* First pitch was at 1:08 p.m. (MST) with a temperature of 79 degrees.

Top of the first inning - former Mariner Rich Aurilia made two nice defensive plays (two more than he ever made with the Ms) at third base as the Mariners went down 1-2-3.

Bottom of the first -- Bedard gets Rajai Davis to ground out to second on a nine-pitch at-bat, he then gets Kevin Frandsen to pop up to right, Randy Winn gets the first hit off Bedard on a blooper to right. Inning ends with Bedard getting Ray Durham to fly out to left. He threw 15 pitches - 14 fastballs and one curve, 11 of them strikes.

Top of second -- Rich Aurilia makes yet another nice play and Greg Norton hits into a 4-6-3 double play.

Bottom of second--- Bedard has himself a little trouble, giving up three runs on two hits and a sac fly. He walked Aaron Rowand to open the inning, Rich Aurilia hit what should have been a double off the wall, but base running gaffe by Rowand left it as a single. Bedard then walked Dan Ortmeier to load the bases. From there he struck out Guillermo Rodriguez to get the firs out. However, Travis Denker, who played in Class A last year, hit a line drive through the box for the first run. Rajai Davis followed with a sac fly to right to score Aurilia and Kevin Frandsen singled to right to score Ortmeier. In all Bedard threw 44 pitches in two innings with 31 strikes, and Cha Seung Baek will be coming in.

Basically it seems like Aurilia contributed more than he did in his entire time with the Mariners.

Top of third--- Lincecum faced four batters, giving up a single off of Miguel Cairo and came out of the game for Jose Capellan, who got Jeremy Reed to pop out to end the inning.

Bottom of third --- Cha Seung Baek has relatively stress free inning but he did forget to cover first base on the third out forcing Richie Sexson to hustle hard to first base to make an easy out somewhat difficult.

Top of fourth --- Raul Ibanez leads with a single, but nothing comes of it, Mariners have jsut three hits.

Bottom of fourth --- Cha Seun Baek cruises through as Matt Tuiasosopo makes a nice catch on a line drive at third.

We're still waiting to talk to Erik Bedard, who wrapped his running 10 minutes ago. We could be waiting awhile.

Just got back from talking to Bedard and it was one of the most interesting and hard hitting interviews of my life. I'm surprised it won't be on 60 minutes. Anyway, we discussed Barack Obama's oratory skills, the failing U.S. dollar, the dried up housing market... OK maybe not... here's the gist of it.... "I threw strikes they hit them. I'm not worried. It's the first game." Not much else.

Anway the Mariners managed to cut the lead to 3-2 in the sixth on a wild pitch and a sac fly. The Mariners took the lead in the top of the eighth as Mike Morse singled to left-center to score two runs.

The Mariners travel to Scottsdale and we get to see Erik Bedard in a game situation for the first time this year....

Here's the lineup

2B - Miguel Cairo
CF - Jeremy Reed
LF - Raul Ibanez
1B - Richie Sexson
DH - Greg Norton
C - Kenji Johjima
RF - Wladimir Balentien
3B - Matt Tuiasosopo
SS - Yuniesky Betancourt
P - Erik Bedard

Other pitchers scheduled to throw
RHP Cha Seung Baek
LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith
LHP Jake Woods
RHP Sean Green
LHP Cesar Jimenez
LHP Phil Barzilla

San Francisco Giants
LF - Rajai Davis
SS - Kevin Frandsen
RF - Randy Winn
DH - Ray Durham
CF - Aaron Rowand
3B - Rich Aurilia
1B - Daniel Ortmeier
C - Guillermo Rodriguez
2B - Travis Denker
P - Tim Lincecum

News Tribune photographer Drew Perine has photo gallery from Thursday including some pretty sweet shots from the charity game with the San Diego Padres.... you can view it here...

ANd here's a small sample from it ....

Seattle banged out 15 hits in the game with 13 different players each getting. The Mariners used a seven-run sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie.

With a runners on first and third, Jeremy Reed appeared to rip a double down the right field line, only to be ruled foul by a matter of inches. On the very next pitch, Reed ripped an 0-2 fastball over the right-center field wall. The Mariners poured it on from there as Rob Johnson hit a two-run home run to left, Jeff Clement and Wladimir Balentien each added RBI singles in the inninng

"The hitting coach (Jeff Pentand) is happy I can tell you," said manager John McLaren. "We put a few nice swings on the ball today."

The Mariners took an early 3-0 lead on a two-run Mike Morse double to center and an RBI single from Jose Lopez.

Pitching-wise, starter Jarrod Washburn was very sharp going two innings and allowing just one seeing eye single.

"I thought he threw the ball really well," McLaren said. "He's been throwing well on the side and he's really improved his changeup. Wash has got a lot left in his tank."

Miguel Batista was sharp for two innings, but got a little "too fine" in the fifth, falling behind and loading the bases on a pair of singles and a walk and then gave up a run a fielder's choice. After another Batista walk, McLaren brought in R.A. Dickey with the bases loaded. Ideally it's not the best situation for a knuckleballer, but Dickey didnt' throw any wild pitches, he did give up single to Bryan Myrow, scoring a run, a misplay by Wladimir Balentien allowed the other run to score to tie the game 3-3.

"I was real happy with the first game out of the chute to swing the bats the way we did," McLaren said.

The Mariners issued the following signing update today....

The Mariners have agreed on 2008 contracts with the following players:

On February 22:
Pitchers -- Cha Seung Baek, Ryan Feierabend, Anderson Garcia, Sean Green, Jon Huber, Cesar Jimenez, Mark Lowe, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Joeseph Woerman
Infielders -- Yung Chi Chen, Bryan LaHair
Outfielder -- Wladimir Balentien
Catchers -- Jamie Burke, Jeff Clement, Rob Johnson

On February 26:
Outfielder -- Charlton Jimerson

On February 28:
Pitcher -- Eric O'Flaherty

These signings bring the total of signed players on the Mariners Major League 40-man roster to 36.

All 40 players will be signed or renewed by March 2.

Let's get to it....

Here's my story on yesterday's intrasquad game. Here's the day's spring report.

Former Mariner Scott Speizio is in a wee bit of trouble with the law. Here's columnist Bryan Burwell on Speizio.

This notebook from the Baltimore Sun has updates on the traded Mariners. George Sherrill's sore hamstring is getting better, Adam Jones hit a grand slam and Kam Mickolio was a little wild. Here's another story on Jones' home run.

Here's something on Jose Guillen.....

Lou Piniella is having trouble pronouncing a few of his players names, but he's starting to get Kosuke Fukudome's name right, thankfully.

People are not happy with the possibility of selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field.

Anyway let's get to the AL West.
The Angels catchers are friends that compete against each other....

