James Paxton Not Expected Back For Another Month

Apr 8, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher James Paxton (65) pitches to the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY SportsThe Seattle Mariners continue to get hammered with bad news.

The Seattle Mariners continue to get hammered with bad news.

LHP James Paxton, who was removed from his second start of the season with a strained lat muscle, will miss a total of 6-8 weeks, as told by manager Lloyd McClendon on Monday and as reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

That timetable of 6-8 weeks is retroactive to the date of the injury. That means though that we shouldn’t expect Paxton to rejoin the rotation until May 20th at the earliest and possibly as late as early June. Paxton went on the DL April 9th, joining Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker, both of whom have yet to make a start for the team this season.

In his two starts this season, Paxton is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA, 13 strikeouts and only two walks. He came out of the home opener at Safeco Field having pulled a lat muscle. Fortunately for Paxton and the Mariners, it was not a tear, which would have signaled the end of his season. As it stands though with this timetable, Paxton isn’t even throwing yet.

The Mariners have been trying to cope with the myriad of pitching injuries to start the season, and now have to deal with an ice-cold offense to boot. Not only are Paxton, ‘Kuma and Walker hurt, but Blake Beavan – who was first called up from Triple-A Tacoma to fill in for Paxton – is on the DL now after his one and only start. Brandon Maurer was called up to take his spot.