Seattle Mariners injuries piling up at an alarming rate
Chris Phillips
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Seattle Mariners’ injury meter is red-lining. A 2021 season that looked promising at the outset is getting torpedoed out of contention by a rash of injuries.
You get an injury. You get another injury. And then there are still more injuries! Every day, it seems every there are more reports of Seattle Mariners players going on the injured list.
If you thought it was just the Mariners going through this, you’re wrong. The New York Mets just put their star slugger, first baseman, Pete Alonso, on the IL with a wrist injury. That’s on top of them losing a whole outfield as well as Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.
The teams hit hardest by injury gremlins are the New York Mets (17), M’s (16), Los Angeles Dodgers (13), San Diego Padres (13), Tampa Bay Rays (11), Toronto Blue Jays (11), and Pittsburg Pirates (10).
The M’s can’t even be the most injured team. At least then, there is an excuse for the team’s lack of success. Not that having the most injured players is a recognition any team wants. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal wrote an article about the increase in injuries two weeks ago. He states that injuries are up 15 percent this year. And of that number, there is a 22percent increase for pitchers.
The injury bug has attacked the face of MLB Mike Trout. Young stars Luis Robert and Fernando Tatis. Among the players are already lost for the year, such as Dustin May, James “Big Ash” Paxton, and Kirby Yates. It doesn’t matter if someone is the 26th man on the far end of the bench or a superstar; injuries pay no attention to status.
M’s on the IL
As of Friday morning, here are players Seattle has on their injury list.
Pitchers
- RP Ken Giles – 60-day
- SP Marco Gonzales – 10-day
- RP Nick Margevicius – 60
- RP Andres Munoz – 60
- SP/RP Ljay Newsome – 60
- SP James Paxton – 60
- RP Casey Sadler – 10
Position Players
- INF/ DH Ty France – 10
- 2B Shed Long Jr. – 60
- UTIL Dylan Moore – 10
- 1B Evan White – 10
- OF Jake Fraley – 10
Out of everyone on the 60-day IL, maybe Shed Long has the best chance to play this year.
Ty France going on IL as well with a wrist injury. https://t.co/w5CXwbhPOf
— Dick Fain (@dickfain) May 14, 2021
When it rains, it pours
If their situation wasn’t bad enough, the Seattle Mariners got more bad news on Friday. Someone on the team tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, four relief pitchers went on the injured list. They are righties Robert Dugger, Will Vest, Drew Steckenrider, and the only Mariners lefty in the pen, Anthony Misiewicz.
To replace them on the roster, Seattle called up infielder Eric Campbell, lefty reliever Aaron Fletcher, as well as a pair of righties to pitch out of the pen Wyatt Mills and Yohan Ramirez.
What’s really upsetting about the latest four Seattle put on the IL is that in addition to batting average, the M’s are also last in COVID vaccinations.
Related Post: Do the Right Thing – Seattle Mariners Fan Garrett Mirsky’s Story
#Mariners' Servais on COVID-19:
"It’s real, it’s out there, we're dealing with it as best as we can."
Says he hopes a few more players might jump on board and get the vaccine, "but I can only hope. I can't force anyone to do it."— Bernie Wilson (@berniewilson) May 21, 2021
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