With the Mariners now less than a week from Opening Day, one thing has become clear — Erasmo Ramirez won’t be ready when the team needs a fifth starter for the first time on April 11.
Manager Scott Servais had held on to the hope for much of spring training that the right-hander would recover well enough from a lat strain to handle the role as the the fifth starter when Seattle will first need it (three early days off means Seattle won’t need a fifth starter until two weeks into the season).
But Ramirez has yet to do much since being diagnosed with the injury in mid-February when spring training began.