Seattle Mariners Spring Update

I'm all therapy'd up and ready to roll

So our beloved Mariners are now 13-7, the bats have started to rattle a bit, and the pitching staff is starting to come together. I don't know about you, but this has been the fastest Spring Training in recent memory - perhaps that's just because I'm so busy. But damn if these M's don't look like they're ready to not lose 90-plus games again! Hopefully those aren't the words that Wedge uses to inspire. 

Anyway, with that in mind, let's take a quick peek at what we have headed into the final stretch before the big April Fools Day where Felix shuts down the Athletics.

• Ichiro: Awesome
• Figgins, hitting .361 with a pair of doubles, 7 RBI and 4 stolen bases.  
• Bradley, hitting .355 with a home run, 10 RBI, 4 doubles, and only 6 strikeouts in 31 AB's.
• Cust, hitting .255 with 3 HR's, 9 RBI and a whopping 19 K's in 47 AB's.  Yep, that's about what we expected.
• Adam Moore, .381 with two doubles, a triple, and 7 walks in 21 AB's. This is encouraging.

On the pitching side:

• Jamey Wright has unfortunately been impossible to hit, so he probably makes the team
• Josh Lueke has been very, very good - likely makes the team
• Vargas and Fister both still oddly effective in their how-did-they-do-that way
• Bedard appears really ready to go with a 1.69 ERA over 10 2/3 IP with 10K's and 3 BB.  Please oh please give us half a season to trade you, Erik.  
• Laffey has zero strikeouts over 6 IP since coming over from Cleveland. I don't know about you, but I want the M's to trade for Kevin Slowey so we can have Laffey and Slowey on the same team.  We could market some kind of Mariner Smurf bobblehead "Laffey Smurf" "Slowey Smurf" "Figgy Smurf" "Grumpy Smurf" (Bradley, of course). And the two smurfs that nobody wants to party with, "Fister Smurf" and "Frenchy Smurf".
• Luke French and David Pauley are battling for the best AAAA starter in camp, with Frenchy currently leading 1.13 ERA to 1.29.

Oh, and you've likely read that Jack Wilson moves to 2B and Ryan is our starting SS. Look for that tandem to turn some sweet double plays and combine for 6 HR's. One wonders if having Wilson at 2B provides the team a nice excuse to rush Ackley once Wilson goes down with a (insert body part) injury in May. We'll see.

Watch what happens on the whole Ring, Wilhelmsen, Delcarmen front... that ought to be an interesting narrative down the stretch here.  Geoff Baker has a pretty good rundown of the complexities of roster building for the M's right now relative to who has options, who is on the 40-man roster, etc.

Go M's.

Gabe Gross. No, Really.

My practice swings are impeccable

We are stockpiling left handed Spring invitees apparently to try the "scared straight" technique on Michael Saunders.

The M's have picked up Gabe Gross on a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. 

Where Jody Gerut was somewhat ho-hum, Gabe Gross is, well, eh... his Mother thinks he's damn handsome!

There was something to write about Jody Gerut other than being a pretty good outfielder.  Gabe Gross is a pretty good outfielder.

...

Okay, really - Gross is known as an awfully good outfielder, he's 31, and once in his career has had a decent bat.  Oh, man, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit because that's the most positive thing I could think to write. 

So Gabe Gross.  Mariner outfielder.  Maybe.  Please, no.

Morrow Takes a Seat.

So the M's have reportedly shut down Brandon Morrow for a few days due to what they're calling a "tired shoulder". Shocker. They take a kid, overwork him in the bullpen as a rookie, send him to winter ball to turn him into a starter, and now he's back as a setup guy firing mostly fastballs all spring. He hasn't stopped throwing for a year. I'm tired for his shoulder.

Enjoy your rest, Brandon.