In Oakland, the A's are using yoga to become more flexible... Rich Harden pitched well in the intrasquad game....

German world cup soccer coach Jurgen Klinsmann was at A's practice the other day..

LINEUP
CF - Ichiro Suzuki
DH - Jose Vidro
RF - Brad Wilkerson
3B - Adrian Beltre
1B - Bryan LaHair
LF - Mike Morse
C - Jamie Burke
SS - Willie Bloomquist
P - Jarrod Washburn

Also slated to pitch
Miguel Batista
R.A. Dickey
Eric O'Flaherty
Brandon Morrow

Padres lineups
San Diego Padres (0-0):
CF - Jeff DaVanon
2B - Oscar Robles
3B - Kevin Kouzmanoff
1B - Adrian Gonzalez
C - Josh Bard
RF - Jody Gerut
LF - Chase Headley
DH - Chip Ambres
SS - Luis Rodriguez

RHP - Tim Stauffer

Here's News Tribune photographer Drew Perine's photo gallery from Wednesday's practice....

http://www.thenewstribune.com/942/story/295187.html

Here's a small sample...

Richie Sexson worked out early and has the rest of the day off to be with his son, who came down with a case of pneumonia late last night. Sexson has three kids.

Sexson popped his head into John McLaren's often about 10 minutes before the team was set to take the field to let McLaren know he was headed to Scottsdale to be with his family.

* McLaren went into great length the how the addition of Miguel Cairo is going to benefit the Mariners.

There were times last season where in-game strategy was affected on when to use Willie Bloomquist as a pinch runner or defensive replacement. There were times where McLaren said they held off using Bloomquist to come in and steal a base and instead saved him for later in the game. And sometimes that thinking never allowed them to use Bloomquist at all.

But having Cairo around allows McLaren two options for the same scenario.

* Special instructor Richie Amaral is at the complex today and in uniform. He'll be working with players on base running and base stealing. Jay Buhner was also supposed to be here today, but I hadn't seen him as of late.

* Miguel Batista, the Mariners renaissance man, got to meet one of his heroes last night --- Kenny G. Yeah, that's not a typo. Batista loves Kenny G and he went to the Dodge Theater in Phoenix to meet the artist and watch him perform. We weren't able to grab Batista before the workout, but we'll see if we can get his thoughts afterward. Accoring to a couple people with the Mariners, Batista was quite giddy all evening.

Let's get to it. Since I didn't post any stuff yesterday, we'll get the twice the news today.

First of all, here's my story from Tuesday on Mariners' No. 1 draft pick Phillippe Aumont. And to add to it, here's some video I shot a few weeks back of him throwing in the bullpen.

Here's my story on utility infielder Mike Morse and his yearly quest to make the 25-man roster out of spring training.

Here's the story from MLB.com on Bret Boone admitting his troubles with alchohol.... We talked with John McLaren about it and some of his comments are in my daily spring training wrap up. Here's a similar story from the AP about McLaren and Boone.

Columnist Dave Boling wrote about the Mariners rotation.

A reminder, single game tickets for Mariners home games go on sale Saturday.

The New York Times has this story about R.A. Dickey...

The Washington Post has a nice story on former Mariner and new Orioles reliever George Sherrill.

Apparently Adam Jones made a few mistakes in the first intrasquad game with the Orioles, but it's hardly a reason to be concerned. Because of his outgoing personality, Jones is quickly becoming a favorite with the media and the players in Baltimore.

Let's get to the AL West...
As always, we'll start with Los Angeles Angels of the greater Anaheim and Southern Carlifornia area. Manager Mike Scoscia tried to play a prank on pitcher John Lackey, but it was Lackey who had the last laugh. Like so many players this spring, utitlity player Robb Quinlan (see Mike Morse) is just trying to earn a roster spot. At age 35, Garrett Anderson knows he is at a crossroads in his career. From the OC Register, Nick Adenhart is the new pitcher on the rise in the Angels organization.

Let's get over to Surprise, Arizona and the Texas Rangers ....
The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant writes how C.J. Wilson got a lesson in being a good teammate. From the Fort Worth STar telegram, pitcher Brandon McCarthy is going to miss a spring training start because of a sore arm. He's not the only one and all the arm problems are making the Rangers worry.

ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick has a story on the addition of Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley.

Now we'll get to the Oakland A's.... from the San Fransico Chronicle ... manager Bob Geren wasn't too pleased with his team's baserunning in the first intrasquad game. Here's a story on Chris Gisell trying to make the game.

News Tribune photographer Drew Perine is down here working for the week. And in coordination with the photo desk back in Tacoma, he's putting togther a gallery each day. He's got some pretty cool shots... here's an example...

Here's his gallery from the first day.... and here's his gallery from Tuesday.

As mentioned before, Erik Bedard will get the start in the opener of the Cactus League for the Mariners, Friday against the San Francisco Giants in Scottsdale.

Getting the start for the Giants is former University of Washington standout and Giants 2006 No. 1 draft pick Tim Lincecum.

It's been much debated amongst Mariners' fans about the decision to draft Brandon Morrow ahead of Lincecum with the sixth pick, while Lincecum went a few spots later at 10th..

Morrow with a bigger frame and similar velocity was viewed to have more "upside" than Lincecum. Of course, Lincecum's stature: 5-11 and 175 pounds in a soaking wet uniform, along with his unusual delivery, made some teams shy away from him as a potential injury risk.

I saw Lincecum last season pitch live against Tacoma while he was briefly in Triple A and he was dominating. His delivery makes it tough to pick up the ball and hitters complained that it jumps up on them because of it. He showed flashes of brilliance when he was called up, going 7-5 with a 4.00 ERA. But walks were a problem for him at times. When he stayed ahead of hitters, he was at times impossible to hit. And he had 150 strikeouts in 146 innings.

So looking at it now, what would you do..... Morrow or Lincecum.

All right, let's get to some links to make you think – about something other than work.

Today is one of those days when you love being outside – just check out this forecast in comparison to this forecast. To be fair, the Puget Sound area had a pretty good run of weather the past few weeks. It could be worse, you could be living here.

Here's my story from yesterday concerning the slotting of the Mariners' rotation and Sunday's Spring Training Box.

I didn't get to post this yesterday, but here's my story from Saturday concerning Adrian Beltre and his refusal to wear a protective cup while playing third base.

Here's a story on pitcher Rob Rohrbaugh from his hometown newspaper in Pennsylvania.

The Kansas City Star had a story on Jose Guillen.

Let's check out the AL West....

From the LA Times ... It looks like Erick Aybar and Maicer Izturis will be fighting it out for the shortstop position. Reliever Scott Shields hopes some offseason weight training will help him avoid a late summer swoon.

