News of catcher Tom Murphy hitting the IL with a fracture in his foot was seemingly soft-pedaled by most of the Seattle media and Jerry Dipoto himself, who categorized Murphy’s metacarpal fracture as “small.” But anyone who has ever dealt with a fractured fifth metacarpal—shoutout to all our ballet dancers out there—knows that even a small bone can cause big problems. In about an hour of highly scientific Web MD research, I saw a lot of timelines for a fractured metacarpal, ranging from “uh-oh” to “oh no,” and while the injury isn’t expected to keep Murphy out for “an extended period”, per Greg Johns, mentally bracing for the worst is in a Mariner fan’s DNA.
Examining possible options for the Mariners at catcher
