Woo (pec) to skip upcoming start, next outing could be in playoffs
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SEATTLE -- Bryan Woo likely won’t pitch again in the regular season. But he and the Mariners are doing everything they can to ensure he’s ready for October.
In a perhaps somewhat expected announcement, Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said Woo will skip his next scheduled start on Thursday against the Rockies, but there are still “zero plans” for the 2025 All-Star to be placed in the injured list with the pectoral issue he’s been dealing with.
“Mostly because his routine has been pretty broken up by what’s happened since he walked off the mound the other night,” Hollander said Tuesday of the decision before Seattle's 4-3 win over Colorado. “We’re still taking it day by day.”
Woo, who hasn’t thrown since exiting Friday’s start in Houston, could play catch as soon as Wednesday or Thursday.
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If he plays catch on Wednesday, how soon could he get back into his regular routine?
“I don't really know, and I've not allowed myself to get into beyond how he feels today,” Hollander said. “We'll see [the], 'how he feels tomorrow' aspect of it, but would anticipate ramping it up as we get into the end of the week. And whether that means pitching in a game, or just throwing like a sort of a get-after-it bullpen, we'll see. But again, he’s doing really well.”
The Mariners’ placing atop the American League West, which they could clinch as soon as Wednesday, as well as their positioning for the AL’s No. 2 seed -- which would come with a first-round bye -- allows for somewhat less urgency to rush back Woo, who has long looked like their Game 1 starter for any postseason series.
If they were to secure the No. 2 seed, they wouldn’t begin the playoffs until next Saturday, Oct. 4, more than two weeks after Woo’s most recent start.
“He feels like it’s already feeling much better,” Hollander said. “He’s in a really good mental place right now. He was very disappointed on Friday postgame, just with the uncertainty. He really wanted to go dominate for the entirety of the game, and he was on pace to do that. And the way he has felt the last couple of days has been very encouraging to him and us.”
As for who will take Thursday’s assignment, Hollander said that it will be a pitcher on the active roster. The most obvious candidate would be Emerson Hancock, who transitioned to the bullpen one month ago at Triple-A Tacoma and has made six relief appearances since rejoining the big league roster on Aug. 27 -- but none since Sept. 16.
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But if Hancock were to get the nod, he wouldn’t do so as a stretched-out starter.
“It'll be a combination of people that pitch in the game, in all likelihood,” Hollander said. “We haven't worked through that totally yet. And some of that depends on how the next two days go.”