Mark Lowe. George Sherrill. Joel Pineiro. Rafael Soriano. Jorge Campillo. Scott Atchison. Now Cesar Jimenez. It wasn't so long ago that shoulder issues were en vogue in this organization, but like fashion, physical distress is a dynamic phenomenon that's constantly changing.
Jimenez has a stress fracture in his left elbow that's essentially going to cost him the season. He'll have surgery any day now, but the rehab's a bitch. For a guy on the organizational bubble, this is a pretty awful turn of events; a year in Tacoma learning how to throw a breaking ball to lefties could've set him up to have an important role in the 2008 Mariner bullpen, but instead October's going to roll around and he's still going to be the same soft-tossing 'tweener with a reverse platoon split. This is prime development time that Jimenez is missing, and that can only be interpreted as bad news, at least as far as his future in Seattle is concerned.
You know, this may not necessarily apply to the Jimenez news, but thank goodness we have a front office that's pretty good at building a cheap bullpen. The hypothetical alternative is terrifying.