a problem. We all knew this last season. C’mon man.
Moore was a 2.4-Win player last year with the same offensive and defensive (at every position) rates, and short-side of platoon splits (125/ 92 vL/R wRC.
He was essentially a soft-platooned mostly-everyday RHB.
Why do you think someone who’s put up better-than-average offense each of the last 3 seasons (127, 107, 105 wRC+) and strong defense at 3B and 2B in spite of mixed PT his whole career is not valuable in a 75-80%, “everyday” role (in his case, all vL starts and ~half of vR starts)?
He’s clearly a capable UT. He’s not a guy you throw into one position (unless there’s an injury, like JP Crawford) because he’s just a guy. Not even average in my eyes, stats notwithstanding.
Id say more than 4 to 5 months. I tore my bicep and after 4 to 5 months I could use it but after about 8 to 10 months for slight pinches of pain and weakness to go away. Then again I’m twice his age. . .
Trade for Vaughn Grissom