Mariners Resume Action Tonight

The Seattle Mariners had a day off on Tuesday except James Paxton who pitched better than his previous outing however he faced the Chicago White Sox minor league club. He pitched five innings giving up two home runs in the last inning and walked only one which was a good sign since he walked four and gave up seven runs in two innings.

Tonight Karns who is competing with Paxton for the fifth spot in the rotation goes tonight at 7:10 pm against the Oakland A’s a game you will be able to see on Roots Sports.  I have the feeling that Karns has the edge over Paxton right now for the fifth spot. The thing about Paxton though he has such a high side to him and the Mariners could use another lefty in the starting rotation besides Miley also Karns would fit in the bullpen better than Paxton. Whatever the case the Mariners have good depth in the starting rotation.

Speaking of the bullpen the next twelve days will decide who will be the relievers for the Mariners. Nuno and Montgomery will be the lefties unless Charlie Furbish is ready for the season. Steve Cishek will be the closer with Benoit being the primary setup man. Tony Zych and Joel Peralta should be two of the right handers coming ahead of those two. This leaves one reliever left for the bullpen.

The remaining question marks is the right handed hitting first baseman and the utility player though it seems that Luis Sardinas has the edge. We will see him playing some first base as well as Christ Taylor and Shawn O’Malley the two other candidates for the utility player during rest of spring training. According to manager Scott Servais they will get in some action there because when the regular season starts he figures late in games he will likely pinch run for the first baseman and doesn’t want to use up two players. He used the example of pinch running for Adam Lind.

This weekend will be more news about roster changes to the Mariners. Players will either be released or sent to the minors. The roster will likely be reduced down to 30 players before making the final 25 players the following week. If the Mariners pick up any players from another team it will likely be for the bullpen only. It could be for an experienced left handed specialist. In that case Nuno who still has an option would be sent to Tacoma.  Go Mariners!