12:35pm: The Mariners announced that Paxton and Fraley have both been placed on the 10-day injured list. Paxton has been diagnosed with a left forearm strain, while the MRI confirmed a hamstring strain for Fraley. The Mariners recalled outfielder Braden Bishop and righty Ljay Newsome from their alternate training site to take their spots on the roster.
8:22am: James Paxton returned to the Mariners’ rotation last night after two years in the Bronx, but his start was cut short by another forearm injury, as he exited after just 1 1/3 innings. Outfielder Jake Fraley, meanwhile, left the game with what the team later announced as a hamstring strain after making a diving catch in left field. Both players will undergo an MRI this morning, manager Scott Servais told reporters after the game (via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).
Paxton’s 2020 season with the Yankees was cut short by a forearm strain, so it’s obviously a concerning development for him to suffer this type of injury — particularly so early in the season. The lefty did tell Divish and others that the pain he’s feeling in his arm isn’t at the same level as it was when he sustained that injury last summer.
The Mariners brought Paxton back to the organization on a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal over the winter. The 32-year-old had interest from several teams, as one would expect based on his track record of success, but he seemingly preferred to return to Seattle. Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto noted at the time of the signing that Paxton had been sharp in workouts for MLB teams and gave the club something of a “hometown discount.”
The reunion looked to be going well in Spring Training, where Paxton struck out half of the 34 batters he faced and allowed just one run during Cactus League play. For the time being, he struck an optimistic tone that the current issue could be muscular in nature and something from which he can quickly return.
As for Fraley, the 25-year-old is out to an unusual start to his 2021 season. He’s just 1-for-10 through five games, but he’s drawn eight walks and been hit by a pitch, leading to a bizarre .100/.500/.200 batting line through his first 19 plate appearances. Acquired from the Rays as part of the Mike Zunino trade, Fraley hasn’t hit much in two prior stints with the Mariners in 2019-20, but he only tallied 70 plate appearances during that time. He’s a career .286/.362/.480 hitter in the minors — including a .276/.333/.553 showing in 38 Triple-A games.
For the moment, however, it seems that an IL stint could be on the horizon, which will have the baseball world watching intently. The most straightforward move for the M’s would simply be to recall Braden Bishop from their alternate site, as he’s on the 40-man roster already, but Seattle also has top prospect Jarred Kelenic on the cusp of his first big league promotion as well.
Kelenic’s service time status was thrust into the national spotlight when now-former CEO Kevin Mather blatantly indicated in a Q&A with the Bellevue Rotary Club that the 21-year-old Kelenic had turned down an extension offer and wouldn’t be called to the Majors until mid-April (the general point at which the Mariners would gain an extra year of control over Kelenic). Kelenic missed some time in Spring Training with a minor knee injury, but he returned to the lineup and immediately went 3-for-6 with a double and a homer in two games before being reassigned to minor league camp, so the injury looks to be behind him.
It still seems likelier that the Mariners will turn to Bishop for the time being, as calling up Kelenic now would still give him enough time to accrue a full year of Major League service in 2021. That would no longer be the case as soon as next weekend, however.
Turning back to the pitching staff, the Mariners were already using a six-man rotation, so it’s likely they’ll simply shorten up to five starters for the time being and carry an extra reliever. The bullpen had to cover 7 2/3 innings last night and took a beating at the hands of the White Sox in the process, so Seattle would probably prefer to get a fresh arm into the relief mix anyhow.
It’s at least worth noting that as with the Fraley/Kelenic situation, the Mariners have a highly regarded pitching prospect who is near MLB readiness: 2018 first-rounder Logan Gilbert. While this comment didn’t draw as much attention as the Kelenic revelation, Mather indicated in that same interview that he expected Gilbert to be pitching in the Majors by mid-April (obviously, an allusion to his service time). Gilbert, however, only tossed a pair of innings in Spring Training before being reassigned to minor league camp, so he may not yet be built up to the point where he’s an option even in the event that Paxton is shelved for a notable period of time. If the Mariners want to stick with a six-man rotation and Paxton does miss some time, they could give a few starts to Ljay Newsome and/or Nick Margevicius. Before too long, however, Gilbert seems likely to emerge as an option at the big league level.
Luc (Soto 3rd best in the game)
Sad to see Paxton get hurt
terry g
I thought Paxton would at least get a couple starts under his belt before going down to injury.
Bishop should get the call but that doesn’t mean he will.
BuddyBoy
He really shouldn’t but logic clearly isn’t in your thought process
bob9988 2
Actually he should. Kelenic is down in Arizona and hasn’t played in weeks now. he would need to get ramped up into game form first, same for Gilbert. Bishop is at the alternate training site, which also happens to be in Seattle, and should be the one called on. Though both Kelenic and Gilbert should be sent to the alt training site now to get stretched out.
