The silence around Brendan Donovan is starting to do the talking for the Mariners.
Donovan was supposed to begin a minor league rehab assignment last week, but that never happened. The updates that followed were vague, and then came the expectation that he would get going during the All-Star break. Instead, the ACL Mariners played Tuesday in Arizona, and Donovan still wasn’t out there.
That leaves a tight window. As Brady Farkas of the Refuse To Lose podcast noted, Donovan now has a maximum of two rehab games before Seattle returns to action Friday evening. Realistically, that makes him a long shot to be ready when the second half opens, and the whole thing has taken on a strange feel.
Naturally, that raises the question fans don’t want to ask: is Donovan dealing with a setback, or is he simply not as far along as hoped? Given everything the Mariners have already dealt with on the injury front in 2026, either answer would fit the season’s script.
It’s a frustrating turn for a player who was supposed to be a major piece of the offseason. The blockbuster trade that brought Donovan to Seattle was met with real excitement, and for good reason. His bat, defensive flexibility, work ethic and leadership made him look like exactly the kind of player who could help push the Mariners over the top after they fell just eight outs short of their first World Series berth last year.
The Mariners knew Donovan had undergone surgery to repair a sports hernia, but that wasn’t viewed as a major obstacle. Even when he first landed on the Injured List this season with a left muscle groin strain, there wasn’t much alarm. The concern only grew when he returned to the Injured List with the same issue after being back in the lineup for just over a week.
And the production, small sample or not, has only made the absence sting more. Donovan has posted a .452 slugging percentage, .839 OPS, 141 OPS+ and 145 wRC+, all of which are on pace to be career highs.
There’s also the bigger workload picture. If Donovan somehow plays the rest of the regular season in Seattle, he would finish with 90 total games, which would be the fewest of his five major league seasons.
For a Mariners team that has already had more than its share of bad breaks, that’s another tough layer to absorb. Donovan’s health has to come first. But if he doesn’t get back on the field much in 2026, it could matter when September rolls around.
In Other News...
Mariners May Have Found Their Next Late Round Draft Steal
The Mariners have made a habit of finding real value in the draft, and not just at the top of the board. Their young core has been built around first-round talent such as Cole Young, Colt Emerson and Logan Gilbert, but the organization has also shown a knack for uncovering contributors later on, with Bryan Woo and Dominic Canzone serving as reminders that Seattle does not need a premium pick to land a useful big leaguer.
That background is what makes this latest group worth watching. Dominic Santarelli, Wyatt Queen and Henry Ford all bring different kinds of upside, from pitching depth to bat speed to the sort of college track record that can make a front office dream on a faster climb through the system. Queens profile in particular gives Seattle another intriguing arm to keep tabs on, while Ford arrives with a resume that suggests he was overlooked longer than he should have been, leaving the Mariners with another potential late-round find to follow closely. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Just Got Beaten To A Bat They Clearly Needed
The Mariners have been hunting for a right-handed bat that can help them handle left-handed pitching, and Jahmai Jones looked like the kind of low-cost option that could fit the brief. Instead, Boston stepped in first, claiming Jones off waivers from Detroit and adding him to its active roster, another reminder that even the smaller roster fixes can disappear quickly this time of year.
For Seattle, the miss lands at a moment when the trade deadline is closing in and the available pool of right-handed help is not exactly overflowing. The club still has some bench depth on the right side, but the broader issue is whether the front office will push hard enough to find a real answer or keep waiting for the market to break its way. [Read more 🡒]