From the OC Register ... Garrett Anderson reminds people he won't be around forever, even if it feels like he already has. Howie Kendrick was part of a trade package for Miguel Cabrera that never went through.

We better check on the Oakland A's..... From the San Francisco Chronicle, Susan Slusser has stories on the A's trading often with Chicago White Sox. Unlike the Mariners, the A's still haven't figured out who their fifth starter is. After being riddled by injuries the past few years, the A's are trying to rectify the situation with some creative ideas. Don't know who Carlos Gonzalez is, you can find out here.

Over in Surprise, Arizona where the Texas Rangers are working out, pitcher Kevin Millwood has already been scratched from his first start. Here's a good story on Scott Coolbaugh from the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Coolbaugh's brother was killed while coaching first base last season.

Not much going on in the morning meeting, especially in comparison with all the rotation talk coming yesterday.

I saw Jose Vidro walking around the clubhouse without a limp. Manager John McLaren said Vidro's a little sore, but won't have any limitations for practice.

There is no live batting practice, so it won't be quite as entertaining.

A few quick notes...
The pitchers had a bet going during fielding fundamentals yesterday, with the losing team getting its hair cropped. So today, Mark Lowe's flowing locks are buzzed down, J.J. Putz's head is cropped close, and so is Eric O'Flaherty's. Ryan Rowland-Smith cropped the top and the sides, but left the long hair in the back for a pretty sweet mullet. I'll try to get pictures.

The Mariners will play their annual charity game against the Padres on Thursday. McLaren will start Jarrod Washburn, while Miguel Batista, R.A. Dickey, Brandon Morrow and Eric O'Flaherty will also pitch in the game.

The first official Cactus League game will be Friday against the San Francisco Giants in Scottsdale. Erik Bedard is slated to start, and Cha Seung Baek, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Jake Woods and Sean Green will also throw.

We all know the guy can bunt and some people wish he could bunt more. Anyway, he puts the time in at practice.

One of the drills that is common during live pitching is a bunting station for players. The players are fed balls through a pitching machine and are supposed to bunt them. Ideally they would land them in two spray painted circles that are angled down each line 10 feet away. To spice it up, manager John McLaren was betting a dozen golf balls with players that they couldn’t put six of 30 bunts into the circles.

“I’m going to build up a few dozen from each first,” McLaren said. Only one player was able to put six in the circles – Ichiro Suzuki of course.

“It’s difficult because the ground is hard and it’s hard to kill the ball,” McLaren said. “I thought we’d spice it up. It’s always better when you compete for something.”

And because it’s a competition there is the possibility of trying to gain an advantage.

“I haven’t monkeyed with machine, or anything like that I’ve been accused of in the past,” McLaren said. “I haven’t touched the machine or talked to the grounds crew about not watering there.”

But he admitted to doing those things in the past.

And we’re not talking about cheap golf balls found in a pond.

“Titleist Pro V1s or Pro V1X or Nike One platinums,” McLaren said. “Not going to have any Pink Ladys. They have to be the real deal.”

The Mariners starting rotation is finalized.

As expected, manager John McLaren slotted Miguel Batista, last year's leading winner, at the No. 5 spot the rotation with Carlos Silva at the No. 3 and Jarrod Washburn at No. 4.

So here's the rotation and who they are scheduled to make their first start against.

LHP Erik Bedard (13-5, 3.16 ERA) vs. Texas, March 31 Opening Day

RHP Felix Hernandez (14-7, 3.92 ERA) vs. Texas, April 1

RHP Carlos Silva (13-14, 4.19 ERA) vs. Texas, April 2

LHP Jarrod Washburn (10-15, 4.32 ERA) vs. Baltimore, April 4

RHP Miguel Batista (16-11, 4.29 ERA) vs. Baltimore, April 5

McLaren took several factors into deciding this rotation, numbers, splitting up the two lefthanders and other things. But one of the main reasons for Batista being five also is that he's versatile enough to pitch in relief, if and when he does get one of his starts skipped.

"Not that we intend to do that, but the option is always there," McLaren said.

But that won't happen for the first month, McLaren said.

"I don't anticipate skipping anybody for a while," McLAren said.

One thing to remember is that just because the rotation is set now, that it will stay in that same order all season.

"Nothing is etched in stone," McLaren said. "If we see a combination that might be better, we'll make adjustments."

My boy Casey back at the News Tribune has put together another photo gallery from Mariners photo day. Check it out there's some cools shots like this one.

Here's the link to the gallery....
http://www.thenewstribune.com/942/story/291294.html

The problem with using youtube is that it takes a little time for it become registered in the system to post on here, either that or I'm doing something wrong. Anyway, here's video of Erik Bedard throwing in live batting practice the other day. I was amazed at how slow and deliberate his delivery is in person. It does't seem like that on television.

Sorry I slipped not getting out the links any sooner, but it just slipped my mind the other day. While somebody people have asked if I am glued to this laptop the answer is only about 12 hours per day. Last night, I finshed up work early and took in my second NHL hockey game (the first was at age nine so no real memories) with a few other people down here. Even though you could take what all I know about hockey and it might fill a thimble, I still had a blast and it was a great game that Colorado won in a lengthy overtime shootout. Many of my friends that were hockey fans were pretty jealous.

Anyway let's get to the links.

From your newspaper for the South Sound and beyond ... The News Tribune, here's my story from Friday on Jose Lopez learning to stay more focused on the field. Here's my camp report from Thursday's practice, it mentions R.A. Dickey fooling hitters in live batting practice and Horacio Ramirez getting shelled. Here's my story from today's paper on what is going to happen with the rest of the starting rotation and some of the pitchers thoughts. My daily report complete with notes on Phillipe Aumont wowing coaches in live batting practice is at the end of the story.

ESPN Page 2's Jim Caple, a University of Washington alum, has a nice column on Dave Niehaus winning the Ford C. Frick Award.

Here's Peter Schumck's column from the Baltimore Sun on Adam Jones .... George Sherrill is already being bothered by a sore hamstring at Orioles camp.

Let's check around the AL West, starting with the defending champs, the Los Angeles Angels ... where there's plenty of news.... As you've may have heard, the Angels beat Frankie Rodriguez in arbitration. K-Rod is not a happy camper these days. Angels owner Arte Moreno ultimately still hopes to sign K-Rod to an extension. Moreno also addressed several issues about the team. Second baseman Howie Kendrick won't have Orlando Cabrera to lean on anymore.

Let's check on the Rangers over in Surprise, AZ. Here's a Q$A with Rangers beat writer Evan Grant. of the Dallas Morning News.

Updates in progress....

I just got back from the live batting practice session which was somewhat interesting. The first three pitcher - J.J. Putz, Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez - didn't have a swing taken off them. Sometimes the hitters are told not to swing, and but also with those three guys and their velocity and stuff hitters aren't real interested in taking swings.

