What Does Michael Saunders’ Torn Meniscus Say About The Seattle Mariners?
A few years ago the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees completed a trade involving four promising young players, two of whom were supposedly destined for superstardom. When Michael Pineda – who the Yankees acquired fresh off a terrific rookie year with hopes that he’d front their rotation for the better part of the decade to come – pulled up limp, all eyes were on Seattle. What, if anything, did they know about Pineda’s shoulder? Were there warning signs that the team saw, which then increased their willingness to ship him out?
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Michael Saunders has a torn meniscus. The new Toronto Blue Jays outfielder had been one of the team’s bigger offseason additions, acquired in a trade from the Mariners for starting pitcher J.A. Happ. Saunders is going to be out for at least five months. His season could start in August, if it starts at all. It’s a huge blow for a team that’s down to just three outfielders on the 40-man roster.
Saunders’ injury probably falls under the freak variety – he stepped on a sprinkler and tore cartilage in his left knee. But it’s hard to ignore the comments made by Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik shortly before Saunders was dealt away on December 3rd. Last we heard of Michael Saunders, Seattle Mariner was his boss throwing him and his conditioning under the bus.
Zduriencik made the curious decision to publicly blast Saunders for failing to prepare himself for the season, essentially blaming his in-season injuries on the outfielder’s crappy conditioning. This, despite Saunders having been the team’s fourth-most valuable position player, even while only playing 78 games. This, despite Saunders having finished with the same wRC+ as Kyle Seager.
Looking at the trajectory here, it’s easy to find one’s self questioning everything about this injury. Just stepped on that sprinkler, did ya? Why weren’t ya being more careful, Mike? I’ve stepped on sprinklers before but never tore my meniscus. Why couldn’t you do the same? Because of the nature of his exit from Seattle, Saunders is going to be questioned a lot in the wake of this injury. Jack Z. is probably going to be hailed as a prophet by some.
But here’s the thing: he stepped on a sprinkler and tore his meniscus. To argue that this isn’t a freak accident is to argue that Derek Holland‘s tripped-over-the-dog incident wasn’t a freak accident. This doesn’t prove a thing about Saunders’ conditioning. And it certainly doesn’t serve as any kind of Jack Z-as-psychic evidence.
Maybe Saunders doesn’t take his rehab seriously and ends up missing the season. If that happens, we’ll have to re-evaluate. But for now what we’ve got is an unfortunate injury that could just as easily have happened to Felix Hernandez. Since it happened to Michael Saunders, we all get to act suspicious. But we shouldn’t. Dude stepped on a sprinkler, and that’s all she wrote.
As far as 2015 is concerned, the Mariners are probably going to come out in the lead of the Happ-for-Saunders swap. Happ still has to provide quality innings, but Saunders has already gone the Pineda route. He’ll miss time, and maybe we’ll think less of him for it. But remember: last year Saunders hit the same as our $100 million third baseman. Remember: we panned the trade that sent him away when it was made. And remember: players are people. Get well soon, Michael Saunders. Have a great season, J.A. Happ.