A couple of injured Mariners have had setbacks in their progression as they attempt to return to play: reliever Matt Brash has been shut down from throwing temporarily, while infielder Brendan Donovan remains in the concussion protocol.
Brash, who was trending towards a rehab assignment after completing a series of bullpens, is instead getting an MRI today on his injured lat. Brash felt tightness in his lat after throwing his most recent bullpen in Boston, so the team has shut him down from throwing for the time being while he gets imaging done. According to GM Justin Hollander, this has been a recurring pattern for Brash as he attempts to clear the hurdle of bullpens off a mound before graduating to throwing to live hitters and then to a rehab assignment.
“This has been a recurring theme with this specific injury,” said Hollander. “He feels good when he’s throwing on flat ground, but in the pens, it’s continued to tighten up on him as he finishes the bullpen and gets into the recovery phase.”
“He’s bounced back reasonably. Not as much as we would have hoped, which is why we’ve been in the same holding pattern where he’s throwing bullpens but hasn’t progressed to live BPs or game action because this has been a pattern over the last 10 days – two weeks, where he feels really good in between, he feels really good throwing on flat, he feels fine in the bullpen, then after the pen, it starts to tighten up a little bit. And until we can get through that, there’s just no reason to push him out there and cause more injury or have a recurrence of the same injury.”
There is no timetable currently for Brash’s return, but as he’s not even able to progress to the live BP portion of the rehab arc, having been out all season, it seems very unlikely that Brash will be able to rejoin the team before the end of the regular season. Even with the most best-case-scenario accelerated timeline, it’s hard to see Brash being available much sooner than the back half of the final homestand – and that’s assuming Brash suddenly starts bouncing back perfectly from every activity. As a reminder, results of the MRI are pending; this article will be updated with any relevant information.
Brash isn’t the only Mariner struggling to clear an injury benchmark. Infielder Brendan Donovan remains in the concussion protocol. The benchmark he’s not able to clear yet is being able to complete his pregame work without feeling symptoms of his concussion – he’ll get to the end of his pregame routine and feel effects such as nausea, fatigue, and/or dizziness. Hollander called Donovan’s progress “incremental” and “slow” and said all the team can do is continue to see if he can clear that benchmark before a return to play can be considered, at which point the team will determine whether to send him back to Tacoma for a couple of rehab games or activate him straight to the big-league team.
“Some days are better than others,” said Hollander. “The last few days, he has felt symptomatic towards all of thsoe pregames…it’s just not okay if we run him out there when he’s feeling those things until he can get all the way through them and feel 100%.”
Hollander also provided an update on Emerson Hancock, who is currently on the IL with a groin strain. Hancock will throw on Sunday, either from a mound or flat ground, at which point the team will have more information about how he’s feeling and decisions will be made about how to proceed.
There’s better news for another injured Mariners reliever: reliever Cole Wilcox will throw off a mound this weekend, and the hope is he’ll be able to throw a couple of bullpens with the goal of getting in some rehab games in Tacoma before the Triple-A season ends, and then ideally be available for the Mariners after that.
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