Hernandez halfway to 200 innings
Felix Hernandez passed the 100-inning mark in his season Monday and, with 15 starts remaining if the Mariners keep him on an every-fifth-day schedule, he easily could reach 200 innings before the end of the season.
That’s more than the Mariners had planned.
The Mariners have maintained since before spring training that 200 innings would be Hernandez’s limit as they protect their 20-year-old. That number includes spring training, where Hernandez pitched 14 innings in March.
He’s at 103 2/3 in the regular season – 117 2/3 overall.
“It’s going to be close,” pitching coach Rafael Chaves said.
Hernandez has averaged 6 2/3 innings in his past nine starts and, at that pace with 15 starts remaining, he would finish the season with 210 2/3.
The issue now is what the Mariners can do to keep his workload close to the 200-inning goal.
One answer is to pull him from a game when there’s a debate whether to send him back out for another inning. That would work if the Mariners’ bullpen is fresh enough to pitch the final three innings – or more. Monday, when Hernandez threw 101 pitches over 6 2/3, the Mariners might have pulled him earlier but needed a longer outing to save their worn-down bullpen.
The Mariners have been careful to limit Hernandez’s work at close to 100 pitches each outing, even though he has seemed fresh enough to work longer in many of those games.
As the season moves on, they may begin paying more attention to pitch counts than innings. It seems certain Hernandez will reach 200 innings before the end of September and, should the Mariners remain in the division race or even advance to the playoffs, Hernandez’s workload could become an intriguing issue.
“We’re going to have to come up with a plan or a solution for this,” Chaves said. “As it is right now, we don’t have any plans to change anything.”
MLB responds to Canseco
Major League Baseball took a stand against admitted steroids user Jose Canseco on Tuesday, calling the former slugger’s allegations that the league might be playing favorites with some big-name players when it comes to positive drug tests “complete nonsense.”
Canseco returned to professional baseball with the independent San Diego Surf Dawgs on Monday in Chico, Calif. Before the game, he made critical comments about how baseball officials are handling the new, stricter steroids policy.
Major League Baseball initially declined to react to Canseco’s latest diatribe, in which he suggested the sport isn’t interested in knowing the truth about some star players’ use of performance-enhancing drugs.
“His allegations are complete nonsense,” spokesman Rich Levin told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Clearing the bases
Mariners’ utility player Mike Morse, who was recently optioned to Triple-A Tacoma, tore cartilage in his right knee and will have arthroscopic surgery this week, the team said. Morse was sent down to Tacoma when Seattle acquired veteran Eduardo Perez in a trade with Cleveland. He was injured during Tacoma’s game on Saturday against Fresno, but played Sunday, before sitting out Monday. … Boston’s Matt Clement cut short his first minor league rehabilitation start after one inning when he hurt his right biceps. … Chipper Jones is scheduled to see a specialist today about his injured right foot and Braves manager Bobby Cox said the reports don’t sound encouraging. Tests have revealed Jones has a partial tear of the plantar plate of his right second toe and an inflamed ligament. “He’s got a little tear in there, right?” Cox said. “I don’t think that’s good news.”