SEATTLE – Catcher Dan Wilson’s season appears to be finished after he suffered a knee injury in the Seattle Mariners’ game Wednesday at Safeco Field.
The bigger issue is where it puts Wilson’s career.
The popular 36-year-old catcher, who has said this may be his final season, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while running the bases in the seventh inning of the Mariners 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
A magnetic resonance imaging exam on Wilson’s knee Wednesday night showed the ligament tear. He will be examined again today by Dr. Larry Pedegana, the Mariners’ medical director.
The Mariners placed Wilson on the 60-day disabled list Wednesday night and called up catcher Wiki Gonzalez from the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers. Gonzalez, who was hitting .259 for the Rainiers, will back up Olivo.
The ACL is a primary stabilizing ligament in the center of the knee joint that prevents hyperextension and excessive rotation of the joint. If the ligament is torn completely, it could require surgery and a recovery of up to 12 months.
Outfielder Chris Snelling suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in early June in the 2002 season and didn’t play again until a month into the following season. An ACL injury is especially difficult for a catcher, who spends most of his time in a crouch behind the plate.
Wilson has been a Mariner since 1994 and is the last remaining player off their first division championship team in 1995.
He signed a one-year contract with the Mariners in the offseason, deciding to stay in Seattle as a backup to Miguel Olivo despite getting offers from other teams. He said keeping his family – Wilson and wife Annie have four children – in Seattle was important.
Wilson said he preferred a one-year deal because it gave him the option of retiring at the end of this season.
“It could be my last year, but I just don’t know,” Wilson said last December when he re-signed. “We’ll just take it year by year and my family will be the priority. This gives me an opportunity to evaluate at the end of the season what the future might hold.”
Wilson had started just eight of the Mariners’ 28 games this season, and Wednesday’s was becoming his best. He went 2-for-3 and drove in a run, and he also threw out a base-stealer.
He led off the seventh inning with a single and sprinted hard toward second base when Ichiro Suzuki hit a fly into the gap in left-center field. Angels left fielder Vladimir Guerrero caught the ball and Wilson, already near second base, made a quick about-face and ran back to first.
When Wilson planted his right leg to turn around, the ligament popped.
Still, Wilson made it back to the bag safely and stayed in the game for the first few pitches of Randy Winn’s at-bat.
But he couldn’t continue. He called trainer Rick Griffin and manager Mike Hargrove from the dugout and walked slowly off the field.
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