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Felix Hernandez Expected To Miss 4-6 Weeks Due To Lat Strain

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Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez is expected to miss four to six weeks after an MRI revealed a Grade 1 lat strain, per Corey Brock of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The injury to Hernandez comes as the Mariners were on the verge of getting left-hander Wade LeBlanc back into the rotation after a stay in the injured list. Instead, they’ll continue to operate without one member of their season-opening rotation, meaning young righty Erik Swanson could get an extended look in the rotation alongside Yusei Kikuchi, Marco Gonzales and Mike Leake. LeBlanc pitched in a rehab game in Triple-A yesterday and is seemingly close to a return.

Hernandez, 33, is off to an ugly start for the second consecutive season, having pitched to a 6.52 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 2.09 HR/9 and a 50 percent ground-ball rate. While Hernandez has improved upon last season’s strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates, he’s also been exorbitantly homer-prone so far in 2019.

A full return to form shouldn’t be expected after the struggles he’s endured and the velocity he’s lost in recent seasons, but there’s still reason to believe that Hernandez could turn the tide a bit once he returns this summer. Hernandez’s velocity is up about half mile per hour over last year, and he’s also seen improvements in his swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates. If he can manage to curtail the home run woes a bit, he could perhaps function as a back-of-the-rotation arm over the final few months of the five-year, $135.5MM contract extension he signed back in February 2013.

Mariners Place Felix Hernandez On IL, Select Parker Markel

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As part of a series of roster moves, the Mariners announced that they’ve placed right-hander Felix Hernandez on the 10-day injured list with a strained pitching shoulder and selected the contract of righty Parker Markel from Triple-A Tacoma. The team has also recalled righty Dan Altavilla from Tacoma and optioned outfielder Braden Bishop.

The severity of Hernandez’s strain is unknown, but it’s the latest sign of deteriorating durability for the longtime workhorse, once a perennial 200-inning ace who hasn’t approached that mark since 2015. Hernandez devolved into a back-end starter the next season and hasn’t rebounded yet. After recording a career-worst 5.55 ERA/5.18 FIP in 2018, he’s at 6.52 and 5.30 in those categories through 38 2/3 innings this year – which could prove to be his last with the Mariners.

Hernandez’s injury created an opening for Markel, a 28-year-old who’s finally in position to make his major league debut eight years after the Rays selected him in the 39th round of the 2010 draft. Markel stuck with the Tampa Bay organization through 2016 and then signed with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization entering the 2017 campaign, though he asked the club to terminate his contract before he ever pitched for them.

Markel returned to action stateside last year at the Double-A level, where he pitched for independent Sioux City, before signing with the Mariners in the fall. He got off to a dominant start this season across the minors’ top two levels, combining for 35 strikeouts against seven walks and giving up just one earned run in 17 1/3 innings, to earn a big league promotion.

Mariners Promote J.P. Crawford, Shed Long

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2:33pm: The move is now official. Moore was placed on the 10-day IL and righty Chasen Bradford was optioned to create roster space.

10:49am: The Mariners are promoting young infielders J.P. Crawford and Shed Long in advance of this weekend’s series against the Red Sox, per Corey Brock of The Athletic (Twitter link). Both players are on their way to Boston to join the club. The pair of promotions comes after Dee Gordon exited Thursday’s game against the Yankees after taking a fastball to the wrist. Infielder Dylan Moore, too, is being hampered by a wrist injury and had been slated to undergo testing to determine the root of the issue.

Both Crawford and Long are considered potential long-term pieces in the Seattle infield. Each arrived in the organization this winter as part of general manger Jerry Dipoto’s whirlwind of trades to “re-imagine” the roster moving forward. Crawford, the 16th pick in the 2013 draft, was long considered to be the Phillies’ shortstop of the future and for years ranked among the game’s top 20 overall prospects. However, he was the key piece acquired by Seattle in the trade that sent Jean Segura to Philadelphia, and it’s now the Mariners who hope that Crawford can lock down the shortstop position for the foreseeable future. He’s not ranked among the organization’s top prospects due to the fact that he has too much big league service time to technically be considered a prospect anymore, but the organization nevertheless views him as a vital long-term cog.

