Mark Lowe pitched a simulated game in Arizona this week, and the best thing about that might have been he didn’t have to lie about it the next day.

Lowe is one of those gifted young Mariners relievers, a high-90s guy who overwhelmed the AL in 15 games in 2006 by allowing just four runs in 18 2/3 innings. Then elbow surgery sidelined him most of last season.

When Lowe, 24, returned to the Mariners in August, that fastball was still there in the four games he pitched.

What frightened him and the team was how he felt the day after each of his four appearances.

“I couldn’t pick up the ball the next day,” Lowe said.

Against that backdrop, then, Lowe was placed on the disabled list and sent to Arizona. There, for weeks, all he did was stretch his right arm.

He didn’t play catch. He didn’t lift weights.

“I didn’t do anything that would put pressure on my elbow,” he said. “They wouldn’t let me.”

This month, Lowe began throwing again. A few bullpens, each with a bit more intensity, then a simulated game. Lowe threw fastballs in the high 90s, hard, biting sliders.

“The day after, I felt great. No pain, no stiffness at all,” Lowe said.

This week, the Mariners were told by team doctors that Lowe will have no restrictions in spring training – and that he’ll be ready from Day One to compete for a job in the Seattle bullpen.

The Seattle Mariners are looking for more than five coaches for their 2008 staff, they’re looking for clubhouse presence – and clearly, they’re narrowing their focus on men who have it.

With coach John McLaren all but a rookie manager, he and the Seattle front office and narrowed the list of candidates, and here are the frontrunners to join batting coach Jeff Pentland:

• Jim Riggleman, bench coach.

• Mel Stottlemyre, pitching coach

• Larry Bowa, third base coach

• Norm Charlton, bullpen coach

• Eddie Rodriguez, first base coach

Most of those names are familiar to Mariners fans – Bowa was Seattle’s third base coach in 2000, Charlton pitched for the team in three different stints and Rodriguez spent the 2007 season managing the Mariners Class AA team.

All are known for no-nonsense approaches to the game.

Stottlemyre, 66, was a three-time 20-game winner as a pitcher, and served as the p;itching coach of the Astros, Mets and Yankees until resigning in New York after the 2005 post-season

A Missouri native, Stottlemyre now lives in Sammamish, Wa.

Riggleman, 45, has managed the Padres and Cubs and coached for the Cardinals, Indians, and Dodgers. He spent last season as a minor league instructor with St. Louis.

Bowa, 62, is a former All-Star shortstop who never made his high school team, and after his playing career managed the Padres and Phillies – and was the National League Manager of the Year in 2001.

He’s been a third base coach with the Phillies, Angels, Mariners and Yankees, and his contract in New York expires this month.

Charlton, 44, has spent the last six years in Seattle’s minor league system working with young pitchers. A member of the 1990 World Series champion Cincinnati team, Charlton appeared in 605 major league games – 249 as a Mariner.

Rodriguez, 48, is the least known of the candidates but is a career baseball man who has done most every job in the game. He was a first base coach with the Diamondbacks when they won the 2001 World Series, and was a member of Tommy Lasorda’s coaching staff in 2000 when the United States team won the Olympic Gold Medal.

He has managed and coached in the minor and majors since 1984.

The Seattle Mariners front office and manager John McLaren are meeting in Arizona this weekend to discuss replacements to a 2008 coaching staff that now includes one man – hitting coach Jeff Pentland.

High on the list of candidates for bench coach is a familiar name to Mariners fans, Lee Elia.

Elia worked with the Mariners in two different stints under Lou Piniella, from 1993 to 1997, then again from 2001 to 2003. A former manager, third base coach, bench coach and hitting instructor, Elia has worked with McLaren in Seattle and Tampa Bay.

Among the other candidates is former Seattle closer Norm Charlton, and it’s possible McLaren and the team may try to talk former players like Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner into more active coaching roles.

Both were in spring training last year with Seattle.

Stay tuned.

After finishing with their best record in four years, the Seattle Mariners and new manager John McLaren swept all but one member of the 2007 coaching staff out of work Friday.

Hitting coach Jeff Pentland, under whom the team batted .287 this season – second in the American League – has been invited to return.

Pitching coach Rafael Chaves, third base coach Carlos Garcia, bench coach Mike Goff and bullpen coach Jim Slaton were not.

First base coach Gary Thurman will return to his minor league roving instructor position, the one he held until the first week in July when he was promoted by the organization.

For McLaren, the moves give him the chance to build his own coaching staff – something that wasn’t possible when he was given the job on July 2 following Mike Hargrove’s startling decision to step down.

The search for new coaches begins immediately. Stay tuned.