The Mariners have lost their best player to injury two and a half weeks before players were scheduled to report to spring training.
At Thursday’s pre-spring training luncheon, general manager Jerry Dipoto announced that All-Star outfielder Mitch Haniger won’t be ready for the opening day of the 2020 season.
Dipoto received a phone call on Monday evening that Haniger had suffered a setback injury to his abdominal core while working out in the Bay Area. The early prognosis is that Haniger will need surgery and will be out 6-8 to weeks.
The injury stems from the surgery to repair a ruptured testicle that ended Haniger’s 2019 season.