Michael Saunders Has Surgery, Will Miss Less Than Two Months

Former Seattle Mariners outfielder Michael Saunders just got a bit of good news.

After starting off his Spring Training with his new club – Toronto – by tearing his meniscus while stepping on a sprinkler shagging fly balls, Saunders had surgery and is expected to miss far less time then originally expected.

Saunders was first reported to be out until at least the All-Star break, but now, according to multiple reports, Saunders could be back by mid-April.

From the Associated Press:

“We’ll see how he recovers,” Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. “The fact that he’s going to walk out of there (the operating room) today is great, and he’ll be running hopefully somewhat soon.”“Once we get him into games, then it will just be a matter of timing and how many at-bats he’s going to need,” he said.

The fact that Saunders was injured to have come as no big shock to Mariners fans. But the freak way in which it happened was extremely unfortunate.

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Saunders was traded this winter after being thrown under the bus by Mariners skipper Lloyd McClendon and general manager Jack Zduriencik for his work ethic and conditioning.

Saunders came out publicly to denounce any idea that those notions were true, but was still traded for Blue Jays left-handed starter J.A. Happ.

For the time being, whether Saunders is out until mid-April, or perhaps longer, it appears that the Mariners may have won this trade.

Stay tuned.