THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The latest spin on all these arm injuries

It seemed like the whole world was mad at Mariners manager Scott Servais.

His sin?

The skipper pulled young starter Bryce Miller after seven innings in a game against Milwaukee last weekend.

It seemed strange, at least by old-fashioned baseball standards.

Seattle was leading 4-0, and Miller was cruising — he’d thrown only 78 pitches and looked like he had plenty left in the tank.

Frankly, Servais’ move was the safe one. 

His bullpen has been a little shaky, but the Mariners hung on to win the game 5-3.

More important than that, however, was that Miller got his precious right arm safely into the ice tub.

An awful lot of pitchers these days aren’t making it that far.

The Mariners already have one of their bright young starters, Bryan Woo, on the injured list, and they’re hoping that early tests showing no lasting damage were correct.

Key relievers Matt Brash and Gregory Santos experienced arm soreness in spring training, and the Mariners aren’t sure when either will be back.

Servais made it clear that his decision to take Miller out of the firing line had a lot to do with the fact that he hasn’t even pitched a full season in the big leagues.

“The biggest thing with that is that he’s got 30 more starts to make,” Servais said. “Have you seen the state of starting pitching in our league lately?”

INDEED.

Already this season, the game has lost a boatload of stars.

Some are certain to face Tommy John surgery for damage to their elbows (ulnar collateral ligaments, or UCLs).

Cleveland’s Shane Bieber is gone until the middle of 2025, and Atlanta ace Spencer Strider is surely going to follow.

Ditto Miami’s Eury Perez.

The Mariners lost Robbie Ray to UCL surgery after one inning last season, and traded him to the Giants — who are willing to wait for Ray to finish rehabbing.

Yankees Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole started the season on the injured list.

Houston’s Framber Valdez has just now felt the twang of this familiar arm injury.

And of course, there’s the $700 million man, Shohei Ohtani, whose immense value comes from his supreme talent both hitting and pitching.

Ohtani has already had surgery on his throwing elbow, and the Dodgers hope he’ll be providing huge returns on their investment sometime in 2025.

Given the carnage pitchers are experiencing, who can blame Servais and the Mariners for taking special care of Miller and their other young pitchers?

It’s the best they can do.

Everyone in baseball, it seems, has a theory on why there are so many serious injuries now.

It’s agreed that the ball is being thrown harder, as pitchers feel that missing bats is the only way to succeed — with the old philosophy of inducing “soft contact” no longer working.

Hitters are just too strong, they’ve learned about bat speed and launch angles, the guys with the bats have too many advantages.

Pitchers have found ways to fight back, but it’s putting them on a surgeon’s table.

IF YOU want to point at a single cause of all these Tommy John surgeries, if you’re trying to narrow the issues down to one thing, it’s spin.

Hitters have gotten better and better at crushing fastballs, so pitchers are responding by twirling the ball — and throwing it slower — to put sluggers off balance.

Twenty years ago, major leaguers were just learning about cutters, split-finger pitches, and the almost unhittable “sweeper.”

Batters mostly understood they were better off just to take those pitches, because they couldn’t be controlled for strikes.

But now?

The Mariners’ Brash and Andres Munoz both can throw 100 miles per hour, but the pitch that makes them overwhelming is a slider at 90-plus that spins and moves violently just as it nears the plate.

Worse news for hitters: They can do an admirable job of controlling these pitches (although Munoz walked home the winning run against Milwaukee last week).

The problem for pitchers is that producing deliveries like the “sweeper” — not to mention those wicked hard sliders — requires an act of violence committed on their elbows.

We just aren’t built to snap a part of our arms, simply because we’re hoping to create outrageous spin on a baseball.

Think of the pitchers who had long and successful careers — emphasizing the “long” part of their professional work.

Nolan Ryan. Tom Seaver. Bob Gibson.

They threw mostly fastballs.

Bryce Miller does, too.

Maybe the Mariners are helping lengthen his career.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”