Jessie Hahn’s valiant effort in extras is rewarded with an expected DFA.
Announced today were another series of moves to shuffle both the strapped Seattle Mariners bullpen and an injury to an early mainstay. 2B Ryan Bliss was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left biceps tear, likely to sideline him for months, if not the season. In his place is INF Leo Rivas, who debuted with the M’s in 2024 after a decade in the minors and has long been a slap-hitting speedster with strong glovework. Additionally, Seattle selected the contract of veteran swingman RHP Casey Lawrence, fleshing out the depth behind spot starter Luis F. Castillo this afternoon. That came at the expense of RHP Jessie Hahn, whose yeoman work in extra innings yesterday yielded just a few weak bits of contact but nonetheless the ultimate loss for a depleted M’s pen.
Bliss’s injury is bad for the M’s, who’ve already struggled in finding production up the middle this year. While Bliss has been inconsistent with the bat, his glovework has been strong on the whole, if adventurous at times.
Per Bliss, the injury likely occurred in his first at-bat, after he swung through a Framber Valdez curveball for a strikeout. “I took [that swing] and something didn’t feel right.” However, testing done at the time didn’t show anything immediate. “Something felt a little weird, so did some tests, then hit a couple balls the inning after, hit the double, it felt fine after that, like I could still play. I was able to make the defensive plays. By that last inning, it was feeling a little tight, but I felt like I could still rock.”
If he was playing through pain, it didn’t show: Bliss’s double that narrowly missed being a home run was one of the few M’s extra-base hits on the night. He also had a reactive snag that kept the M’s knotted in extras with the Astros.
“It’s a really tough break for Ryan,” said Dan Wilson. “I think it shows a lot of heart—he played most of the game with it yesterday—it shows you a lot about what’s inside of him, the character that he has. It’s a tough break. But Ryan has such a great attitude, and he’s ready to get after it, get back and get healthy, and that’s a great attitude to start with.”
Biceps tears typically have a lengthy recovery time, stretching from 3-6 months. While they are a less procedurally devastating injury for position players – particularly in a non-throwing arm – if properly rehabilitated, Bliss is in all likelihood experiencing something particularly crushing: getting hurt during his best shot to stick as a big leaguer. The 25 year old had the reins of a temporarily thin field of competition with Seattle’s infield, something less likely to be true even if he can make it back to the field late this year. Hopefully his rehab is swift and he can get back to snagging baseballs for the M’s in whatever role awaits him in the future.
“Ryan really made the most of his opportunity while he had it,” said Wilson.
On the pitching side, Lawrence is back after not cracking the bigs in 2024, but dutifully scarfing down 165.0 innings for the Tacoma Rainiers in 29 starts a year ago. The 37-year-old last pitched in the bigs with the Cardinals in 2023, all in relief, with a 6.59/6.44 ERA/FIP over 27.1 IP in 15 games. A majority of his 124.0 innings in the majors thus far have come with the Mariners, with 65.1 frames across the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
While expected, it stings no less to have Jesse Hahn designated for assignment after doing his level best to keep the Mariners in last night’s game. The team will now wait to see if the 35-year-old journeyman clears waivers.
“I thought Jesse threw the ball very, very well,” said Wilson. “We saw him throw the ball well in spring training, too. And I thought he really meshed with the message that Trent and Woody bring and talk about with the pitching staff. And he’s a quality person as well. We enjoyed having him around. He was a guy that, especially last night, just attacked the zone, gave us what we needed, and it’s a shame that we weren’t able to get it done for him.”