Tommy John for Carson Smith today

Tough blow for the Sox pen as well as for Smith personally. The good news is that this procedure is so common place now that it's reasonable to think that he'll be able to come back from it and hopefully have the post-op success that we've seen from others. Be well Carson.

A real shame, but a recognized risk going into the deal with his mechanics. As said above, this is not unusual anymore and hopefully he comes back strong.

Bolstering the pen in some manner will occur in a couple months as necessary. If they are in contention and if this looks like a need area, then options will be readily available.

So. What did the Mariners know and when did they know it?

Maybe we'll get him back by next year for the stretch run? Sucks, but as of right now, it doesn't feel terrible because the bullpen is bending sometimes, but not breaking. Also, the offense.

PrometheusWakefield said:

So. What did the Mariners know and when did they know it?

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They may have known, as some writers did, that Smith's mechanics made him an injury risk. But that doesn't mean he was hurt when the deal was made. It just means it was a risk, one I think the Sox were smart to take on, especially since they performed a physical that, presumably, was clean.

It happens. We still get three years of control over a guy with elite talent.

Who will be the first to blame this on Farrell?

Not sure where I saw it ... Abraham or Speier or someone else ... but someone was saying that due to his injury and the way they pen has performed--particularly Tazawa and Koji (and, to a lesser extent guys like Ross) Smith didn't have much of a role this year. Obviously, he would be a huge asset if healthy, but it's not as if his injury is leaving a huge gap in the bullpen as it currently stands.

That said, I see this news not so much as putting pressure on the bullpen as it does the rotation. If our starters can't go deep into games fairly regularly, the pen is going to get overused, period. This season is going to come down to our starters.

I don't see any way to blame this on Farrell. I do think that had Ben Cherington made this deal, that people would be howling at having traded a serviceable starter for a reliever whose delivery made an injury seem almost inevitable. Not that I wasn't in favor of the deal when it was made; I was. But DD will get a pass because the team is playing well, it's early in his regime and people are hopeful and believe that he will be generally good. And it's not as if Wade Miley is as good as Nick Cafardo wants us to believe.

But Farrell, if anything, was very careful with Smith, so anyone blaming this on him is full of crap.

Ah crap. Welp, time to point out that I opined that Smith surely was just experiencing more of the same effects from his previous strain when someone suggested he might have blown it out the other day. Pass the crow. Also, this sucks, since we can't afford for anyone else to slip now, including our 41-year-old 8th inning guy. Expect a trade somewhere along the way.

And of course, this sucks much more for Smith than anyone else. Poor guy. Gonna miss the fun this year.

So the question is how proactive do you try to be. While Smith didn't have a huge role up to this point, he was one of the guys they were counting on for depth and improvement and maybe take some of that later load off of Taz and Koji.

Have to assume Pat Light or Kyle Martin get some chances before they make a trade, though I'm not sure either of those guys will be a good major league reliever. Obviously EdRod coming back may give them the ability to move someone else to the pen but not sure how that will work either.

Not surprised with his delivery, it was the 1st thing I noticed when the trade was completed in the off season. Terrible for him and the BP this year. Barnes will need to continue to improve and maybe Workman will be available to help at some point this year. Taz and Koji preservation will be an even bigger issue now. DD will add another starter or reliever at the deadline.

I wonder if Matt Barnes gets a shot. He's been a lot better in May than in April though he's still walking too many hitters. Surprisingly he has better numbers with RISP (38 PA .100/.263/.167) vs the bases empty (39 PA .314/.385/.514)... That might point to a lack of focus and execution.

Orioles traded Brian Matusz to Atlanta for two minor league prospects and the Braves DFA'd him. Up until this season he was a dependable situational lefty. Worth taking a look at?

Joe Shlabotnick said:

Orioles traded Brian Matusz to Atlanta for two minor league prospects and the Braves DFA'd him. Up until this season he was a dependable situational lefty. Worth taking a look at?

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He's been bad because he's been hurt, so he seems like an improbable short-term fix.

Should have just done this in March I guess.

Seattle probably knew something. Miley is not an AL East pitcher so it's not like we lost the trade. Sucks for this year though

Carson, we hardly knew ye.

They're going to cut off his slauson