Hitters did take their cuts off of Miguel Batista, Carlos Silva and Brandon Morrow. Silva, who pitches to contact, had the most balls put in play. However, only Mike Morse and Charlton Jimerson picked up base hits, most of the other balls put into play would have been routine grounders for outs.

But perhaps the most buzz came when the Phillipe "the Phenom" Aumonut (that's my nickname I just made up) took the hill. First of all, the guy is a monster at 6-7, 255 pounds, so stnding on the mound he looks like a giant. He was impressive. While he wasn't around the strike zone as much as the veteran pitchers, his stuff left hitters shaking their heads and the large group of coaches sitting behind the batting cage grinning, chuckling and conversing after every pitch.

Bryan LaHair wasn't afraid to take a few hacks off Aumont. He actually hit a pretty sharp ground ball to third, but his next time up, Aumont threw the hard sinker inside and broke LaHair's bat the first of many.

I asked Jeff Clement about not taking swings off Aumont and he said, "I want save my bats you saw what he did to LaHair's bat."

Aumont probably was throwing in the mid 90s at times.

"The ball does more than in the bullpens because they have the adrenaline going," Clement said.

Morse got his adrenaline level raised when Aumont threw a blistering fast ball a little too far inside for Morse comfort. Morse backed away pretty quickly and shook his head as everybody around him laughed.

"It wasn't real close, but it was close enough to get my heart going," Morse said. "He was throwing hard."

Talk about weird, Feb. 22 is Mariners' closer J.J. Putz birthday, he turns 31 today, but one of the Japanese reporters also pointed something interesting out, today is also former Mariners' closer Kazuhiro Sasaki birthday. Kaz turns 40 today.

What are the odds?

J.J. hold the club record for most consecutive saves at 31.
Happy 31st J.J.

Kaz still holds the club record for most saves in a season with 45 set in 2001. One of the reasons he wore number 22 was because he was born at 2:22 on Feb. 22.

Happy 40th Kaz.

Just got out of the morning meeting with John McLaren. You wonder some times if there's anything more to talk about with him since it seems like every possible question about every possible player has been asked. But yet we seem to find a way.

First things first, the live hitting which was normally scheduled for later in today's workout has been moved up to early in the practice because of the threatening skies and chance of rain. Felix Hernandez, J.J. Putz, Erik Bedard, Carlos Silva, Jarrod Washburn, Brandon Morrow, Phillipe Aumont will be all throwing today, so I'll try and get some reports from there.

McLaren said he should have his final three spots of the rotation sometime today or tomorrow. My feeling is that Washburn will be the No. 3 to split up the lefthanders, Carlos Silva at No. 4 and Miguel Batista at the No. 5. It's not often when a pitcher who led the team in wins gets dropped to No. 5 in the next season. Realistically in terms of sheer numbers, Washburn should probably be the No. 5 but he won't because they want to split up the two lefties.

Some of the other guys think Silva will be No. 3 and Washburn No. 4 because Silva is more likely to go 7 innings of the two.

It will be interesting to see how it all shapes up.

Look, I think we all know I'm no genius with a camera. I think we've all well established it. But my buddy Casey back at the TNT put together this slide show of photos from the AP from Peoria. There are some really great shots...

http://www.thenewstribune.com/942/story/289604.html

Here's a small sample of it ....

John McLaren wasn't trying to offend or be over critical of Venezuela or the U.s. for that matter in concerning visa policies for baseball players, but he did in some way.

In discussing Lopez's tardiness to camp he said.

"It's totally out of his control. The consulates down there can be tough to deal with sometimes." and "If you ever go to one of these thigns, you just shake your head, like 'this is how it works? You're at their mercy."

It caused for some concerned upset emails to be sent to the Mariners regarding the remarks, and McLaren took the time to address it.

"I kind of spoke out place," he said. "I was actually defending Jose and telling everybody he did what he was supposed to do and I kind of made reference the people were taking their time. I didn’t know the dynamics of it. I apologize to the people down in Venezuela. I didn’t mean to make anybody look bad. I just made the comment that Jose did what he was supposed to do. And I think I made the comment we’re at their mercy. I dind’t mean to say that. It was a poor choice of words. They have tough job down there and with security these days. I can understand that it takes time. I apologize to the people down there.

We got a few emails explaining the situation to us. I know exactly where they’re coming from and I apologize."

McLaren is know stranger to Veneuzuela having coached and managed there extensively during his career.

"I've been down in Veneuzuela and know the dynamics of it and all the people that go through that office, I should have known better," he said. Like I said, I probably shouldn’t be commenting about this, but I felt bad about it.
I appreciate Venezuela and all it has done a lot for my career."

OK I finished getting all the quotes typed in. Remember you can't take every quote on its face, Ichiro has a very dry, sardonic sense of humor that sometimmes gets lost in the language translation. But he was pretty animated and fairly amenable to all the coverage...

On the difference of coming into spring training having signed the contract extension last season.
It definitely makes me happy that this year I can just concentrate on baseball. It’s great to come into spring training just thinking about baseball. Last year was different in many ways and that was one of reasons the contract.

The Mariners were gracious enough to sign me to a five-year contract. And I have the feeling of being together with Mariners’ fans for five years in Seattle. It makes me happy.

On how he stays in such great shape in the offseason?
Nothing special, I was just trying to have some fun by playing baseball in the offseason. But usually for my goal for the offseason when I workout, I’m not trying to get in shape for baseball, but to get hungry enough that my dinner going to taste better and when I do that, I stay in shape.

On John McLaren’s comments about him stealing 80 bases?
Mac has a tendency to overexaggerate or say big things. I hope he gets rid of that tendency and become more cool-headed. The fact that he thinks that highly of my ability is something that makes me happy.

=> Read more!

We met with Ichiro a little for an hour ago. It was mini address to all things, including his fashion sense. The demand was so high that he first addressed a group of Japanese television reporters, that was followed by a session with the Japanese baseball writers, then he met with the English-speaking media with the help of translator and sidekick Ken Barron.

All things were covered and he was his typical self with dry, sardonic sense of humor, zen like philosophies and brutal honesty.

Here's an example ...

When asked about his offseason workout to stay in such phenomenal shape, he replied.

"Nothing special I was just tyring to have some fun playing baseball even in the offseason. But usually for my goal is for the offseason is not trying get in shape for baseball, but to get hungry enough that my dinner is going to taste better and when I do that I stay in shape."

I'm in the process of writing my story, but I'll provide some more of his quotes after I finish up.

We just got out of the morning meeting with McLaren, and it was fairly informative. He talked about the optimism surrounding this spring and the sense of anticipation because of how the team finished last year and the pieces they've added in the offseason.