Long, meanwhile, will be making his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game and is widely considered to be one of Seattle’s best farmhands. The Mariners thought highly enough of Long to trade last season’s second-round pick, outfielder Josh Stowers, to the Yankees in a straight-up swap for him back in January — barely seven months after the draft. The Yankees had just acquired Long as part of the trade that sent Sonny Gray to Cincinnati, though the Mariners’ interest in Long predated that three-team swap. He’s played second base, third base and left field with the Mariners organization this season, though second base or left field seems to be his likeliest long-term home. Long draws praise for above-average power and speed, and he has a track record of drawing walks at a healthy clip to help offset a strikeout rate in the 22 to 23 percent range.

To this point in the season, the 24-year-old Crawford is hitting .319/.420/.457 with three homers, seven doubles, three steals and nearly as many walks (19) as strikeouts (25) through 138 plate appearances in Triple-A Tacoma. The 23-year-old Long, meanwhile, is hitting .276/.350/.504 with five homers, 10 doubles and four triples while posting 14 walks against 31 strikeouts (also in 138 plate appearances).

The arrival of both well-regarded young infielders likely signals a trip to the injured list for Gordon and/or Moore, and given how important they are to the Mariners’ future, both will probably be afforded everyday at-bats. That’ll likely cut into the playing time of Tim Beckham, although the veteran infielder’s bat has predictably cooled after a torrid start to the season. Beckham hit .410/.477/.846 through his first 10 games but has turned in just a .206/.260/.361 batting line with a 35.5 percent strikeout rate in 104 plate appearances since.

From a service-time vantage point, even if both infielders stay in the Majors from this point forth, the Mariners will control Crawford for five years beyond the 2019 campaign and control Long for six. Crawford came into the season with a year and 20 days of MLB service under his belt, but there are only 144 days remaining in the 2019 campaign, so he can’t reach the 172-day mark he’d need to cross the threshold into two full years of Major League service time. The promotion could very well put both players on track for Super Two status, which would make them both eligible for arbitration four times rather than three — Crawford beginning after the 2020 season and Long beginning after the 2021 campaign. All of that, of course, could change depending on whether either is optioned back to Tacoma.

Dee Gordon Leaves Game After Being Hit In Wrist

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Mariners second baseman Dee Gordon was hit in the right wrist by a J.A. Happ fastball during the third inning of tonight’s 3-1 loss to the Yankees, causing Gordon to be removed from the game.  Seattle manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times and MLB.com’s Greg Johns) after the game that Gordon would receive more tests on his wrist tomorrow, as initial x-rays weren’t conclusive.  Speaking to Divish, Johns, and other media after the game, Gordon said his wrist was “very sore,” and had some harsh words about Happ’s pitch location.

After a disappointing first season in Seattle that included an ill-advised position switch to center field, Gordon seemed to be back on track in 2019 after returning to his original second base position.  Gordon entered Thursday’s action hitting .304/.327/.406 through 149 plate appearances, plus 10 steals in 11 attempts.  Gordon has also already hit three home runs, a startling figure for a player who has never hit more than four long balls over an entire season.

Servais intimated that some type of roster move would need to be made before tomorrow’s game in Boston, as backup infielder Dylan Moore is also battling a wrist injury and will undergo his own set of tests.  Moore replaced Gordon on Thursday, though had to be himself removed for pinch-hitter Jay Bruce since Moore was feeling pain while swinging the bat.  The chain reaction of position switches led to Edwin Encarnacion making his first career appearance as a second baseman, and then getting an injury scare himself after Encarnacion made a diving attempt at a ground ball.

