Mariners’ Felix Hernandez to miss 2 to 3 weeks with shoulder injury

Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is expected to miss two to three weeks after leaving Tuesday’s game with shoulder inflammation.

The Seattle Mariners have placed pitcher Felix Hernandez on the 10-day DL citing shoulder inflammation. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports that Hernandez is expected to miss at least two to three weeks.

Hernandez was pulled from his last start after just two innings, giving up four runs on six hits while striking out two and walking two. The Mariners bullpen went on to implode in the game and they lost by a score of 19-9 to the Detroit Tigers.

The Mariners have struggled out of the gate thus far, posting a 8-13 record. That is enough to place them in last in the AL West. Though early in the season, this is a concerning trend for a team that was picked by many “experts” as a dark horse coming into the season to contend for a playoff spot in the AL.

There is sentiment amongst Mariners fans that Felix is getting the raw end of the deal late in his career when the Mariners are finally getting a team that they feel can contend for a playoff spot. Regardless of their lackluster start there is still exuberant hope following the Mariners. Hernandez made at least 30 starts for the Mariners every season from 2006 to 2015.  Many of those seasons for a Mariners franchise that was less than stellar. One season, Hernandez posted a 2.27 ERA and ended up somehow with a 13-12 record.

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So far, Hernandez has not been the pitcher that he was in the past. He has accumulated a 2-2 record with a 4.73 ERA in his five games started. In fact, he has been sub-par. In looking at advanced metrics like runs better than average (RAA), Hernandez scores a negative two. This means that when compared to the average major league pitcher Hernandez is two runs worse than average.  Although this is a small sample size, only one time in his career, 2006, has Hernandez been in the negatives on this metric.