"The organization has done their part," McLaren said. "Now it's up to us."

On the Jose Lopez front: he has his visa and will be flying out today for Peoria. McLaren said he should be in uniform Thursday.

Let's get to some news and links for the day to keep you up to date on the happenings in baseball.

Here's my story on Dave Niehaus. At the end of it is a list of all the Ford C. Frick award winners. John McGrath also has a column on it. At the end of it is a list of all the guys Niehaus worked with.

Normally, I try not to link to other area papers - the whole competition thing - but Jim Moore is good guy and he got a rare interview with Richie Sexson (that didn't involve TV cameras) and wrote a very interesting column.

Let's go around baseball ... starting with AL West.

Over in Tempe, where the Angels are working out, Vlad Guerrero said he isn't too keen on the idea of being designated hitter.

On a lighter note, Deadspin runs weekly previews of every team from guest bloggers, here's Matt Gleason of Halos Heaven's preview. For a differing view, the guys over at Lookout Landing, also posted their own preview of the Angels.

Let's head to Phoenix and the Oakland A's camp where columnist Ray Ratto's writes about the importance of this season for Eric Chavez. Here's a camp notebook discussing their bullpens. Jack Cust is comfortable with his role on the A's

Over in Surprise, Arizona where the Texas Rangers workout, columnist Jim Reeves, writes about the Rangers scoring more runs this season. Here's some more on the Ian Kinsler contract. Somewhat temperamental starter Vincente Padilla is trying to change that this year.

Elsewhere....

For you folks of Washington, here's a story on Moses Lake's Ryan Doumit of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Here' a nice column by Joe Posnanski on the father of baseball statistical analysis, Bill James.

The Florida Marlins could be getting new stadium if the vote goes right on Thursday.

Here's a column on the Red Sox's Josh Beckett.

My camera ran out of batteries and I had to go get some more, which is why I didn't post any photos from yesterday.

I don't know that we'll have a morning media meeting with John McLaren.

I know people have differing opinions about Willie Bloomquist's impact on this team, which I understand. But there is little doubt about his work ethic. Here's a photo of him taking ground balls at second base. His body position, where his feet are and his head position - it's almost perfect ...

On his 73rd birthday, Dave Niehaus, who's been broadcasting Mariners games since their inception, got a gift celebrating 31 seasons worth of work - he was named the Ford C. Frick Award winner for baseball broadcasting excellence.

We're having a conference call with him shortly.

M's manager John McLaren was ecstatic.

"My oh my," he said, aping one of Niehaus' signature lines. "What a great, exciting day for the city of Seattle, for the Seattle Mariners and for the man himself, Dave Niehaus. It's made my day."

McLaren admitted that Niehaus' frantic, jubilant call of Ken Griffey Jr. scoring from first base in the 1995 playoffs still gives him goose bumps.

"Every time they play it I get them, every time," he said.

Niehaus edged out finalists, Tom Cheek, Ken Coleman, Dizzy Dean, Tony Kubek, Bill King, Graham McNamee, Joe Morgan, Joe Nuxhall and Dave Van Horne.

Another day here in paradise. It appears we're heading toward temps in the mid 70s, and most of the position players are around.

Let's get to some news....

Here's my story from today's paper on Brandon Morrow and his return to the bullpen.

Let's check on former Mariner Adam Jones, now with the Baltimore Orioles. The Baltimore Sun has this story on Jones creating a big buzz his first day in full uniform. Here's another short story on him.

It's time to check around the AL West for some updates ....
The Los Angeles Angels
From the L.A. Times.... it looks like Frankie Rodriguez will be looking to play elsewhere next year. Gary Matthews Jr. has no problem playing left field with the signing of Torii Hunter. Besides Matthews, there are other players who will have some position adjustments.

The Oakland A's
Here's a big story on Jeremy Brown from the New York Times. From the SF Chronicle, Rich Harden feels like he's making progress already. First baseman Dan Johnson is hoping to recover from the series of health maladies that bothered him in the offseason. A's owner Lew Wulff puts aside talk about the new stadium for a day.

The Texas Rangers
Ian Kinsler agreed to a five-year, $22 million contract with the team. Closer CJ Wilson isn't crazy, he's just one weird guy. Here's five things to know about new Ranger Kazuo Fukumori.

Mariners manager John McLaren confirmed today that second baseman Jose Lopez will not report to spring training on time because he's having trouble getting out of his native Venezuela.

"He's having visa problems," McLaren said. "We were aware of it for a week or a little bit more. He shouldn't be but a day, possibly two at the most."

Lopez is far from the first player to have this problem. One out of every three clubs seems to have a player who goes through similar issues.

"It's totally out of his control," McLaren said. "The consulates down there can be tough to deal with sometimes."

The delay isn't because Lopez applied for his visa yesterday. He applied well in advance, but sometimes it can be slow for various reasons, most unknown to that person.

"If you ever go to one of these thigns, you just shake your head, like 'this is how it works?'" McLaren said. "You're at their mercy."

I got a little video of Wladimir Balentien taking batting practice...

Mariners manager John McLaren is serious about having fun - at least having fun, before it’s time to go work. McLAren and his coaching staff invoked a “Mariners Idol” every morning during their pre-workout meeting. After Wes Corcoran started off the tradition with a rousing rendition of Brooks and Dunn song, “Brand New Man,” there was a bit of a lull the following day.
It left McLaren a little upset.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” McLaren said the following day.
However, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey re-energized the ritual with a rousing rendition of “Rocky Top,” the fight song of his alma mater, the University of Tennessee.

But Monday’s performance may have been the best. The catching quartet of Jamie Burke, Jeff Clement, Rob Johnson and Adam Moore drew laughs, cheers and rave reviews after a rendition of “Me and Rog,” a tribute to Mariners catching coordinator Roger Hansen. It was a play off the country song “Me and God,” by Josh Turner.

“Me and God and Me and Rog, it’s kind of the same to us,” Clement joked.
After seeing Corcoran fight through the initial surprise of being chosen, the catchers went proactive.

“We knew were going to get picked some day, so I picked out the song, and we changed some stuff around,” Clement said.

But first they ran it by God, er, Rog.

“We gave him a head’s up and he seemed fine with it,” Clement said.
McLaren actually caught the foursome practicing it on Monday afternoon and knew he had to choose them.

“They all came out wearing smiles so I had an idea something was up,” he said.

Instead of performing in the clubhouse, the foursome did it on the field in front of players, coaches, fans and the media, with Clement and Johnson doing solos. You can listen to it at KOMO's Shannon Drayer's blog here.

