Mariners Reliever Casey Sadler out for season

One of the best things about Spring Training is the feeling that hope springs eternal. It feels like nothing can go wrong and the Mariners will finally make the playoffs. Even though that feeling may be true this year, there however will always be injuries in Spring Training. Unfortunately, Casey Sadler was the first Mariners player to get hurt this year, and after the year he had last year, it is very sad and disappointing to see.

To start this short Spring Training injury saga for Sadler, he had some shoulder fatigue and it didn’t seem like a big deal. It sounded like he would just miss a few weeks and then be a little behind schedule, but ultimately be able to get back in May to help the M’s bullpen. It turns out that it was much worse.

After this news of Casey Sadler being shut down, he posted a video on his social media where he thanked his fans.

As you can see at the end of the video, he says THE STREAK LIVES ON… 2023 THANK YOU FANS. Unfortunately, this was Sadler saying that he would be out for the whole 2022 season. It would later be confirmed by the Mariners and other news sources. It is uncertain what injury Sadler has, but it requires surgery on his shoulder, which is never a good sign.

After his breakout year last year, losing Sadler hurts, just like Ryan Divish said. Sadler was one of the best relievers in baseball last year, he had a 0.67 ERA in just over 40 innings. Those numbers are incredible, but those were not always the highest-leverage spots. Sadler mostly came in to pitch in the middle innings for the Mariners, and this was a luxury because the team had other late-inning options to go to. Having Sadler was a major bonus though last year because he was nails.

Unfortunately now, the Mariners will have to go through all of 2022 without their dominant middle reliever in Casey Sadler. However, they have signed Sergio Romo to presumably fill his role. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward, and how the loss of Sadler impacts the rest of the bullpen. Fortunately, the Mariners have lots of depth and should be able to absorb this loss.