Update: to make room for Yepez on the 40-man roster, the Mariners have DFA'd Chaz Roe.
In 2008, Erik Bedard made 15 starts with the Mariners before shutting things down. In 2009, Bedard made 15 starts with the Mariners before shutting things down. In 2011, Bedard has made 15 starts with the Mariners, and now he's going on the disabled list. It's obvious where this is going, isn't it?
Well, no, not really. Greg Johns:
The Mariners have recalled catcher Jose Yepez and he'll play today. Bedard on 15-day DL with sprained knee.
It's only a knee. It's not Bedard's elbow, it's not Bedard's shoulder, and it's not Bedard's hip. It's a knee that he apparently injured in his last start, and in his last start, he threw 106 pitches over seven effective innings. I don't have any special insight, but this sure doesn't sound like a serious problem, and with the Mariners being off tomorrow and with the All-Star break coming up, Bedard could in theory only have to miss one turn.
Granted, I don't know who's going to take his place. Luke French and Chaz Roe are the guys in Tacoma on the 40-man roster, but they've both been dreadful this season. Blake Beavan and Nate Robertson could be options, but they'd require a roster move. The arms in the bullpen aren't very stretched out. That said, it's probably one or just a few starts, so I don't want to make too big a deal of this. Wacky things can happen over individual games.
As for Yepez, he's presumably with the Mariners because Miguel Olivo is day-to-day and the team needs some catcher insurance in the meantime. Yepez will probably only be around for a little while until a replacement arm comes up, if that's what the Mariners do, but at least now the 30-year-old Venezuelan gets to tell people he made it. He's gotten a lot further than a lot of other players have, so consider this the silver lining to an ugly cloud.
If Olivo is actually worse than day-to-day, I'd expect the M's to make a trade. And Yepez, like Josh Bard, will require a 40-man roster move.
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Another update: upon further examination, I've come across this article from 2005, when a knee injury knocked Bedard out of the Majors for two months. This one doesn't seem to be as bad as that one, but it is worth remembering that pitchers don't always recover the way you hope they will. With Bedard right now, I am cautiously optimistic that he won't miss much more than 15 days.