Here’s a sample of the lyrics,
“Some people like to say we're like two peas in a pod”
“Me and Rog”
“I am weak but he is strong”
“Me and Rog”
“He forgives me when I am wrong”
“Me and Rog”
“He’s the one I lean on when life gets hard”
“Me and Rog”
(chorus)”He’s my daddy he’s my friend, the beginning and the end”
“We’re a team”
“Me and Rog”

And Hansen’s reaction?

“He didn’t say much,” Johnson said. “He just shook his head and laughed at us.”

As for their individual singing talents?

“American Idol called last week, but I was busy down here,” Johnson said.

Said Clement: “I think as singers, we’re pretty good baseball players.”

SHORT HOPS
While the Philadelphia Phillies' elaborate prank on Kyle Kendrick received national news coverage, Mariners reliever J.J. Putz was the victim of a prank by former mentor and former Mariners closer Eddie Guardado, who’s now with the Texas Rangers. Guardado stopped by the complex and Putz was gone, so Guardado had some fun with Putz’s locker and the things in it. It left Putz giving most of the things in his locker the smell test, and throwing a few things out. … New arrival Anderson Garcia threw off the mound for the first time and showed a pretty decent fastball. … No. 1 pick Phillipe Aumont threw another bullpen and drew a large group of watchers, including general manager Bill Bavasi and associate general manager Lee Pelekoudas. … With first baseman Brian LaHair, utility player Miguel Cairo, Greg Norton, Charlton Jimerson all joined workouts after arriving. The only players who are apparently missing are Ichiro Suzuki, Jose Lopez and Jose Vidro. … Outfielder Wladimir Balentin used a good portion of daily batting practice working on hitting the ball to right field, which is something he wasn’t able to do well last season.

You heard it right: Former Mariners second baseman Bret Boone has signed a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals. He hasn't played in a game since 2005.

Here's the story from the Nats' MLB.com site.

ESPN.com also has a story up from The Associated Press.

1. Watching Jeff Clement take batting practice might be my favorite daily aspect of the workouts so far.

There are guys who would play plenty to have his swing. It's effortless, smooth and compact. It's so efficient. I asked John McLaren who he'd compare it to, and he said he wanted to think about it. Clement can hit, which is well established.

But what I like is that he hits the ball to all parts of the field, and with some pop. He's a doubles machine - he had 35 last season - even though he doesn't run vey fast. And his plate discipline is decent: He had 61 walks and 88 strikeouts in Tacoma. While that isn't a great ratio, it's far better than some of the Mariners.

There's been much discussion about Clement's role on the team. My feeling is if he isn't going to see consistent ABs to start the season, then send him Triple A. A lot can happen in the season – injuries, slumps and such – so he'll get his call-up eventually. But as a young player, he needs to keep catching games and getting consistent ABs. When I talked with Roger Hansen, he said the confidence Cleement has gotten from catching in so many games and having success was invaluable. Clement also said the comfort he feels behind the plate came from the amount of games he's logged. But Hansen said there's still plenty Clement needs to improve, particularly his consistency from game to game.

2. Last year's No. 1 draft pick, Phillipe Aumont, is one large young man.

The 19-year-old is is 6-feet-7 and 255 pounds (I'm writing something on him for Wednesday's paper). He's gained 30 pounds since the Mariners drafted him. He admitted some of it isn't good weight, but he's also put on a lot of muscle. We all watched his last bullpen quite intently, and it was pretty impressive. The ball comes out of his hand hissing. They call it "easy gas." But the thing is, the easy gas is also darting down and away with a natural sink. McLaren compared his stuff to that of Kevin Brown's younger days.
Aumont also seems pretty levelheaded. He isn't cocky, works hard and doesn't say much. He's taking advice from J.J. Putz, which is never a bad thing.

3. I can't help but cheer for Mike Morse to make the team.

The guy is a tireless worker who has done everything the Mariners have asked. He just seems to be a man without a position. Now he's trying to work into the outfield while also working in the infield. He takes three different gloves out to every workout. Since he's out of options, the Mariners will have a tough decision to make about his future.

I don't know that he'd make it through waivers if they optioned him to Triple A.

4. Erik Bedard takes his job pretty seriously.

The guy doesn't mess around - he's very focused in whatever he's doing. I like that. It's a No. 1 starter mentality. He's pretty no-nonsense in his approach to preparation, working out and day-to-day drills. He's also been working with Aumont, since both are French Canadian. The other day, when Bedard and Felix Hernandez were throwing bullpens, it sounded like a stream of gunfire from their pitches popping the catchers' glove. It was impressive. I can't see those two taking losses in back-to-back starts.

5. McLaren is far easier to deal with than Mike Hargrove.

From a media standpoint, it's no comparison. McLaren doesn't view us as interlopers in his baseball world. He actually is pretty gregarious when dealing with the media. The guy enjoys the fact that he works in baseball and he doesn't try to hide it. And he wants his players to enjoy it, hence the American Idol in morning meetings, and little competitive games during drills. I think that kind of stuff is necessary.

6. The Mariners needs to find a leader for the position players.

Putz is obviously the leader of the bullpen and basically the pitching staff, while the starters are a fairly veteran group, with the exception of Felix, who hold themselves accoutable.

But last year, Jose Guillen was kind of the position players' leader. Sure, he was kind of a psycho, and I swear there were times he had "crazy eyes." But he didn't put up with any junk, he played extremely hard, he held everybody accountable and he put up the numbers to back it up.

Who will it be this year?

Ichiro has never been that player. I highly doubt it will be Sexson who spends most of his time out of the clubhouse and away from the media. Betancourt is too young, Lopez is too mentally inconsistent, Johjima has the language barrier, Wilkerson is the new guy and has something to prove. That leaves Beltre and Ibañez. Neither is extremely vocal, but they may have to be.

Kenji Johjima takes a few moments to sign some autographs for some young fans.

Well, Monday is the beginning of a new week, but honestly the days kind of run together because the Mariners have no off days, so we have no off days. But I figured since have some time to kill tonight, I'd put some more stuff up.

I will say I'm excited to see the position players get here, so we can get a little variety to the workouts. A person can only watch so many pitchers' fundamentals each day and not get bored. Along those lines, here's some video of Yuniesky Betancourt taking grounders.

And here's a picture of everybody's favorite hitter, who manager John McLaren hoped was going to hit 40 home runs this season.

I think Mariner fans would be satisfied with 25 home runs and 120 RBI. It bodes well for the M's that it's a contract year for Sexson, since many players seem to always have their biggest years in those seasons, kind of like Adrian Beltre did with the Dodgers before he came to the Mariners.

Betancourt, Sexson, Raul Ibañez and Adrian Beltre all worked out today. It means the bulk of the position players are here with only notable absences being Ichiro, Jose Lopez, Jose Vidro, Charlton Jimerson and the recently signed Greg Norton. But most likely, they'll be showing up in the coming days.

