Seattle Mariners Manager Thrilled For Team to Be Mostly Healthy As Season Begins
SEATTLE — If you look around Major League Baseball, the league is unfortunately riddled with major injuries heading into 2025. Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuna Jr. are on the shelf for Atlanta Braves, Shane McClanahan is out for the Tampa Bay Rays and Gerrit Cole is out for the year in New York Yankees.
Fortunately, this spring, the Seattle Mariners mostly avoided the costly injury big.
They didn't go through totally unscathed. Matt Brash is still recovering from Tommy John surgery and is out until late April. Troy Taylor is also on the injured list and George Kirby is down, as well. He'll miss at least two starts due to right shoulder inflammation. But Seattle is adamant the injury isn't something to be concerned about.
The Mariners had several close calls this spring, but came out fortunate. Backup catcher/designated hitter Mitch Garver and Victor Robles were both sent for X-rays after getting hit by pitches. Those tests came back negative.
"Health is always top of the list," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said Wednesday. "And being able to keep guys on the field is essential. A couple of scares, but nothing major. I think we feel like we're in a good spot and being able to maintain that, hopefully throughout the course of the season, is important. This is a tight group and they love playing with each other. And when some's down, it throws a wrench into things a little bit. But these guys, they know how to overcome it. They know what to do to fight through it and they will. But hopefully we can keep guys healthy all the way along."
The offense was one of the biggest weaknesses for the team last season. And a large part of that was due to injuries. Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Polanco and J.P. Crawford each spent time on the injured list.
As Wilson said, preserving that health will be crucial. But for now, the Mariners' general clean bill of health should provide the team a boost to start the year.
The M's open up the season against the Athletics at 7:10 p.m. PT on Thursday at T-Mobile Park.
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