Mariners Moose Tracks, 3/10/24: Jackson Kowar, Paul Sewald, and microplastics

Just your average cheery Sunday full of news

In Mariners news...

• RHP Jackson Kowar, the reliever who the Mariners acquired in the Jarred Kelenic trade earlier this offseason, will need to undergo Tommy John surgery. With RHP Cole Phillips already having undergone the same procedure back in April of 2022, both players the Mariners got for Jarred will soon have reconstructed elbows.

• The Mariners made some Spring Training cuts, with a few guys being sent down and C Blake Hunt being optioned.

• The Ryne Stanek signing is officially official!

Around the league...

• Paul Sewald made some comments to ESPN about how excited he is about being a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Good for Paul. He also took some shots at the Mariners in the process, which might get some buzz going. Among other highlights (the whole article is a good read):

“I was disappointed how things went with my previous employer when I thought we were at a position that we were so close to getting to that group of teams that could make a real run at it,” Sewald said. “I felt like we got let down. To have the team I’m on now, we pretty much did what we could do to improve the team. That’s all you can ask for. Our 26-man roster is even better than last year.”

• Cubs RHP Jameson Taillon may miss the start of the season with a back injury.
• Jim Bowden takes a look at Spring Training standouts for all 30 teams. ($) For those who don’t have a subscription: the Mariners’ entry is Ryan Bliss.
• Giants 3B JD Davis has been waived.

Zach’s picks:

• UW men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins is finally out after a tumultuous and disappointing run with the Huskies.
• One reason we get heart disease is the buildup of plaques on the inside of our arteries, which can eventually get so big that they block the artery. Those plaques are usually made of things like cholesterol. Well, new research shows that many of them are also made of microplastics! Hooray!