Chanes8CWU
Kelenic is more prepared to play for the Mariners RIGHT NOW than Fraley/Bishop.
marinersblue96
And what makes you say that? His 21 games of AA ball? Have you watched him play? How does he adjust to what MLB pitchers find holes in his swing, and they will.. Can he play multiple outfield positions such as Bishop or Fraley?
BenjiB24
Kelenic couldn’t possibly be any worse than Bishop. Kelenic is better right off the couch cold then Bishop is no matter how ready he is
True2theBluePNW
Kelenic would also have to go through the covid protocols and quarantine process before hed be allowed to join the team.
CalcetinesBlancos
Pitchers who stay healthy are so undervalued in my opinion.
jdgoat
That’s why Tanner Roark got 12 million lmao
Captain-Judge99
@jdgoat- c’mon if it’s between Roark or Kluber for $12 million you definitely got to give it to Roark right? lol.
hyraxwithaflamethrower
Joking aside, durability makes a good pitcher like Lance Lynn more valuable and even an average one, like Quintana, desirable. It won’t trump massive talent / upside, but it seems a lot of GMs are taking some significant risks with players who have serious injuries. It sucks to see Paxton get hurt, but at some point, some of the blame falls to the FO for making a risky signing.
92jays
Calcentines it’s so true. What’s the point of having expensive talent if you can’t keep it on the field
CalcetinesBlancos
92jays27:
Signing anyone for big money who is always hurt is idiotic, but short of that I can see how it gets complicated. For the regular season, you’d probably be better off having five solid #3 type healthy starting pitchers than let’s say 2 great starters and 3 scrubs, because single games are less important and you’re just hoping to win enough to make the playoffs. Actually for the regular season, if I’m a GM I want my back end of the rotation to be a bunch of healthy workhorse types even if they aren’t the best pitchers, just so that you aren’t giving away games.
In the playoffs, you can go pretty damn far if you have 2-3 badass starting pitchers, so a lot of your regular season roster stuff kind of goes out the window. I’m sure a lot of time goes into trying to balance all these factors.
SonnySteele
Travis d’Arnaud was hurt all the time with the Mets but hardly at all since he left.
Yankee Clipper
Calcetines: Paxton is concerning. He supposedly had his best offseason and came in feeling better than he ever had. Man, how smart does Cashman look now with his choice now, right? Especially if Kluber and Tallion stay healthy, ya know?
StudWinfield
Talk about “what if” when it comes to injuries. Paxton put up some tremendous outings in 2019 but couldn’t go a month without something coming up. I wish him luck but it appears his health won’t let him keep his mechanics consistent for any appreciable stretch of time.
Ducky Buckin Fent
Paxton can sling it.
Maddening that he just can’t seem to take the ball every 5…mmmm, 6 days.
But when he’s on he is as good as any pitcher in MLB.
I think at this point in his career, he needs to be treated like Rich Hill. Get 100 or so regular season innings out of him & hopefully get a couple postseason starts too. Asking this guy to shoulder a regular workload is misusing him & probably just simply not possible.
Captain-Judge99
@Ducky Buckin Fent- when you got these pitchers like Paxton, it definitely makes sense to have a 6th man rotation. How many times has the Big Maple ever pitched over 150 innings? Twice. Yeah your right though, when he’s on, he’s definitely on. Glad Pax is gone though. Great power arm that can’t ever stay healthy for a whole season. The Yankees were wise to let him leave.
Ducky Buckin Fent
He’s really talented so it’s unfortunate to see this. He’s definitely not a workhorse or whatever. But really not many guys are anymore, anyway.
I was mildly in favor of bringing him back, just because he *is* a really good pitcher. But I’m typically a pretty crappy GM to be honest.
Yankee Clipper
I’ll tell you man, for as often as Cash is beat up he looks like a genius with these moves. If our two acquisitions stay healthy, he greatly improved our rotation v if he brought back James (Hound dog) Paxton.
ShootyBabbit
To steal an old line from the Onion, “James Paxton signs 3 year deal with disabled list”
Captain-Judge99
Even signing a injured Big Maple would of showed the Blue Jay loyal that they we’re going for it this season. Smh. Yes a great offense with no starting pitching will definitely be a problem trying to win the AL East this season. The Jays will be the 3rd best team in Florida this season, hopefully they stay there where they belong.
Dustyslambchops23
Can’t wait for that mute button!