With Gordon and Moore each hurting, it stands to reason that one or both of J.P. Crawford or Shed Long could get the call from Triple-A Tacoma to fill the holes in Seattle’s infield.  Crawford already may be the choice, as Lauren Smith of the Tacoma News Tribune reported that Crawford was scratched from tonight’s Rainiers’ lineup.

Crawford would be making his Mariners debut after being the young centerpiece of the five-player trade between the M’s and Phillies last December that saw Jean Segura go to Philadelphia and Carlos Santana (temporarily) come to Seattle.  Crawford has thus far acquitted himself well in his new organization, with a .319/.420/.457 slash line through 138 Triple-A plate appearances.  Long, ranked by MLB.com as the 12th-best prospect in the Mariners’ farm system, has also been hitting well at Triple-A this season and would be making his Major League debut if a promotion is indeed in the cards.

Hunter Strickland Resumes Throwing

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  • Mariners right-hander Hunter Strickland has been cleared to resume throwing, writes Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Strickland opened the season as the closer in Seattle and picked up a pair of saves with two perfect outings in his first two appearances. He was torched for three runs in his third appearance of the season, though, and landed on the injured list due to a strained lat that’ll sideline him more than two months when all is said and done. As Divish notes, Strickland had to restart his entire throwing program, so there’s no guarantee that he’ll be ready for activation when his 60-day minimum window is met on June 5. The Mariners have tried out Anthony Swarzak in the ninth inning with Strickland on the shelf, but he’s blown three of his past four save opportunities. Lefty Roenis Elias, too, has been in the mix for saves and has thrown more effectively.

Mariners Acquire Austin Adams From Nationals

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Per a team release, the Mariners have acquired righty Austin Adams from the Nationals for lefty Nick Wells and cash considerations.

Adams, 28 tomorrow, was designated for assignment earlier in the week by Washington. He’s spent much of the last three seasons with the team’s AAA affiliate (now in Fresno), where his sky-high strikeout rates (13.88 per nine in ’17, 15.15 per nine in ’18) ranked among the league’s best. His walk rate, too, was relatively low for an extreme bat-misser, so it’s a bit odd the reliever-starved Nationals couldn’t afford to give him a longer look.

Wells, 23, is repeating High-A Modesto as a 23-year-old. He didn’t rank among the team’s top 30 prospects at Baseball America’s last update.

Seager's Looming Return Will Create Corner Infield/DH Crunch

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  • Kyle Seager tells Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times that his surgically repaired finger is back up to full strength and he feels ready to play, but the Mariners third baseman will still miss just over three more weeks by virtue of the fact that he’s on the 60-day injured list. Seager’s recovery is well ahead of schedule, and the 31-year-old figures to head out on a rehab assignment at some point between now and his May 25 return date in order to get him some in-game reps after sitting out since tearing a tendon in his finger on March 8. As Divish notes, his eventual return will create a crunch at the corner infield spots and designated hitter. Seager will join Ryon Healy as a third base option, while Healy, Daniel Vogelbach, Edwin Encarnacion and Jay Bruce are all options at first base and DH. A trade can ever be ruled out with ever-active GM Jerry Dipoto at the helm, though certainly Seager wouldn’t be the player to be moved; he’s owed $15.4MM through season’s end, plus another $19MM in 2020 and $18MM in 2021. His contract also contains a $15MM club option that is converted to a player option if he is traded. Divish suggests that Healy had previously been a candidate to be optioned to Triple-A, though he’s off to a .235/.301/.471 start (110 OPS+) with five homers and a league-leading 13 doubles in 2019.

Ichiro Suzuki To Serve As Instructor For Mariners

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Ichiro Suzuki’s role with the Mariners has expanded, as the team announced Tuesday that the future Hall of Famer will work as an instructor with the Major League and Triple-A clubs — beginning tonight.

Ichiro will have a particular focus on outfield work and baserunning, and he’ll work in conjunction with hitting coach Tim Laker as well. Per the Mariners’ release, he’ll work the majority of the team’s home games, and he’ll also continue his role as a special assistant — although he’ll now be reporting to GM Jerry Dipoto rather than chairman John Stanton.