Media sessions with John McLaren can be quite entertaining. He's a man of a million stories, and today, the talk turned to hockey.
McLaren interrupted himself during the morning meeting when he saw a hockey fight on television. He immediately shifted the conversation to hockey, first mentioning that his first roommate in professional baseball was Clark Gillies, who later went to win four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and make the NHL Hall of Fame.

He then told a story about when he was managing the Medicine Hat Blue Jays and how then-Toronto general manager Pat Gillick called him to inform they might be adding a player to his team.

“I get a call from Pat Gillick and he said we’re getting ready to sign a junior (hockey) player and he’s a good hitter, but a little crude,” McLaren said. “He didn’t sign him. But that player was Wayne Gretzky.”

Gretzky was a left-handed hitting first baseman, McLaren recalled.

“I’ve always wanted to meet him and ask him how close he was signing,” McLaren said. “I heard his mom wouldn’t let him.”

Probably a good call by Gretzky’s mom.

McLaren said that he once asked Ichiro Suzuki, who was the one athlete in the U.S. he wanted to meet. Ichiro's response: Wayne Gretzky. With the “Great One” coaching the Phoenix Coyotes, McLaren might make his center fielder’s wish come true.

“We’re trying to set something up,” he said.

Let's get caught up on some baseball news, shall we?

Here's my story on Chris Reitsma, who's had five elbow surgeries and is still trying to fight his way back into the bullpen.

ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick has a story on the Mariners.

CNNSI's Jon Heyman gives the Mariners an A for their offseason dealings.

Let's take a look around the AL West ...

We'll start with Los Angeles Angels. From the Los Angeles Times ... It appears closer Francisco Rodriguez isn't too happy with his contract situation. Who's got the inside track of replacing ORlando Cabrera at shortstop. Can Ervin Santana be a legitimate contributor to the pitching staff? Here's big story on Torii Hunter. And here's another one.

From the OC Register, Joe Saunders, who was tough on the Mariners a couple times last season, feels like he's the odd man out of the rotation.

Let's check on the Texas Rangers.... manager Ron Washington isn't listening to the predictions of his team finishing last in the league. Expectations are still high for starter Brandon McCarthy.

ANd how about the Oakland A's..... the leading man in the book Moneyball, Jeremy Brown, has apparently retired from baseball at age 28.

Joe Blanton is throwing again which is a good thing for the A's. Look for this guy to become the first Asian-American manager in baseball.

In the midst of trying to set up the video and pictures from yesterday's post, I forgot to mention that the Mariners added another player, claiming right-handed pitcher Anderson Garcia off of waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies and have added him to the 40-man roster.

He's in camp today. And we'll throw on the side on Monday.

"Anderson is a guy our scouts have liked in the past," said Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi. "We felt it was an opportunity to add some pitching depth to the organization."

Garca, 26, made his major league debut last season, appearing in one game , throwing 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run.

I was messing around the video function on my camera today and actually got some workable video, albeit a little bouncy at times. Anyway, here's 45 seconds of Jeff Clement working on blocking balls in the dirt. As someone who's very familiar with it, the drill is not fun, but necessary.

I wrote a story the other day about Clement's defensive progress. But here's a first hand look....

Also if that's not enough, I've got a picture of Jamie Burke doing the same drill. He may be wearing pads, but you can still feel the ball hit your body, particuarly your forearms which banged up pretty badly. Take a look at his facial expression.

Miguel Batista gets some tips from Mel Stottlemyre

Just finished up the morning meeting with John McLaren. It was pretty uneventful, although he did take the time to mention that despite yesterday's fun and games, the focus is still on working and improving.

"Make no mistake, our guys are working extremely hard and we know there's a time when we'll have to turn the intensity up," McLaren said. "As long we're having fun doing our drills we accomplish two things: we enjoy being out there and it makes time pass better for the players. Sometimees these drills get a little tedious and tends to drag a little bit."

I don't know if he got the impression that people think things like "Invite a friend" or the singing at the morning meeting are too lighthearted for a professional team.

"At this point in spring training, we can have a little fun with it and do our work too," he said.

It's something I totally agree with McLaren on. Look, baseball seasons can be a daunting, repetitive, mind-numbing grind and you can't attack a every workout with a fiery, football type intensity every day. It just doesn't make sense and your players will be physically, mentally and emotionally depleted by midseason.

I like the idea of throwing some added competition and incentive in the drills. These players, at least the ones that are going to stick around, are competitors at heart, so doing little games in the drills tweaks that hyper-competitive streak that's in almost all of them.

Carlos Silva said it best yesterday about the mentality you need to have.

"No matter what I'm doing, no matter if I'm playing PlayStation, I'm ," he said. "Seriously. That's the attitude I think you have to have. I'm the kind of person, no matter what game I'm playing, no matter what position or whatever, I always like to compete."

I think players know when to have a laugh and have some fun and when to turn the intensity. Today, during the bullpen sessions pitcher will be focused and all about execution. But when they're off playing pepper or fielding ground balls the mood lightens.

Erik Bedard, Felix are throwing the first bullpen session I'm going to try and get photos of it.

A few more position players have shown up at the complex, including Brad Wilkerson, Jeremy Reed, Tug Hulett and Matt Tuiasosopo. They'll be working out on a separate field with the guys that have been here all week, like Mike Morse, Wladimir Balentien, Willie Bloomquist and Yung-Chi Chen.

I was having some problems with the blog earlier. I tried to post but internet kept crashing. I almost fired the lap top through the wall like it was a Bedard fastball.

Since I lost all the stuff I've written, I'm including some of my notes that were going into my spring training boxes.

The workout

Invite a friend running

The pitchers workout was relatively short since, no pitcher threw a bullpen session. Instead, they played long toss and then worked on fielding fundamentals, with one group working on fielding ground balls back to the mound, while another group worked on covering first base on ground balls to the right side of the infield. It can be mind numbing drills, but new pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre spiced it up a little, by invoking the “invite a friend” rule. Basically if a pitcher messed up on fielding drill, he was required to run a lap around the infield. But he also had to pick two teammates to join him.
“It was interesting,” said manager John McLaren. “I enjoyed watching it unfold.”
What unfolded in one group was that Miguel Batista had to run constantly, but not because he missed balls, but because teammates J.J. Putz and Horacio Ramirez missed several balls and made Batista run.
“I had to run like eight laps and I didn’t miss a ball,” he said. “Every time someone would miss, they’d say, ‘Miggy!’ ‘Miggy!’”
What was even more galling to Batista was that Putz started missing balls on purpose in order to make Batista run.
“I might have tanked a few,” Putz said with a grin. “Those starters need to get all the running they can.”

