Spring Training Update

Well, Spring Training is coming to a close in just 7 days! The Seattle Mariners ST has been a very amazing one this year, as we have seen baseballs flying out of the park everyday! The Mariners have now hit 52 HRs. They added 2 more today after they pounded the Reds 16-0! Michael Saunders took us back to the WBC as he was on fire today going 3-4 with a homerun and drove in 2 runs. Jesus Montero, who was hit in the head with a bat just last week, had a monster day hitting a grand slam, going 3-3, and driving in 6 runs. Brandon Maurer continued to impress Eric Wedge by going 6 strong inning and striking out 7. Endy Chavez made his Mariners return today as he was added to the roster as a non-roster invitee. 
    Wedge today announced the first three starting pitchers for the series with the Oakland A's. Felix Hernandez will start his 6th consecutive opening day, Hisashi Iwakuma will start the 2nd game, and lefty Joe Saunders will start the third game. Last week the Mariners parted ways with Jon Garland as he was released along with Mike Jacobs. Kameron Loe today went on Twitter and announced that he had made the opening day roster. The 25 man roster was released today and I gotta say I'm very impressed with Eric Wedge's choices. Brandon Maurer made the team and will be apart of the Opening Day roster, Casper Wells impressed Wedge enough to make the cut, and Robert Andino who I think will be one hell of a player this year also made the opening day roster. The Mariners star prospects failed to make the 40 man roster. Mike Zunino, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, and Danny Hultzen will begin the season at Double-A Tennessee. Now Wedge hasn't decided the final 2 pitching spots and has said that nothing has been finalized yet. That means we must wait in anticipation for the final two starting spots. Wedge has some great choices for the final 2 spots. He has Maurer who has impressed everyone in being the only member of what has been dubbed the Mariners "Big 4" of prospects pitchers to remain in camp.

Maurer has gone 3-1 this spring with a 0.90 ERA in 6 games, he has started 3, with pitching 20 innings, and he has struck out 22. Wedge also has Blake Beaven, who is coming off an 11 win season where he struggled and was demoted through the mid point of the season and then called back up and had an impressive 2nd half. Beaven has gone 1-1 this spring in 4 starts with a 6.52 ERA. Erasmo Ramirez has also made a fine impact on Wedge but has had some tough games the last week. Jeremy Bonderman will make his final spring training start tomorrow against the Kansas City Royals. Bonderman is the final choice for Wedge but is not on the active roster. Bonderman hasn't pitched in the big leagues for 2 years and coming off Tommy John surgery. 

Big decisions will be made this week. Who knows who will be the final two spots in the starting rotation? Only time will tell us and we just have to wait one more week to find out. Oh man, I forgot to mention, Raul Ibanez and Jason Bay made the active roster to. Both have had an exceptional spring training. Ibanez is now on his 3rd stint with the ball club and will provide what Ken Griffey, Jr., provided the Mariners in 2009 and that is veteran experience to help out the young kids. Ibanez has been playing like he is a kid though; he will be turning 40 this June hit an impressive .348, hitting 4 homeruns, driving in 13 runs and has just been having a good ol' time playing again with the team who got him started. Bay on the other hand is trying to get his career back with the Mariners; the former Rookie of the Year has had some injury troubles in the past with the Mets and is now trying his best to get back to that All Star player he was when he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red Sox. Bay has done a great job at proving that he still has pop in his bat by batting .319, hitting 2 homeruns, driving in 6 runs, and providing great defense in the outfield. 

Now I did mention this but Robert Andino made the 25 man roster and I have to admit when I heard the Mariners traded Trayvon Robinson for him I was like "Oh God nice move JZ! You just pulled a Bill Bavasi.," but he has done a great job at proving me DEAD wrong. Andino has shown me that he play shortstop still and he also showed off his bat as well. He has batted .283 and again showed off his terrific fielding abilities. He is going to provide the Mariners with a great late inning pinch runner speed, being there to give Brendan Ryan a day off, and giving us a great weapon in making a run to this years playoffs. Although to get to the playoffs the Mariners first have to go through a now tough tough American League West. The A's and the Los Angeles Angels are both threats for the AL West Title and being a dangerous Wild Card team to. Either way Mariners fans are in for one great year!