Seattle Mariners to Lose Penn Murfee Out of Bullpen For a While Because of Elbow Injury

The Seattle Mariners just got reliever Penn Murfee back from the injured list and now he's headed back again -- and this time could be for a while.

Murfee has battled elbow injury this year and now is set for a lengthy absence.

This update comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:

Murfee will receive a second opinion on his ailing right elbow and is expected to be out for an extended period, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

ANALYSIS
Murfee's ulnar collateral ligament will be checked out in addition to some nerve issues in his elbow. It's not clear at this point whether he might need surgery, but even if he doesn't he might be a candidate to move to the 60-day injured list.

This is a tough break for both Murfee and the Mariners. First, the Mariners haven't had their pitching staff at full strength all year. 

They've lost Robbie Ray for the season to Tommy John surgery and have been without Marco Gonzales from the starting rotation. Furthermore, Andres Munoz missed significant time out of the bullpen, so getting both him and Murfee back recently was supposed to be a blessing for this team.

Unfortunately, that's not the case now. This year, Murfee is 1-2 with a 1.29 ERA. He made his major league debut in 2022 and was integral in helping the Mariners get to the playoffs for the first time since 2001. 

He was 4-0 a season ago with a 2.99 ERA in 64 games.

The Mariners entered play on Wednesday at 33-33 on the season. They trail the Marlins, 2-0, at the time of this posting.