George Kirby, Gregory Santos, Jonny Farmelo, Victor Robles among flurry of Mariners injury updates from GM Justin Hollander

A few big league role players hit the injured list in Tacoma, while others are trending on the mend.

Justin Hollander was a busy man Friday afternoon. The General Manager of the Seattle Mariners doled out a bevy of injury updates, positive and negative ahead of the M’s impending homestand with the Miami Marlins. I’ve broken them down as best possible here into a few sections.

New Injuries

• RHP Gregory Santos has been placed on the 15-day injured list for major leaguers, and is scheduled to have surgery on his knee to perform cartilage cleanup. As the issue had been an ongoing one the M’s were monitoring and attempting to manage while Santos was with the big league club, the injury is considered sustained during his time in MLB. Therefore, Santos is on the MLB 15-day IL, which doesn’t matter from a fan perspective but does mean Santos accrues service time and is paid at his big league rate. Teams are subject to grievances and litigation if they attempt to demote players before or during injury and then place them on the injured list in the minors, where they are paid a pittance of their big league rate and do not accrue service time, as Mariners fans may remember came up with the St. Louis Cardinals handling of Marco Gonzales prior to trading him to Seattle.
• OF Dominic Canzone, by contrast, has suffered an oblique injury in Triple-A Tacoma, albeit described as “mild soreness” in lieu of a strain. That should hopefully abate more swiftly than a serious injury, but it does keep him out of the conversation for call-ups in the event of an emergency.

Active/Imminent Rehab Assignments

• RHP Matt Brash is continuing to build out his stamina, with the Mariners keen to see their relief ace unrestricted or close to it when he makes his big league debut after his 2024 Tommy John surgery. Still, the club expects him to be cautiously used upon his activation, which Hollander noted means particularly at the beginning of his activation in 2025 his usage “will not mirror his usage in the 2023 season, where he’s pitching three out of four games or in back to backs.” Everything is nonetheless on track for Brash to rejoin the big league club in the next couple weeks.
• RHP George Kirby will throw a bullpen at T-Mobile Park today, following positive feedback from Kirby and the training staff, and if that goes well he’ll progress to live batting practice. Hollander was cautious not to speculate on a concrete time frame, but clearly they hope for Kirby to be throwing live BP during this homestand, the final precursor to an active rehab assignment.
• RHP Jackson Kowar is, like Brash, rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, and should be in Tacoma to begin rehabbing within the next week or two. The former first round pick has yet to make an appearance in Northwest Green, but has stuff the radar gun loves when healthy. He’ll likely need the full 30 days to rehab, especially as Kowar’s track record doesn’t inherently guarantee him a roster spot. Retaining a big league option, Kowar could be slotted into Tacoma’s bullpen if he’s not needed by that time.
• OF Jonny Farmelo had a brilliant first full season a year ago, albeit only half a season due to his torn ACL in Low-A Modesto. Still, he’s a Top 100 prospect by nearly all major public evaluators, and per Hollander and President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto, Farmelo looks to be 100% and should move up to High-A Everett to begin his season on Tuesday.
• RHP Trevor Gott is “on a very similar progression to Kowar,” per Hollander. The veteran righty was signed to minor league deal with the M’s this winter to finish out the rehabilitation of his own Tommy John surgery. Having pitched in the bigs serviceably in 2023 for the M’s, Gott will likely be in Tacoma to begin his rehab soon, though unlike Kowar he is not on the 40-man roster so he will likely slot into Tacoma’s bullpen regardless once healthy.
• RHP Taylor Dollard is not someone whose been discussed frequently, having last pitched since April of 2023. However, the 26 year old righty is beginning live BP at last, and Dollander reported that Dollard’s velocity is returning to pre-injury levels. At the end of 2022 and start of 2023, Dollard seemed more likely to be occupying the role Emerson Hancock is currently, as a high-floor, multi-pitch depth starter with plus command.
• RHP Teddy McGraw is the final pitcher on the docket, with the oft-operated-on righty cleared to continue hurling once more. Given the hard-throwing youngster’s extensive injury history, Hollander expects more cautious build-up all the same.

Still Mending

• OF Victor Robles has received good news, as the shoulder fracture is healing naturally. No mean feat for the sparkplug outfielder is that the key to a swifter recovery is a surgery-free healing that depends on the shoulder being kept still. If - a big if - things continue on this trend, Robles could indeed return this year, perhaps around the All-Star Break or soon afterwards.
• 2B Ryan Bliss is not so fortunate, having required surgery and now working through the rehabilitation process that realistically will likely cost him the rest of the 2025 season.
• INF Jorge Polanco is still in the lineup against right-handed pitchers most nights for the M’s in the DH spot, but has not yet been comfortable enough to swing right-handed due to a lingering oblique issue. Hollander didn’t have much concrete to offer, beyond that Polanco does report incremental improvement, and is clearly vastly more comfortable overall following his offseason knee surgery.