There’s nothing the Seattle Mariners can do to reverse their recent rush of injuries. They can no sooner encase their players in bubble wrap than they can simply stop playing games. The season must go on, so all they can do is keep their eyes on the proverbial prize.
Which brings us to the only thing approximating good news: Better now than later.
Yes, Randy Arozarena and Brendan Donovan are on the injured list. And yes, Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor and Luke Raley missed games with minor injuries this past week. And yes, the bullpen is missing Matt Brash, Cooper Criswell and Carlos Vargas. And no, the team’s roster management amid all this hasn’t been perfect.
Yet even at 39-39, the Mariners would be in the playoffs as the winner of the AL West if the season was over. It’s as good a position as a team can be in during such trying times, and the timing has two distinct advantages.
The Mariners are going to find out what they really need at the trade deadline
What is happening now is a stress test for the roster that Jerry Dipoto built over the winter. Such moments are inevitable in any 162-game season, and what happens in the immediate future will almost certainly (i.e., should) determine what the team does at the August 3 trade deadline.
With Arozarena and Donovan out, there’s going to be more at-bats for Rob Refsnyder and Victor Robles to prove, once and for all, that they’re part of the solution. The two righty-hitting outfielders have thus far been part of the problem, combining to take 169 plate appearances and yielding a 39 wRC+.
Should they continue to flounder, the M’s will have the green light to pursue better options. Think Seiya Suzuki as a best-case scenario, with other potential targets including Taylor Ward, Jo Adell, Harrison Bader and Lane Thomas.
For the bullpen, Aroldis Chapman is already sitting there as an obvious target worth circling. He’ll be by far the best reliever on the market, though the pivot should be to another lefty if the Mariners can’t get him. Because in a year where lefty batters have a combined 108 wRC+ compared to a 95 wRC+ for righy batters, maximum deterrence is the best strategy.
As long as those injured players are off the IL in time for October
As bad as the lineup has it right now, the best advice we can give on the bullpen is to simply not look at who’s underneath Andrés Muñoz, Jose A. Ferrer, Gabe Speier and Eduard Bazardo. It’s not pretty.
It is nonetheless with no sarcasm that we say things could be worse. Neither Brash nor Criswell nor Vargas is done for the year. All three are expected back by the trade deadline. And in the meantime, the return to the piggyback could alleviate some of the pressure on the bullpen. The first time the Mariners used it, the bullpen basically got a built-in off day every week. Even if the result was a loss, the pattern held in the piggyback’s return on Friday.
You can at least wish for the downstream effect to be a pen full of fresh arms for October. And what the heck. Might as well apply a similar wish for the lineup.
Just as the injuries that landed Cal Raleigh and J.P. Crawford on the injured list weren’t season-ending, the same goes for the ones that put Arozarena and Donovan there. None of them is going to have a full season’s worth of wear and tear on their legs come the playoffs. Given how cold Arozarena (77 wRC+) and Crawford (61 wRC+) went last October after combining to play in 317 regular-season games, this can only be a good thing.
All of this is a blatant glass-half-full reading of the injury trouble the Mariners are going through right now. And to be sure, lurking underneath it all is a fingers-crossed assumption that said trouble won’t get worse, perhaps to a point where the club’s spot in the playoff race gets even more precarious.
But if the choice is between hope and despair, it’s ultimately a bit soon for the latter.
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