Mariners just can’t catch a break as J.P. Crawford suffers injury

Monday night might have been a new low this season for the Seattle Mariners, encapsulated by J.P. Crawford’s pinky fracture.

In light of recent events, it seems almost surreal to consider the Seattle Mariners were leading the AL West by 10.0 games just five weeks ago. Unfortunately though, along with a 44-31 record back in mid-June, there is now a very real fear this will prove to be the high point of the 2024 season.

Since beating the Cleveland Guardians 8-5 on the road in that series’ first game, it’s all gone terribly wrong for the Mariners. They’ve lost nine of 10 series, including three they had no business losing, to the Miami Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels.

Following Sunday’s series finale versus the Houston Astros, Ty France was placed on outright waivers. Our sense was that in many ways, his offensive struggles encapsulates the overall problems for a lineup which has severely underperformed this year.

Julio Rodríguez seemingly managed to avoid a serious injury to his ankle, after crashing into the wall on Sunday afternoon against the Astros. However, he was out of the lineup for Monday night’s series opener versus the Angels, and a trip to the Injured List has still not been completely ruled out.

J.P. suffers an injury

On this subject, there is one player who we can confirm IS headed to the Injured List – J.P. Crawford. In another example of how the Mariners are seemingly getting no luck right now, he suffered a hairline fracture to his pinky in the bottom of the first on Monday night, after being hit on the hand by a pitch.

At the time of writing there is still no timeline on when Crawford will be back, but the Mariners are going to have to make do without him for the time being regardless. In reality though even before his injury — like France — he was enduring the worst offensive season of his Major League career.

With no Crawford, France or Rodríguez on the field, the Mariners lineup respectfully doesn’t exactly inspire fans. And so it proved, as they only managed one run on Monday night, on the way to a late collapse and a 3-1 loss to the Angels.

Harsh or not, the Mariners offense has been listless most of the season, with them ranked last in the Majors in batting average and on course for the most strikeouts in league history. Most importantly of all they have scored the third-fewest runs, thus wasting a pitching staff which has the lowest ERA in the league prior to Tuesday’s slate of games.

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Will the Mariners make a move at the trade deadline?

Despite this, there is a growing speculation that the Mariners front office is now going to hold back on trying to add a substantial bat prior to the July 30 trade deadline. That’s what happens when you have a team which has now gone 9-18 in their past 27 games.

If true, we believe this is the wrong approach; as per the aforementioned Major League-low team ERA, the Mariners need to take advantage of one of the very best pitching staffs and bring in more offensive help. Consider that 15 of the 18 losses in these last 27 games have been by three or less runs – 15.

What’s really telling about this free fall is manager Scott Servais’ demeanour. Renowned for usually being positive and having his players’ backs, he sounded like a defeated man during Monday night’s postgame press conference.

A crestfallen Servais speaks

It was almost unnerving, but also a major reality check for the ball club, to hear Servais’ words. He said:

“No other way to put it. That was brutal. … No way to sugarcoat it, just handed them a ballgame tonight. In a situation we’re in, every game is really important. You know, so disappointed.”

Certainly, Servais knows it’s crunch time and the players need to step up, before it truly is too late. He said:

“It depends on where you want to be 60 games from now. Do you want to be playing playoff baseball, or do you want to be driving home? Sixty games. We talk about it being a marathon. It’s getting to be close to a sprint. Not quite there yet, but getting close.”

In an attempt to find some positives, let’s consider a couple of things. First, the Mariners are still in a virtual tie with the Houston Astros, and have a 6-4 record head-to-head with three games remaining against their main rivals.

Second, the Mariners have two games left in this series versus the lowly Angels and then a three-game set against the Chicago White Sox, who easily have the worst record in the Majors. In other words, the Mariners can still get this train back on track.

If so, it might just convince the front office to find that bat or two, which can then galvanize the lineup. If however, the Mariners stink up the joint in their next five games, then it really will be tough to see them recovering what at one time was an extremely promising season.

The Mariners are still in this thing, but the losing form of the past five weeks has them in a precarious position. Do you see them making any major additions prior to the trade deadline, or is this now not an option? Let us know in the comments section below.