SEATTLE — On Tuesday, the Seattle Mariners got the news that starter Robbie Ray would be out the rest of the year because the injury to his flexor tendon turned out to be worse than originally thought.
Ray was scheduled to try and comeback from the injury that has kept him out since his first (and only) start on March 31 but instead, Ray was shutdown completely the team doctors and underwent surgery to repair the tendon, thus ending his 2023 campaign.
This is a bit of a blow to the Mariners as Ray was a big part of their rotation and right now, Seattle is struggling with an 11-14 record and in fourth place in the American League West Division standings.
Hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode of the Locked On Mariners podcast discussed the injury to Ray and what it means to the Mariners’ rotation and they tried to come up with some possible trade candidates to fill his spot.
Gonzalez asked, “What does this injury mean for the Mariners going forward?” And Patnode answered, “Short term. Nothing’s changed really. Even if Ray was able to throw, and she was going to start that next week, you’re probably still looking at 3-4 weeks minimum before he’s ready to pitch in a big league game. So as far as the month or so goes, basically (it’s) what you thought it was three days ago.”
Patnode added, “What does change now is the approach to which the Mariners are going to take in filling this hole long-term which admittedly has to come from outside the organization.”
He also discussed how this may not even affect the team after this season because it looks like Ray can come back from this and be okay in 2024. Patnode said the biggest affect could be in the clubhouse because Ray looked good in Spring Training and it seemed as if he was going to have a strong 2023 then the injury happened in his first start—and the Mariners second game of the season—and that all went away.
The Mariners rotation heading into 2023 was strong. Their 1-4 was as good as anyone else’s in baseball with Luis Castillo, Ray, Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby. Marco Gonzalez and Chris Flexen are the last two guys in the rotation now with Ray out.
That’s still not a bad rotation but who could the Mariners try and get to fill the void of Robbie Ray? Both Gonzalez and Patnode agree that the Mariners would need to get someone equal in value to Ray so a guy who is a md-rotation type of pitcher so ideally a three or a strong number four.
The other issue is which teams would be willing to do a trade right now? Gonzalez stated that the really bad teams who are already on the verge of being eliminated, like the A’s, have nothing on the starting pitching front to trade anyway.
And how would the timing work? How soon could a trade happen? Patnode said the earliest he thinks a trade can occur is post Memorial Day weekend, which again, is the same timeframe he discussed at the beginning of the show when going through the timeline of what Ray’s recovery could have been before his season was called off and the surgery was booked. But he also thinks realistically, Mariners fans won’t see a trade go down until at least the All-Star break.
One team Gonzalez mentioned that could be an intriguing trade partner for the Mariners are the 7-19 White Sox. So which players do the White Sox have that the Mariners could potentially want? Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito.
Lynn is a 12-year MLB veteran who is currently 0-3 with a 7.52 ERA. Scary numbers but maybe a change of scenery can help him and playing with a better team behind him can also. He’s also only two seasons removed from his best showing as a starter. He finished third in the AL Cy Young vote and finished with a career-low 2.69 ERA in 28 starts.
Giolito’s best season was back in 2019 when he made the AL All-Star team and finished sixth in the AL Cy Young vote. He was 14-9 with a 3.41 ERA in 29 starts. He’s currently 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA in 28 innings of work.
The bottom line is, right now, the Mariners are okay when it comes to starting pitching but if they want to fill the void Robbie Ray’s injury has left in the rotation, they’re going to have go outside to do it and they’ll have to try and get it done well before the trade deadline.
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