Seattle Mariners Provide Promising Injury News on Stellar Bullpen Member

The Seattle Mariners won't have ace reliever Matt Brash in time for Opening Day, but they could have him back soon after, according to manager Scott Servais.

The Seattle Mariners provided a mixed bag of injury updates over the weekend, with good news reported on reliever Matt Brash and less-good news reported on reliever Gregory Santos.

First, with regards to Brash, who dealt with some elbow inflammation early in camp, from MLB.com:

Brash has "picked up throwing quite a bit," manager Scott Servais said, adding that the righty "looks great." He's now reached throwing at 110 feet at max effort, with the next steps to be throwing off a mound. He will not be ready by Opening Day, but there's hope that he could return shortly after

There was fear initially that Brash could miss the entire season and then there was fear he would be out most of April, so to hear that he may be back just after Opening Day is incredible news for Seattle. With Santos shut down also, having Brash back would help give Seattle at least some of the dynamic nature of its bullpen back.

The 25-year-old Brash is one of the nastiest pitchers in all of baseball, complete with a triple-digit fastball and a wicked slider. He went 9-4 last season for Seattle with a 3.06 ERA and led baseball in appearances with 78. He made his major league debut in 2022 and made five starts before heading to Triple-A and resurfacing as a dynamite reliever.

The news was not unexpected, but not as solid on Santos, who has dealt with lat issues this spring:

At the time, he was expected to be down "probably more in weeks than days," per Mariners GM Justin Hollander, "and we will need to restart at that point.

Jerry Dipoto had originally said he expected to have Santos back in April, but that was before the latest setback and it feels like he may be out through April at this point, but we'll have to wait and see.

He was acquired this offseason from the Chicago White Sox and is supposed to pair with Brash and Andres Munoz in the back of the bullpen.

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