Captain-Judge99
@Dustyslambchops23- Okay NOT signing Bauer and NOT trading for Castillo has definitely earned him an extension for sure. Gotcha. I thought the Jays had all this money to spend? That’s all great for their die hard fans out there. Smh
stymeedone
Gee, do you complain about him not trading for Mike Trout, or Kershaw, too?! Guess the Dodgers GM only half satisfies you, as he didn’t trade for Castillo! Every other GM failed in your requirements too.
Captain-Judge99
@stymeedone- that wasn’t my point at all. If the Blue Jays got all this money, wouldn’t it of made sense to throw $40 million on Bauer so they could of at least competed in the AL East? They have the trade pieces for Castillo also. So why didn’t they trade for him? Obviously it would of likely included Pearson and Groshans and others. Sounds pretty worth it to me, right?
stymeedone
My point is no one was able to trade for Castillo. If you want to complain he should have traded for someone who actually was traded, I can sorta understand that. If you think he should have traded for Musgrove, who actually was traded, that would be a better complaint. 29 other GMs and owners thought Bauer’s price was ridiculous. Much easier to find fault with the one who paid him.
StudWinfield
So spending $50 million on 1 season of Bauer (cuz he wasn’t signing with TOR under any other circumstance) or trading the farm for Castillo (when he’s not available) all while you have one guy on your entire staff (Ryu) who’s not a question mark, that’s going to earn you a 5 year extension?
What going to justify that extension is acquiring premium talent when your affordable core is competitive enough. If you had ’92 Roger Clemens right now you still have no idea what the rest of the staff is going to do.
Captain-Judge99
@stymeedone- The Yankees should make an offer for Castillo, since the Jays don’t want to. Everyone is available at a price. It would be a high price. Deivi or Schmidty, Luis Gil, Alexander Vizcaino, Anthony Volpe, Michael Tauchman, Thairo Estrada and Al Abreu for Luis Castillo and Nick Senzel. The Reds get 3 future starters. A future closer or set-up man in Abreu. Luis Gil could either start or close. Tauchman and Estrada can play now, and Volpe would be their shortstop for the future. Deivi could start for Cincy immediately. They Reds strike gold with this type of package, and the Yankees get a #2 behind Cole.
wu tang killa beez
Should Paxton be moved to the bullpen ?
Captain-Judge99
@wu tang kills been- Sounds like Paxton should be moved to the 60 day IL.
martevious
As long as he pitches less than 1.1 innings!
bigdaddyhacks
I’ve said this for years. Dude needs to become a closer and he’d be untouchable.
Captain-Judge99
@bigdaddyhacks- the dude probably would even get hurt closing. Paxton great arm, but is also a great risk.
Hawktattoo
Would be risking injury everytime coming out of bullpen walking to mound.
DarkSide830
probably at this point
LordD99
Hopefully nothing serious with Paxton and it’s just an early season tightness, but forearm strains are often precursors to TJS.
Tom1968
And you mets fans wanted him too..as i should remind you that you mets fans wanted brandon Phillips and Michael bourne too..and both were out of baseball the next yr after signingf.a. contracts. ..glad you guys arent the g.m.
top jimmy
Paxton is made of glass.
stymeedone
So much so, that Samuel L Jackson will play him in the movie.
prov356
Nice reference to an obscure movie.
24TheKid
Not exactly obscure, the movie got a couple of sequels that did pretty well.
24TheKid
Actually you’re probably right. I looked the movie up to see how it did in the box office and it described it as a cult classic.
prov356
I didn’t know there was a sequel but now I’m intrigued.
DarkSide830
yeah wouldnt call it obscure
prov356
Even a simple benign comment has to be met with disagreement and criticism.
Deleted_User
LOL
martevious
Wow! I expected it to happen, just not less than 2 innings into his season!
Ronk325
Sad to see Paxton hurt again. Hopefully he doesn’t need TJ because that will likely be the end of him as a SP
NY_Yankee
I do not know who is worse when it comes to injuries: Paxton, Rich Hill or Carl Pavano. What I really dislike about Paxton is his excuses: Last year he blamed the virus on his injury ( conveniently ignoring the fact that without the virus he would have started the season on the injured list).
StudWinfield
@NY_Yankee did he actually say that? Or was he simply acknowledging that having a cyst removed from your spine and having to recover during a pandemic poses unique challenges for a professional athlete? If memory serves I remember Paxton going out of his way to attribute his struggles to execution and not injury even though everyone and thier mother knew what the deal probably was.
YankeesBleacherCreature
I think comparing Paxton to Carl Pavano is a bit unfair. The latter lacked integrity when he failed to disclose injuries sustained during a car accident. He had no motivation to return to the mound. Paxton has been pretty forthright the many times he addressed the media regarding his recovery during his NY tenure.
