Mariners Moose Tracks, 4/17/22: Mitch Haniger, Riley O’Brien, injuries in the AL Central

A blessed Easter Sunday, a kosher and joyous Passover, and Ramadan Mubarak to all those who observe, and best wishes for a beautiful and bountiful Sunday for those of you who don’t. Thanks for checking in with us on this beautiful springtime morning. Let’s have some lovely links!

In Mariners news:

• If you can’t tell, that first paragraph was me trying to manufacture some joy after a pretty blah game last night. If you missed last night’s contest, uh, well, it was Justin Verlander pitching against Chris Flexen and it went about as you’d expect. Connor has a bright and fun recap for you anyway here.
• Also in unfun news you might have missed: Mitch Haniger has to go on the COVID list for a bit, having experienced symptoms after the home opener; it’s unclear how much time he’ll miss.
• Enough bummers, enjoy this call of Eugenio’s home run in Spanish:

• The Mariners announced that they acquired RHP Riley O’Brien from Cincinnati for cash or a PTBNL. It turns out that Riley Chun-Young O’Brien is from right here in county Shoreline, also known as Blake Snell Country; he attended Everett CC and then the College of Idaho, and was selected by the Rays in the 8th round of the 2017 draft; he was later traded to the Reds in exchange for Cody Reed. The 27-year-old was recently DFA’d by the Reds to make room for pitching prospect Nick Lodolo. O’Brien possesses a fastball with average-to-above-average velo but below-average movement and an above-average curveball, and he’s posted very moderate strikeout numbers throughout his minor-league career. He joins the recent-ish influx of former Reds into the organization, joining Winker and Suárez, obviously, but also former Red outfielders Billy Hamilton and Taylor Trammell, and fellow former Cincinnati pitcher Asher Wojciechowski.

Around the league:

• Byron Buxton’s injury won’t require a lengthy layoff, it seems, so that’s good. Less good: pitcher Sonny Gray appears to have a hamstring injury. Alex Kirilloff is also on the IL with a wrist issue, so the Twins are taking some damage early here.
• The Rangers have some tough injury news as well, as pitcher Josh Sborz’s ominous-sounding elbow soreness will require an IL stint.
• Also bad pitcher injury news for the Tigers: both Casey Mize (elbow soreness) and Matt Manning (shoulder soreness) are ailing; Mize’s injury appears to be a sprain that will require at least some time on the IL. And some bad non-pitcher news for the Tigers: Javy Báez’s sore thumb will apparently require a trip to the IL.
• Let’s keep the bad vibes rolling: the Orioles sent John Means, aka their one good starting pitcher, to the IL with elbow soreness. Godspeed, Orioles fans.
• Enough bad vibes, here are some good baseball dogs.

Kate’s pick:

Can’t believe this hero kid/entrepreneur/budding celebrity chef got in trouble for this. We used to be a country, a proper country.