Yeah! Spring Training Almost Here

Here we had a bit of snowfall including at Safeco Filed on Sunday Night while spring training begins next week where the pitchers and catchers report on February 14. The rest of the squad report on February 18 and the spring training games start a week later on the 25^th.

Again this spring the Mariners will have a load of new faces like they had last year. So they likely will go through the same way as last year when introducing the players and them telling their stories.

The Mariners have brought back Mike Zunino to be the starting catcher after spending a good part of last season in Tacoma. We will have to see if his hitting will improve though he did have a good period when he returned to Seattle late in the season. The Mariners traded for Carlos Ruiz who is expected to be his backup. How much he will play will depend on Zunino’s hitting. We all know that his defense is major league caliber though everyone hopes his hitting will improve. Recently the Mariners picked up another catcher off the waiver wires in Tuffy Gosewisch who adds depth to the position. He is expected to start the season in Tacoma unless either Zunino or Ruiz gets hurt. The Mariners have brought back Jesus Sucre after he passed through waivers when he was designated for assignment when they signed Gosewisch. I am not sure how good a catcher he is defensively though I am sure he is because his hitting isn’t very good either. So Gosewisch and Sucre will share the catching in Tacoma most likely when the season begins.

The Mariners will have two new spots in the infield when they made a big trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks. They traded pitcher TaiJuan Walker and shortstop Marte to the Diamondbacks for shortstop Jean Segura who is step up on Marte along with outfielder Mitch Haniger who is expected to start in right field this coming season for the Mariners. The Mariners also picked up left handed reliever Zac Curtis who is expected to start the season with Tacoma however could spend some time in the Mariner bullpen if an injury occurs.

The Mariners will have a new first baseman as well since free agents Adam Lind and Dae-Ho Lee neither were brought back. Youngster Daniel Vogelbach is expected to be the starting first basemen against right handed pitching. The Mariners traded with the Oakland A’s picking up Daniel Valencia who will platoon with Vogelbach facing left handed pitching. Valencia started quite a few games at third base last year for the A’s so he will be given the chance to play there when Kyle Seager needs the day off and also in the outfield as well.

Both Seager and Robinson Cano will be back as they are expected for several years ahead at third base and second. Cano and Segura do have a history of working out together in past off-seasons so they should have a good transition working together at second and shortstop.

In the outfield besides Haniger expected to play right field the Mariners will have Jarrod Dyson to play left field next to Leonys Martin who returns to play center field. Either Dyson or Haniger can play center field when Martin needs a day off. Also they have Ben Gamel and Guillermo Heredia will fight it out for the extra outfield position. Nelson Cruz will play a little in right field though he is expected to spend most of his time as designated hitter. Shawn O’Malley is expected to be the utility player as he was most of last season. The Mariners do have a few candidates to compete with him however they likely will start the season in Tacoma.

The Mariners have two new pitchers in the starting rotation. One of them will replace Walker who was traded. The two new starting pitchers are Yovani Gallardo who the Mariners picked up from the Baltimore Orioles and lefty Drew Smyly from the Tampa Bay Rays.  Ariel Miranda who ended last season as the fifth starter will likely start the season in the bullpen as the second lefty and long reliever.

The bullpen I have mentioned in a previous post. The bullpen won’t change a lot from last year except to have a left handed specialist in it. They did pick up several pitchers for the bullpen to add depth as well. Only one spot is open in the bullpen at this time. So this is the look at the Mariners going into Spring Training next week. There is a possibility the Mariners could pick up another pitcher or two to add more depth. It will be nice to start writing again about the Mariners on a regular basis. Most likely two or three times a week until the regular season begins; last year I wrote a lot about the Mariners on each game however this year I will write more on the players and how they are doing. The beat writers already take care of the everyday games. So now I say Go Mariners!