Mariners send another major arm to the IL but provide encouraging injury updates

Injury news is never good but losing starting pitchers is typically the worst kind. Not only are their recovery timelines often long, but starting pitchers are hard to find these days, especially ones that are willing to go deeper into games. Last year, the Mariners were able to make it to Opening Day with their rotation at full strength but it wasn't long before Robbie Ray sustained an injury in his first start, causing him to miss the entirety of the season.

This year, Bryan Woo was the one to draw the short straw. It was reported that he will start the season on the injured list due to elbow inflammation. Luckily, a subsequent MRI revealed no damage to his UCL which likely means no Tommy John and a much shorter recovery timeline. Furthermore, the Mariners are lucky to have Emerson Hancock in their back pocket so they'll have a pretty capable arm filling out the back of the rotation.

Bryan Woo joins a couple of bullpen arms on the IL to start the season

Woo joins the likes of other starters Eduardo Rodriguez and defending AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole as pitchers that will miss time, although it does seem like his injury is less severe than Cole who might end up on the 60-day IL. Mariners GM Justin Hollander stated that the injury was similar to issues he had last August that led to a two-week absence from the team. Hollander and the team are estimating the problem to last for 7-10 days before he can return to participating in throwing activities.

Sam Haggerty is also being sent to the injured list although details about the situation are hazy. Hollander simply stated that it was a non-baseball related injury. Although Haggerty was unlikely to hold down an everyday spot in the lineup, he was a cool utility piece to have on the bench, and boy does his name go well with promotional merchandise.

In other news, the two bullpen arms that were recently sidelined, Gregory Santos and Matt Brash, seem to be making good progress on returning to action. Santos is slated to have an MRI to check on his lat strain and if it comes back clean, he'll get back to his throwing program. Brash is reported as throwing at ~85% effort off the mound and remains on a positive track to return to action sooner rather than later.