Mariners former All-Star undergoes surgery to address long-term knee ailment

Mariners infielder Jorge Polanco underwent surgery to repair the patellar tendon in his left knee, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The infielder expects to be ready by spring training. The Mariners can retain Polanco for 2025 via a $12M club option with a $750K buyout. They will have until five days after the World Series to decide whether to pick it up or not.

Polanco, 31, just finished a rough campaign. Acquired from the Twins going into the season, he got into 118 games but hit just .213/.296/.355 for a wRC+ of 92. That was a notable drop from his time in Minnesota, as he had hit .269/.334/.446 over his 823 games as a Twin for a 111 wRC+.

Passan suggests that Polanco’s performance was impacted by the knee problems, particularly when hitting left-handed. The switch-hitter slashed .198/.301/.345 against righties this year for a wRC+ of 91. That actually wasn’t too far off from his right-handed production, mostly due to a big difference in his walk rate. He slashed .250/.285/.379 against lefties for a 94 wRC+. His batting average as a righty was far better but he only walked 4.6% of the time. Since he walked in 11.8% of his plate appearances as a lefty, he made up most of the difference in terms of overall production.

The knee issue didn’t come out of nowhere. He dealt with soreness in 2022, eventually missing the month of September while on the injured list due to left knee inflammation. But he still finished the season with a solid .235/.346/.405 slash line and 118 wRC+ in 104 games.

The soreness was still there in March 2023, so Polanco started the season on the IL. He was activated by the third week of April. He did go back on the IL a couple of more times that year, but both of those later stints were due to left hamstring strains. He got into 80 games last year and produced a .255/.335/.454 line and 117 wRC+.

After those two seasons impacted by knee issues, he was flipped to the Mariners ahead of the 2024 campaign, with reliever Justin Topa, starter Anthony DeSclafani and prospects Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Bowen going the other way. Both clubs saw their end of that deal impacted by injuries. Topa made only three appearances this year due to his own left knee issues while DeSclafani underwent flexor tendon surgery and missed the whole season.

The Mariners are likely to buy out Polanco on the heels of such a poor season, unless they buy into the narrative that his 2024 struggles were completely caused by the knee. If Polanco were able to return to his pre-2024 form, he’d be worth the investment, but the Mariners might prefer to keep that powder dry until later in the winter. The payroll in Seattle is expected to climb but perhaps not by much.

Even if Seattle is interested in bringing Polanco back for 2025, they could probably turn down the option and re-sign him for less than that option price. They figure to have Josh Rojas at either second or third base but should be looking for infield help, either in free agency or trade.

If Polanco ends up on the open market, he’ll join a group of free agent second basemen that includes Gleyber Torres, Jose Iglesias, Ha-Seong Kim, Amed Rosario, Whit Merrifield and others.