Mariners right-hander not expected to be ready by Opening Day

The Mariners informed reporters on Friday, including Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, that right-hander Matt Brash has medial elbow inflammation and can start playing catch on Tuesday. He likely won’t be ready for Opening Day, but it’s still a positive development since reporting from earlier this week indicated that missing the entire season was possible.

Brash was shut down from throwing a week ago, downplaying the severity of his issues by saying he was just “banged up” and “didn’t feel great” after throwing a bullpen. As mentioned, subsequent reporting from a couple of days ago suggested Brash was at risk of missing significant time, perhaps even all of 2024.

That makes Friday’s news a welcome development for the Mariners, though the concern will likely linger until he gets back on the mound. In the short term, he’ll resume his program shortly and try to build up game readiness.

If that all goes well, it will greatly relieve the Seattle bullpen. Brash posted a 3.06 ERA last year but may have deserved even better. He struck out 34.7% of batters while posting an above-average 46.1% ground ball rate. His 9.7% walk rate was a tad high but not disastrously, with relievers around the league averaging a 9.5% clip last year. Some extra runs may have been scored thanks to a .380 batting average on balls in play and 77.2% strand rate, so his 2.26 FIP and 2.86 SIERA were even more bullish on his performance. He did all that while racking up four saves and 24 holds.

The club figures to have Andrés Muñoz in the closer’s role with Brash and Gregory Santos likely to be in setup jobs. There were recent injury concerns about both, as Santos had some discomfort near his teres major muscle. But Santos has already begun playing catch and general manager Justin Hollander suggested on Friday that things are moving positively, per Divish. If things continue to trend well for Santos and Brash, it will be a nice development for the club, especially considering how worrisome things looked before.