Miguel Olivo, who was signed as a free agent over the offseason in an attempt to provide some stability behind the plate, suffered a left groin strain while scoring from third uncontested during the Seattle Mariners’ Saturday Cactus League matchup against the Cleveland Indians. Olivo reportedly went down in a heap over home plate and was ultimately carted off the field. The Mariners have an MRI scheduled for Monday.
The hope is that Olivo is able to recover and make it back in time to be on the Opening Day roster. That hardly seem realistic, even without knowing the severity of the injury at this time. Seattle is less than a month away from kicking off the 2011 season in Oakland, and groin injuries tend to be tough to shake.
Again, we don’t know the severity, but Adam Moore and Josh Bard are obviously now on alert. Moore should have a nice window to try and get back in the organization’s good graces and reestablish himself as the Mariners’ long-term catcher (but more on that in an upcoming post). Bard’s big league outlook suddenly looks a lot brighter in the short-term.
The prospect of Olivo being unavailable for Opening Day could have an impact on a few other players. As of now, Olivo and Moore are the only catchers on the 40-man roster. If one of the NRI catchers make the club in place of Olivo, a spot will have to be cleared for them.
That’s not a huge problem as there are a few players GM Jack Zduriencik can cut loose without losing sleep, but those players fighting for their 40-man roster spot now have even more incentive to step it up.
Original Story:
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