Erik Bedard has suffered yet another setback.  Larry LaRue:

After feeling pain in his surgically repaired left shoulder while playing catch Thursday, Bedard was examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum, the orthopedic surgeon who operated on him last August.

Yocum recommended Bedard see Mariners team Dr. E. Khalayan about having both an MRI and a CAT-scan done on his left shoulder.

Bedard will not claim the 5th spot in the rotation heading out of the All-Star break, obviously enough.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone.  All year we’ve been eagerly awaiting the return of Bedard, but with the understanding that there was a good chance setbacks pushed him back farther and farther.  Here’s hoping Bedard can at least get a few innings in this season.

Three aces!

That of course leaves the fifth spot to someone else.  The most likely candidates are recently recalled lefty Chris Seddon and righty David Pauley.  We should know who gets the gig based on how they’re used out of the bullpen this weekend, although pitching Friday wouldn’t necessarily knock either guy out of the running.  Neither guy is anything special but either guy is capable of holding down the five spot in the big leagues, at least as a stopgap to something better.  Unfortunately, the rotation already features three other back of the rotation guys.

My gut says it’ll be Pauley. (Update: It will indeed be Pauley.)

In other injury news, Russell Branyan had a run in with a hotel room table and will miss a couple days.  Apparently the sun woke him up at around 5 AM and as he struggled to close the curtains he knocked the table onto one of his feet, suffering a cut and deep bruise.  If Branyan weren’t Seattle’s second best offensive player this would be pretty funny.

Speaking of which, Jose Lopez apparently got braces.  It’s not necessarily funny because he got braces (at least not to me), but because he’s exactly the Mariner you would expect to show up with braces, as Jeff at Lookout Landing has already mentioned.  We’ve talked about Lopez’s kiddish charm before, and this just adds to it.

Lopez makes $2.3M this year.  He couldn’t spring for Invisalign?

Moving back to the bullpen, yesterday I joked that Jamey Wright is just another version of Sean White, so we could probably expect him to become Don Wakamatsu’s go-to guy sooner than later.  Sadly, I’m not sure I was too far from the truth.  From Geoff Baker:

The Mariners’ other new pitcher, Jamey Wright, will work out of the bullpen.

“I was around him in Texas for a couple of years, and know his makeup and character,” Wakamatsu said. “Even in Kansas City, he was kind of a workhorse. We’re definitely looking to protect Brandon League. He’s had to take the brunt of the bullpen work. To have a veteran guy who can fill different roles is a necessity. He’s a guy that can pitch just about anywhere and give us innings, which is what we’re looking for.”

I won’t be surprised if we start seeing Wright in high leverage situations going forward.  Granted, when the bullpen features David Aardmsa, Brandon League, Brian Sweeney, Garrett Olson, Wright and Pauley/Seddon, it’s almost pick your poison time, especially if League is getting his innings cut going forward.  Mercy!

Shawn Kelley had a throwing session on Thursday (says Shannon Drayer), which means little to us except that he’s no longer shut down.  Hopefully he can bump one of these schmucks off the roster before long.

Meanwhile, down on the farm, Dustin Ackley made his AAA debut, hitting sixth in the Rainiers lineup.  Ackley went 1-for-5 with a home run off his first swing at the level, just his third homer of the season.

Ackley’s former teammates, Alex Liddi and Carlos Peguero, participated at the Futures Game this week.  Nothing I saw changed my opinion of either player (and I don’t like either one), but I will give Peguero credit for being much more athletic than I had previously seen/thought.