Ichiro’s legendary career officially came to an end earlier this season when he announced his retirement as a player following the Mariners’ two-game series against the Athletics in Tokyo. The former AL Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player was a 10-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner during his career in the United States. One of the game’s all-time great hitter, Ichiro spent parts of 19 seasons in the Majors — 14 with the Mariners — and finished with a cumulative .311/.355/.402 line (on the heels of a nine-year career with Japan’s Orix Blue Wave, for whom he batted .353/.421/.522 in 4098 plate appearances).

Mariners Option Mallex Smith To Triple-A

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The Mariners announced Tuesday that they’ve optioned center fielder Mallex Smith to Triple-A Tacoma and recalled outfielder Braden Bishop in his place.

Certainly, that’s not the outcome Seattle hoped for when reacquiring Smith from the Rays as part of the offseason’s Mike Zunino swap. Smith, fresh off a .296/.367/.406 performance and controlled for another four years, was viewed as the hopeful center fielder of the future for the Mariners. That may very well be the case, but it had become increasingly difficult for the organization to look past the fleet-footed 25-year-old’s early struggles in 2019.

Smith has taken 110 plate appearances with the Mariners this year but managed only a .165/.255/.247 batting line in that time. His strikeout rate has skyrocketed from just 18 percent in 2018 to 30 percent in 2019, while his line-drive rate has fallen by nearly 10 percent as well. The drop in liners and hard-hit balls notwithstanding, Smith’s .234 average on balls in play still seems like it should bounce back, particularly given his considerable speed, but the contact issues he’s experiencing are something he’ll try to remedy in a lower-pressure environment in Tacoma.

From a service time perspective, the injury to Smith isn’t likely to change his trajectory. He entered the season with two years, 125 days of MLB service time already under his belt, meaning he need only acquire 47 days of service in 2019 to surpass the three-year mark and remain on track for free agency following the 2022 season. Smith has already acquired nearly that much service time, so he’s essentially a lock to reach three years of service time if he returns to the Majors at any point in 2019 (which seems quite likely). He’ll be arbitration-eligible in each of the next three offseasons.

With Smith in the minors for now, the Mariners can rely on Bishop in center field or slider Mitch Haniger from right field to center. In the latter scenario, Domingo Santana and Jay Bruce could man the outfield corners, with Daniel Vogelbach and Edwin Encarnacion working at first base and at designated hitter.

Orioles Claim Shawn Armstrong

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4:41pm: Per a team release, the Orioles have optioned right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz to Triple-A Norfolk to make room for Armstrong on the active roster.

1:37pm: The Orioles have claimed right-handed pitcher Shawn Armstrong off waivers from the Mariners, per Greg Johns of MLB.com. Armstrong had been designated for assignment after the Mariners promoted Justus Sheffield. Armstrong will replace catcher Jesus Sucre on the 40-man roster. Sucre was recently designated for assignment by the Orioles. Roch Kubatko of MASN adds that Armstrong, who is out of minor league options, will be placed on Baltimore’s active roster.

For the Orioles, the addition of Armstrong essentially represents a swap for pitcher Mike Wright, who was recently designated for assignment and subsequently acquired by the Mariners in a minor trade.

Though he has struggled mightily early in 2019, Armstrong’s career numbers resemble those of a serviceable relief pitcher. He has appeared in 57 career games, striking out 56 batters in 61 2/3 innings and posting a 3.65 ERA. However, he has never appeared in more than 21 games in any season since breaking into the Major Leagues with the Indians in 2015. Walks have at times been an issue for the right-hander, having walked three batters in 3 2/3 innings this season. The 28-year-old joins an Orioles bullpen that has had great difficulty suppressing the long ball early this season. Though the O’s have given plenty of pitchers opportunities to claim a bullpen role, few have been able to provide steady production. Baltimore will look for Armstrong to solidify himself as a relief option for the rebuilding club.

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