New Seattle Mariners reliever Gregory Santos is dealing with lat soreness and will be delayed in spring training as a result.
Per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times:
Santos isn’t dealing with elbow issues. He felt some soreness in the lat/teres major area after throwing a bullpen here in Peoria. Mariners decided to dial it back and slowplay him to spring.
At this point, there doesn't seem to be much reason to worry about Santos, but given that there were elbow concerns last season as a member of the Chicago White Sox, the issues should at least be noted.
The M's are hoping that Santos will pair with Andres Munoz and Matt Brash to form one of the best back-end trios in all of baseball. Each of those three players can save games for manager Scott Servais and should be able to help take the ball from Seattle's accomplished group of starting pitchers.
The 24-year-old Santos made his major league debut in 2021 with the San Francisco Giants. He's 2-4 with a 4.00 ERA at the major league level. He had five saves last season, ending the year as the White Sox closer.
In addition to Santos, Munoz and Brash, the Mariners figure to have a bullpen spot locked up for lefty Gabe Speier and righty Austin Voth. Beyond that, there will be some competition for the final few spots.
The Mariners went 88-74 and missed the playoffs by 1.0 game last season. They last made the playoffs during the 2022 season.
More must-reads: