Mariners infielder Ryan Bliss recently sustained a meniscus tear in his right knee, general manager Justin Hollander tells reporters (including Tim Booth of The Seattle Times). He underwent season-ending surgery today.
Bliss is already on the 60-day injured list. Seattle’s Opening Day second baseman suffered a biceps rupture on a swing in the middle of April. He underwent surgery that came with a 4-5 month recovery timeline. Bliss had seemingly made good progress and was healthy enough to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma on August 28. He was hitting .385 over six games there before suffering the meniscus tear.
The 25-year-old Bliss had a slow start to the season. He was batting .200 with a .282 on-base percentage across 11 games. Bliss hasn’t hit much in limited big league playing time, but he had a .269/.377/.456 slash with 50 stolen bases in Tacoma a year ago. The M’s promoted more highly regarded prospect Cole Young to take over second base at the end of May. Young has been mired in a brutal slump since the All-Star Break (.174/.319/.283 in 114 plate appearances). Skipper Dan Wilson has had the 22-year-old on the bench for the past four games. Bliss might’ve been a few days away from retaking the starting second base job.
Instead, the Mariners will continue dividing the playing time primarily between Jorge Polanco and recent call-up Leo Rivas. Polanco is in the lineup every day, but the M’s are reluctant to overwork him on defense as he plays through knee soreness. He’s getting plenty of DH at-bats. The switch-hitting Rivas is in the starting lineup for the third time in four games tonight against St. Louis righty Miles Mikolas. Young remains on the active roster but is out of the lineup for the fifth consecutive game.
The M’s took the final two of a three-game set in Atlanta over the weekend. They’re 1.5 games up on the Rangers for the last Wild Card spot. The Royals and Guardians are also within three games. Seattle trails the Astros by 2.5 games in the AL West picture. They’re back home (where they’ve been far better than on the road over the past two months) for this week’s series against the Cardinals and Angels.