Scribner could join Cook the 60-day DL depending on the Mariners’ need.
PEORIA, Ariz. — With the trade Wednesday for reliever Nick Vincent, general manager Jerry Dipoto confirmed that the Mariners’ bullpen is set with five right-handers (Vincent, Steve Cishek, Joaquin Benoit, Joel Peralta and Tony Zych) and two lefties (Vidal Nuno and Mike Montgomery).
As for immediate depth beyond that group on the 40-man roster, there is right-hander Mayckol Guaipe and lefties David Rollins and Paul Fry.
There is minimal hope that Evan Scribner, Ryan Cook (both out because of torn lat muscles) and Charlie Furbush (shoulder tightness) will return in the near future. Cook is on the 60-day disabled list.
“Evan is probably a little further back than Ryan, which is not what we were actually expecting,” Dipoto said. “Ryan has done very well with the early stages of his rehab. We don’t anticipate seeing either of them before the mid-end of May, thus the placement on the 60-day DL for Ryan. But Ryan appears to be on target to be in that zone, Scribner is just a little bit of the unknown.”
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Scribner suffered a lat tear at the end of last season while pitching with the A’s.
“We are still dealing a little bit with an injury that is tough to pin down,” Dipoto said. “It’s not a common injury among pitchers, even though we have two of them in camp. So we have no timeline for either one of them. We just want them to be back and ready to stay out on the mound when they return.”
Scribner could join Cook the 60-day DL depending on the Mariners’ need.
“Scribner is a candidate if we need a roster spot,” Dipoto said. “I don’t know if it’s going to come to that, but we don’t anticipate with the ability to dial it back 10 days into spring training, we don’t anticipate Evan being able to compete before that, so that’s a possibility.”
Furbush underwent his first of a series of injections as part of Regenokine therapy on Thursday. The process includes having his blood drawn, having it heated, spun on a centrifuge and re-injected into the problem area — Furbush’s lower deltoid.
“We anticipate him being out and throwing in three weeks,” Dipoto said. “And at that point if we had a rough gauge we feel like he should be progressing toward game readiness by the end of April, first of May and when we get there we will make our decision. But the way the last 10 months have gone for Charlie I don’t want to create an expectation that is foolish.”
Realistically, Furbush might have to start his throwing program over from the basic levels. It could take a month-long progression to have him ready for big-league games.