LordD99
That’s a complete misrepresentation or poor understanding on your part. He lost three miles off his fastball last year coming off of back surgery.
thesaint959
Never compare Paxton to Pavano. Yes, both are injury prone but that is where the similarity ends. We at least got 1 very good year out of Paxson who has ace-type stuff when healthy. Pavano is a bum. He stole 40 million dollars from us and gave us nothing. He literally went on the DL with a bruised ass. Can you imagine being paid 10 million dollars a year and telling your team your tushy hurts?
oneiblnd
Paxton = fragile
Sadler
I think the radar gun was probably the worst thing that ever could have happened to baseball.
Though Statcast is giving it a run for its money.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Speed tracking is fundamental to baseball so I dont understand where you’re coming from.
Sadler
The increased rate of pitching injuries is directly related to the increased velocity of pitches. The increased velocity of pitches is directly related to the ability to measure the velocity.
I guess I’m just being generally resentful of technology in sports and how the overall quality of the product continually decreases as the use of technology increases.
24TheKid
I kind of agree with the velocity thing. I think the game was better when Aroldis Chapman was one of the few guys throwing 100, which made it cool when your team got to face him even though he was going to mow them down. Now that every team has multiple pitchers who throw near 100, there’s nothing special about it. But that’s just from a fans perspective, for the teams it’s been extremely helpful.
Cisco206
I think you guys at MLBTR need to let it go with the Kevin Mather thing. Is he an idiot? Absolutely. But let’s not pretend that every other club in the sport doesn’t think the same thing in regards to service time. They’re just smart enough not to say it. As a Mariners fan, it gets a little old when literally every single post that has to do with the Mariners somehow relates back to Kevin Mather and Jared Kelenic. I think it’s a disservice to the other 99% of the Mariners organization that isn’t named Kevin Mather or Jared Kelenic. Let it go. You guys sound like a scorned woman.
LordD99
It’s also not clear that Kelenic is even ready for promotion. If anything, it appears the Mariners were trying to buy favor with Kelenic by promising him an early promotion to the Majors before he was ready if he signed a contract that had the potential to vastly underpay him if he’s as good as promised. That’s a very different situation. Service-time manipulation exists, although teams view is as service-time maximization, and it’s basically allowed. The MLBPA should address this in the next CBA. The fact they haven’t in prior ones is on them.
Cisco206
They handled the entire situation wrong, you’re absolutely right. But you’re also right that we don’t even know if he’s ready. My gut says he is, but at the same time I’m sick of everyone saying “it’s not his fault there were no minor leagues last year.” It’s no ones fault. It just is what it is. But the fact remains that he has literally less than 100 PA in Double A. You can’t ignore that as an organization.
Hawktattoo
Amen!
Tony Carbone
This is not the first time this organization has been wholly inappropriate, just a couple of years ago it was dipoto and servais.
What the mather thing reveals is an organization that doesn’t really care about its own people.
We swept that under the rug, or let it go in your words, and now here we are again.
Sweep it under the rug again? Gonna need a bigger rug, and wait until another episode comes up…then we can sweep that under the rug too.
It is a cancer. Period.
Cisco206
I’m not even going to say I disagree with the idea that the Mariners are poorly ran. I’ve lived in Seattle my whole life, arguing that would be stupid. It’s one of the worst ran organizations in the world. But my original point was that I don’t believe every Mariners related story should reference Kevin Mather. I stand by that.
Ol' Voodoo
James “the Big Balsa’ Paxton
24TheKid
So the actual reason they won’t call up Kelenic to replace Fraley is missing. Bishop is on the 40 man and in Seattle, he can play as soon as they need him. Kelenic is Arizona, needs to be added to the 40 man and would be out a few days while he goes through testing. And calling up Kelenic now to replace an injured player after they’ve said he’s not ready would actually be questionable unlike the decision to keep him down.
mike156
Service time manipulation is both a legitimate issue, and something the teams have the authority to do. It doesn’t mean they should in every case, but it’s certainly something to be discussed in collective bargaining. I have less of a problem with very young players as I do with those first coming up in their mid twenties. That extra year for a 25 year old can really hurt earnings potential.
YankeesBleacherCreature
And reform the arbitration process while they’re at it.
mike156
Agreed on arbitration. The whole salary system seems completely upside-down at points.
CravenMoorehead
Big Maple clearly trying to get the Yankees to trade for him again with another IL stint
mlbfan
I’m wondering why the catcher wasn’t able to detect that Paxton following through with some pain in the previous pitch.
The Baseball Fan
Sucks for M’s fans. Hope they recover soon