Seattle Mariners starter George Kirby delivers a pitch against the San Diego Padres at T-Mobile Park on Sept 10. Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney Warned Us About This For Seattle Mariners and George Kirby

Originally posted on Seattle Mariners on SI
By Brady Farkas | Last updated Apr 22, 2025 2:15 PM ET

On Monday, we learned that Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby will throw a live bullpen session this weekend at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. Assuming Kirby feels good out of that bullpen, the M's will start figuring out the next steps. That could be more live bullpen sessions or a rehab assignment.

An article by Daniel Kramer of MLB.com suggests that May or even June could mark Kirby's return from shoulder inflammation, which has kept him sidelined since early March.

This whole thing has turned into quite the ordeal for Kirby. When he was shut down in March, the hope was that he'd miss only a small portion of April, but it's going to end up being at least two, almost three months.

And it goes back to something that ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney told us on March 13 as part of the "Refuse to Lose" podcast:

I think it's somewhere in between. I think it absolutely is, for the Mariners, who just seemingly have such a slim margin for error, you've got to get as much production out of your big guys. And he's one of their big guys, an All-Star. And I say this: My experience in covering baseball for a lot of years is when teams tell you, 'yes, it's no problem, we think he's going to be fine, and they'll come back., they don't really know.

Because one pitch or one strain in his rehab, and suddenly something changes. Look at the Yankees with Gerrit Cole, right? He hurt his elbow in spring training last year. The biggest indicator of injuries to come are past injuries. But the Yankees picked up the last four years of his contract after Gerrit Cole initially opted out. Then the Yankees said, 'we'll still take you at 4 times 36 for $144 million for the next four years'. And then he blows out in spring training. Despite the fact that he looked good in the outings up till then. I hope that George Kirby's going to be okay. Shoulders can be less predictable than elbow injuries can be. And look, the Mariners need him. And so you hope that as he works his way back that there are no setbacks.

Yup, teams just don't really know, do they?

An All-Star in 2023, Kirby is 35-26 lifetime with a 3.43 ERA. He went 14-11 a season ago.

The Mariners will play the Boston Red Sox at 3:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Seattle is 12-10.

This article first appeared on Seattle Mariners on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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