Felix Final Spring Start

Saturday night Felix Hernandez will be making his final start going into the regular season. This will be his third start of spring. He was hit by a line drive on his right arm back at the end of February against the Chicago Cubs who he will be facing today.

The thought is by Felix and the Mariner coaching staff if he is able to throw seventy pitches effectively today he will be the opening start next Thursday night at Safeco Field. If he isn’t then James Paxton will be the opening day starter. Paxton is expected to throw on Sunday however if Felix isn’t ready to go on opening night then I am sure Paxton will only throw a couple innings or so.

I am sure most fans and the media are not that confident in Felix being the opening night starter. I hope he is because that means that he is healthy to go or otherwise we may see a delay in his starting the season.

In other news Gordon Beckman was released on Friday by the Mariners. He had a good training camp so the idea is that he wants to hook up with another major league team and likely Andrew Romine got the roster spot. More news will come down on Saturday or Sunday what the opening day roster will look like. Also Chris Bergman was sent down to Tacoma so he won’t be on the opening day roster.

I read this morning former Mariner Wade LeBlanc is going to sign with the Mariners after being released by the New York Yankees. He looks to be another candidate for the fifth spot in the rotation.

With the news a couple days ago that David Phelps will be out for the season having Tommy John surgery that we should be hearing soon whether the Mariners will be picking up a veteran to take his spot or not. At this point Dan Altavilla looks to be the guy to pitch where the Mariners intended Phelps to be. Altavilla has had a really good spring so he deserves the shot if the Mariners are not able to pick someone up that is equal or greater than Phelps.

If you haven’t heard Ichiro was hit in the head in a minor league game however he is going to be OK. He could be out a couple days before seeing action again. I wonder how much playing time he will get when the season begins. I would like Guillermo Heredia get a shot to play either regularly or semi-regularly besides starting against lefties only. I guess we will see how that goes. The Mariners feel that Ichiro should be able to play five games a week however I am sure most like me have doubt about that. If he is able to hit .250 at least than I would say so but I still would like to see Heredia play at least three times a week. I am sure Heredia will see action in most games even when he isn’t starting. He may go into the games as a defensive replacement.

Anymore updates I will let you know whether Saturday or Sunday or later on. Go M’s.