By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – The Seattle Mariners, who lost pitcher Paul Abbott to the disabled list on Tuesday, kept on toppling Wednesday.
Relief pitcher Jeff Nelson, who has felt discomfort in his forearm and elbow for several weeks, learned from a magnetic resonance imaging exam what he has long suspected. There are bone chips in his right elbow and he’ll have surgery Friday to remove them.
About the same time the Mariners absorbed Nelson’s news, Edgar Martinez took his last swing during an afternoon batting practice session and felt a sharp pain behind his left knee. He had ruptured a tendon behind that knee on April 11, underwent surgery two days later and was on his way to being activated on Tuesday.
Dr. Larry Pedegana, the team’s medical director, suspects Martinez felt a release of scar tissue but won’t know how it impacts his comeback until he is re-examined today.
“It’s a setback, but I don’t think it’s a big problem,” Pedegana said.
Nelson is the second reliever in two days to go on the disabled list.
Abbott went on the DL Tuesday with inflammation in his right shoulder, the same day Nelson had the MRI that confirmed his injury.
“My forearm’s been hurting since the beginning of the season and I thought it would go away,” Nelson said. “Then the last couple of weeks the elbow started getting some fluid in it and gradually hurting a little bit more. The mobility and flexibility wasn’t there like it should be.”
Nelson had a similar injury, and surgery, in 1999 while he was with the New York Yankees. He learned from that experience that he should have surgery immediately this time and hope for the elbow to heal on its own.
“I was on the DL once and they wanted to let it calm it down,” Nelson said. “I threw the first two days after the 15 days were up and everything was fine, and the third outing it started to swell up again. “I wasted 20 days there. I told them here that I know what it is, I don’t want to waste any time.”
When he comes back, Nelson is confident he’ll be 100 percent healthy. He had a 2.45 earned run average after the surgery in 1999 and didn’t allow an earned run in five innings of postseason work when the Yankees rolled to the World Series championship.
“I rehab and heal real well and I don’t see any reason why I’m not going to come back in four weeks,” Nelson said. “Back in ‘99 I was great the rest of the year and then I had one of my best years in 2000 (8-4 with a 2.45 ERA). That’s why I wanted to have it (surgery) done right away.”
Pedegana also has no doubt that Nelson will return to full strength within the 4-6 week recovery window. Mariners left-hander John Halama had similar surgery in the offseason and has recovered well.
“It’s a pretty common operation,” Pedegana said.
A bigger uncertainty is the state of the Mariners’ bullpen.
“We lost the best right-handed setup man in baseball,” pitching coach Bryan Price said.
Right-hander Justin Kaye arrived Wednesday from Class AAA Tacoma as Abbott’s replacement and right-hander Rafael Soriano, who has pitched at Class AA San Antonio, will arrive today. Those two will give the bullpen three rookies, along with Julio Mateo.
Manager Lou Piniella said right-hander Shigetoshi Hasegawa will move into the right-handed setup role and right-hander Ryan Franklin also will see more late-inning action. The three rookies will pitch in middle relief, Piniella said.
“We’re going to count on these kids to pitch,” Piniella said. “We didn’t bring them up to sit. I knew back in spring training that we would have young pitching here at one time or the other. But this soon and this many? No.”
Piniella said the timetable for Martinez’s return likely will need adjusting, even though Wednesday’s episode isn’t considered serious. Martinez was scheduled to join Class AAA Tacoma for a few games this weekend before being activated on Tuesday.
“On the new schedule, next week sometime he will get some at-bats in the minors,” Piniella said.
Even that is a relief to Martinez, who was deeply concerned when he felt a sharp pain.
“I was kind of worried,” he said. “Swinging a bat, I didn’t expect it.”
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