Mariners’ Winker, Haggerty to Miss Wild Card Due to Injury
The Seattle Mariners will be without two of their regulars during their wild-card series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Prior to Wednesday’s regular-season finale versus the Detroit Tigers, the team placed outfielder Jesse Winker on the 10-day injured list with a neck injury, originally reported by The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish. As a corresponding move, fellow outfielder Taylor Trammell was recalled from triple-A Tacoma.
To make matters worse, the Mariners lost Sam Haggerty to a left groin injury during Monday’s contest, landing him on the 10-day IL on Tuesday. The 28-year-old injured himself on a base-stealing attempt as he slid awkwardly into second base.
Following this unfortunate incident, Abraham Toro – who delivered a walk-off in Game 1 of Tuesday’s doubleheader – was recalled and is expected to fill in for Haggerty moving forward. And his return to the majors is certainly off to a strong start.
But Toro still has more work to do at this level. In 108 games, the 25-year-old has slashed .181/.236/.322 with a 60 wRC+ across 348 plate appearances this season.
All 12 MLB franchises must submit their respective playoff rosters by 10 a.m. ET on Friday. While that bodes well for the Mariners, it won’t be enough time for Winker or Haggerty to return as both are expected to miss the entire wild-card series. The team also doesn’t expect them to be available if they advance to the ALDS.
Winker, who was acquired from the Cincinnati Reds last off-season, played 136 games during his inaugural campaign with Seattle. The 29-year-old logged 547 plate appearances, hitting .219/.344/.344 with 14 home runs, 53 RBIs and a 109 wRC+. He also finished with a 0.4 fWAR.
Defensively, the left-hander made 113 starts in left field, playing a career-high 972.0 innings. He committed four errors, three fielding and one throwing, while posting -16 DRS and -10 OAA.
Haggerty, meanwhile, set new career highs in games played (83) and plate appearances (201) in his third big-league season with the Mariners. The 28-year-old hit five home runs, 23 RBIs, .256/.335/.403 and earned a 114 wRC+. His 1.5 fWAR also set a new career best.
The 5-foot-11 defender proved versatile for Seattle during the regular season, splitting time between second base and all three outfield positions. That’s an aspect that manager Scott Servais is sure to miss in the playoffs.
In the infield, Haggerty completed 12.0 innings at second base, registering +2 DRS and breaking even in OAA. He totalled 470.0 combined innings in the outfield, finishing with +9 DRS and +5 OAA.
Moving forward without Winker and Haggerty will be a tall task for the Mariners, especially considering that Julio Rodríguez has also endured multiple injuries this season. Thankfully, though, the franchise’s bright young star is healthy heading into its opening-round matchup against the Blue Jays.
But after overcoming the longest playoff drought (20 seasons) in North American professional sports, Seattle will now attempt to conquer another tough blow as its highly-anticipated playoff run nears.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Andy Witchger. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.