Injured Seattle Mariners Reliever Makes Another Rehab Appearance at Triple-A
As the Seattle Mariners seek to sneak into the playoffs over the final two weeks of the regular season, might the bullpen be ready to get a boost?
Injured reliever Gregory Santos, who has been out since the end of July with a biceps issue, completed a third rehab appearance on Friday night for Triple-A Tacoma.
The following comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:
Santos (biceps) allowed an earned run on a walk over two-thirds of an inning in Triple-A Tacoma's win over Oklahoma City on Friday. He struck out two.
ANALYSIS
Making the third appearance of his current rehab assignment, Santos was charged with a run for the first time, although it came via a double allowed by Kirby Snead after the former had exited the game. Santos threw 17 pitches overall and has made his three appearances within a span of seven days, indicating he may be ready for activation at any point.
You don't love to see that Santos walked a hitter, but you do love the two strikeouts which indicate that he still has plus stuff. That said, the most important thing is that Santos checks out healthy. Acquired last offseason to be a key leverage reliever for the M's, he's barely been on the field this season.
He has made just six appearances for the Mariners. He missed most of the first half of the season with lat issues suffered in spring training, only to come back in July and get injured again. He has an ERA of 6.75.
If he were to come back to the Mariners, he would likely slot into a lower-leverage role at this point. However, the M's could use the depth and the solid "stuff" out of the 'pen. Andres Munoz, Collin Snider and Troy Taylor have done a nice job at the back-end, but questions remain about guys like Trent Thornton, Eduard Buzardo and Austin Voth in the mid-relief roles.
The Mariners enter play on Saturday at 75-73. They are 4.5 games back of the American League West and 3.5 back of the American League wild card.
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