Mariners Add Pitching Depth

The Seattle Mariners signed this week two more pitchers. They signed Yoshihisa Hirano to a one-year major league contract. He is expected to be used late out of the bullpen. He spent the last two seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks after 11 seasons in his native Japan.  He is expected to be in the mix to be the closer. Right now they have Matt Magill as the closer. 

The Mariners signed left-handed pitcher Wei-Yin Chen to a minor league deal. He could be competing for the fifth spot in the rotation as he has been a starter most of his career though last year he pitched in relief for the Miami Marlins who released him last November. 

Chen's best season was 2014 when he had a record of 16-6 with an ERA of 3.54 for the Baltimore Orioles. I don't think the Mariners are expecting anything like that from Chen; however, he can be a good asset for the Mariners as the fifth starter or out of the bullpen.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Mariners sign any more players. It would be nice to see if a veteran catcher could come into camp for the Mariners.  

College Basketball Thursday

The Washington Huskies and the Washington State Cougars play Arizona and Arizona State Thursday night and then reverse for Saturday.

Both teams need victories as they lost two games on the road at Utah and Colorado. The Huskies should have beaten Utah last Thursday but poor referring and lack of making shots down the stretch along with Utah making 12 straight free throws cost the Huskies the game by one point. Both teams lost badly to Colorado.

The Huskies are dead last in the Pac-12 with a record of 2-6 with the Cougars not far behind. We hope that home cooking will help both teams out. 

Both teams have ten games remaining on the season before the Pac-12 conference championship tournament. The Huskies to make it back to the NCAA tournament they must turn things around. They have to do well in the Pac-12 tournament as well. 

Everything looked bright going into conference play but not since. We root for both teams to do well the rest of the way. They will play each other twice coming up soon. I will be rooting for the Huskies.

Gonzaga plays Thursday night as well. They are on the road to Santa Clara. They beat them at home two weeks ago blowing them out 104-54. I hope for the Santa Clara fans it will be a closer game.

Crack Of The Bat

It will be so nice when we can see and hear the crack of the bat from the Mariner players. It is nice that we will see some young players in training camp that will be up this season or the next couple of years. 

The Mariners are expected to sign another potential starting pitcher or two before heading to Peoria. It seems they have a lot of utility players on the roster. Actually, they have five that will fight for two spots depending on whether they go with an extra outfielder or not. With Mitch Haniger out four to six weeks at the beginning of the season they could go with three outfielders and three utility players. 

Austin Nola who played a lot of first base last year along with a little at second base will be the Mariners backup catcher to Tom Murphy. He may play some first base as well along with an occasion at second base. It may depend on whether Dee Gordon sticks around. Gordon would be considered one of the utility players since he is not expected to start at second base. Right now the Mariners are planning to have Shed Long at second. Gordon will be the backup at second base well as shortstop. We could call him an extra infielder as well.

The four candidates for the Mariners outfield for now are Mallex Smith, Kyle Lewis, Jake Fraley, and Braden Bishop. The Mariners will have other guys trying to make it for the outfield too. Lewis, Fraley, and Bishop are no sure thing to make the opening day roster. At least two of the three should be on the roster though. Who doesn't make it likely will be one not hitting well in training camp then will be sent to Tacoma. Even if one of them doesn't start the season we will probably see them at some point in the season. We wish Haniger as a quick healer.  Go M's. 

Counting The Days

The Seattle Mariners report to spring training in 16 days. It looks like they will have at least 61 players in camp. According to general manager Jerry Dipoto, every player in the minor leagues will be seen in the major league camp at some time or another except those drafted last year.

Mitch Haniger is going to miss at least the first month of the season so we will see the action of some outfielders in spring training that we may have not otherwise. Also, someone will start the season in his roster spot as well. I am sure there are still some think the Mariners should have traded him already. We never know about injuries, it is part of the game. 

Position players are set for the most part. The main competition is for the utility player or two and the outfield sport in place for Haniger. For those who may not know the roster is going from 25 to 26 so an additional utility player or catcher, or outfielder will be on the team. 

The starting pitching rotation is pretty set as well. There could be change at the bottom of the rotation along with injuries that could happen. The bullpen is where the competition will be. We will be seeing at least 16 pitchers going for eight spots. Four or five of the spots are almost a lock.

We look toward a season to see players making a step forward even if we don't see the victories going forward. Go M's. 

Tough Times For Huskies and Cougars

The Washington Huskies continue to struggle without the presence of Quade Green their point guard who became academically ineligible before the Stanford game.  They have gone 1-5 in those games losing Saturday night to Colorado on the road 76-62.  Isaiah Stewart led the Huskies with 23 points.

The Huskies have ten games remaining on their schedule so they still have time to turn things around; however another loss or two they will need to play the guys who will be important for next season. 

The Washington State Cougars played Utah who was the Huskies opponent on Thursday night. Utah won the game 76-64. The Cougars were led by guard Isaac Bonton with 21 points. 

The Cougars are rebuilding this year. The Huskies are to in a way but most figured they would contend for the title with freshman Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels. Stewart has been the real thing being the Huskies leading scorer, however, McDaniels has had trouble since injuring his ankle against California. He missed the Oregon State game which has been the game the Huskies won but last night only played nine minutes against Colorado.

We hope for a turnaround for the Huskies and the Cougars to do well on their rebuilding.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs continue playing well getting ready for the NCAA tournament beating Pacific easily at home 92-59. They play Santa Clara this coming Thursday on the road. They beat Santa Clara easily ten days ago. Next Saturday they will be at San Francisco. 

Add To Mariner Rotation

The Mariners picked up a starting pitcher from the San Diego Padres Nick Margevicius a lefty. I wouldn't jump hoops for this pitcher for one he was picked up on waivers. At least it didn't cost the Mariners anything except Reggie McClain was designated for assignment. 

Nick had a high ERA over six last year in limited pitching appearances mostly starts. Though more depth for the rotation I would like to find someone with more success. Oh well, I guess we shouldn't have expected more.

Other news came out that Mitch Haniger will be out for about the first month of the season. On the bright side, it will allow the young outfielders to have more experience to see how they do. We hope Mitch will be able to bounce back when he is healthy. I just hope no other injuries on the frontline players. Go M's. 

Huskies and Cougars Both Lose On the Road

The Washington Huskies basketball team lost on the road at Utah on Thursday night 67-66. They have lost four of their last five games by a total of 13 points. All four of the losses they could have or should have won the games.

This game again the Huskies were leading most of the way until the last five minutes. The referring was terrible not helping the Huskies out at all. They called fouls on the Huskies that should have gone the other way. It didn't help Washington was charged for a technical foul and Utah was able to convert their free throws.

The Huskies were led by Jaden McDaniels with 14 points, however, he fouled out late in the game not helping matters along with Hameir Wright who had a good offensive night with 13 points. Isaiah Stewart the Huskies leading scorer on the season had 13 points too.

The Huskies now will face Colorado on Saturday who beat Washington State Cougars Thursday night. It won't be an easy game for the Huskies to win though it is a must-win for the Huskies to have any chance to win the Pac-12 title.

Colorado blew out the Cougars winning 78-56. Colorado beat the Huskies despite missing forward Tyler Bey the leading rebounder in the Pac-12. He is the cousin of Washington's Jamel Bey. He sat the night on the bench with a bandage on his hand.  Colorado is hoping to have Bey back on Saturday against the Huskies.