The catchers had no such fun and games under catching coordinator Roger Hansen, who had them working on plays at the plate among other drills.

Position watch: Fourth outfielder
For all intents and purposes, the starting outfield will be Raul Ibanez in left field, Ichiro Suzuki in center and the newly acquired Brad Wilkerson in right. But there will be a roster spot for a fourth outfielder that could is still open. The contenders are Mike Morse, Wladimir Balentien and Jeremy Reed.
Morse, who’s played every position in the infield, came early to spring training and has been working on playing outfield. Morse is plenty athletic enough to learn the position. He may have the inside track because he’s out of Triple A options. Balentien could offer the best power from the plate, but he has to prove he can hit consistently. Reed, who was the opening day starting center fielder in 2005, is the best defensive player of the three and can play all three positions effectively, but his hitting is the poorest of the three.

Notable
Batista has been wearing a first baseman glove during workouts. McLaren said it was the reason why Batista hadn’t missed a ball in during fielding drills.
“He’s using a knuckleball glove out there,” McLaren said. “He’s got a first baseman’s mitt so he shouldn’t miss a ball, the little cheater.”
But Batista said the reason for the glove wasn’t to gain advantage but to protect his hand from playing catch with Felix Hernandez during warm-ups.
“The coaches asked me why I wear the glove and I told them to go as their 21-year-old starting pitcher why I wear it,” Batista said. “He’s breaks your hand when you play catch with him.”
McLaren, who has a morning meeting with players daily, introduced something new to it, by making one player stand up and say a joke or sing something. The first victim was reliever Roy Corcoran. When Corcoran said he didn’t know any jokes, they told him to sing some of the country music he listens to. So Corcoran belted out part of Brooks and Dunn’s “Brand New Man.”
“It was alright,” Corcoran said with his heavy southern drawl.

Medical report
No major injury issues for the players, but the Mariners had a couple incidents with their coaching staff with two coaches having been transported to the hospital on Thursday. Double A pitching coach Scott Budner, who was taken by ambulance to Arrowhead Hospital with extreme back pain, was doing better. He had an MRI on his back and is on medication, but won’t be back on the field for a few days. … Meanwhile, new Class A Wisconsin manager Terry Pollreisz was taken to Arrowhead after feeling lightheaded after throwing batting practice. Pollreisz, who coached first base for the Rainiers last season and is a former University of Portland head coach, was still fighting the lingering effects of a chest cold and was suffering from an elevated heartbeat. He spent the night in the hospital for observation, but was back at the complex on Friday.

Short hops
Fans got a first-hand look at catching coordinator Roger Hansen no nonsense approach to teaching. With several fans watching, Hansen, who’s notorious for being tough on catchers, didn’t hold back or sugarcoat his criticism even with spectators on hand. Catcher Jeff Clement got married in the offseason, and when asked if Hansen was at his wedding. He offered, “No” quite quickly. … ESPN’s Peter Gammon was at the facility and spent much of the morning workout on the field chatting with McLaren. …

After two days of bright sunny days, gray clouds are covering the sky and it feels a bit cool out. Now let's get realistic, the temperature right now is 50 degrees, so if I got this type day in the Puget Sound area, which isn't too warm today, I'd be wearing shorts and loving life. But after two sunny days in the 70s it feels a little brisk. It could be worse though.

Still, the forecast is for rain and thunderstorms. But M's manager John McLaren just shook it off because of the facilities at the complex, it didnt' seem like a big deal.

"We’ve got shooting galleries (covered throwing areas) back there," McLaren said. "We’re not too concerned. They’re going to get their work in."

Rain in the spring is not something that's too common in Arizona, but over in Florida that's a whole other issue.

"In my experience Arizona is so much better than Florida as far as weather," McLaren said. "We went stretch when I was with Toronto where it rained for like three weekss traight and we didn't have the facilities like we do here. We were borrowing church gyms and throwing parking lots and going three times a day to get them in. It was definite challenge."

The biggest problem rain can have is when spring training games start and a pitcher doesn't get his scheduled work in. It can throw everything off kilter for the staff and the pitcher.

Other notes from the morning meeting:

* I managed to sidetrack much of it asking about players coming into camp in better shape, than in years past, which prompted McLaren to tell a story about working out on an "Exergenie" back in 1970. Nobody in the room was too pleased when I said I wasn't born before 1970.

That topic then led to nutrition, which McLaren, a man full of anecdotes, talked about how with Blue Jays, they decided to feed players health food for a week, and Toronto lost six straight. Finally, the always entertaining George Bell stood up in a postgame meeting and demanded cheeseburgers be brought back to the clubhouse. And the team won the next day.

There was some baseball talk
The Mariners will hold an intrasquad game on Feb. 27th. Don't expect any of the main starters to play though because McLaren said he doesn't particularly care for them and neither do most of the players.

Well, another day is almost over. But since I got back from 24 hour fitness and got some time to kill while I watch Conan, I'll post a few links from around baseball.

Here's my story on Jeff Clement and his catching progress and the fact that he's going to have a hard time making the team.

This column by ESPN's Jayson Stark mentions how Bedard and Felix are the most frightening top of rotation in baseball.

From around the American League West....

The Oakland A's training staff has been called into question by oft-injured pitcher Rich Harden. Here's a similar story from the San Jose Mercury News. Newly signed DH candidate Mike Sweeney feels strange about going into camp with a new team. HArden's complaints seem small in comparison to fellow pitcher Chad Gaudin's offseason.

Let's check out the Los Angeles Angels.... the LA Times has this breakdown of the Angels as they head into spring training. The Times also had this story on Reggie Willits, who had his gallbladder removed in the offseason. The Orange County Register had a similar story. The Angels MLB site reports that the overall depth of the Angels staff will be able to overcome Kelvim Escobar's shoulder injury.

According to their MLB site, the Texas Rangers are ready to put last season's issues behind them. This notebook mentions competition for the starting catching spot, Ian Kinsler's contract situation and Jason Botts' playing some first base.

Around baseball ...

Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez has been tied to cockfighting. Oh and closer Ryan Dempster predicts the Cubs will win it all. I can almost envision Lou starting to get irritated.

Boston's Curt Schilling has started his shoulder rehab.

New York Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez is very happy with the signing of Johan Santana.

The Padres feel they should be a contender in the NL West.

For by buddy Wally, here's the preview of the Phillies for this season and what they need to do be successful.

Here's a story on Detroit's Curtis Granderson, who just signed a monster contract.

CC Sabathia won't be engaging in any more contract talks with the Indians till after the season.

The TNT gave me a camera to take some shots to post on the blog so I figured I'd put a few up from today's first workout. As a reminder, I have no professional training in this and the camera isn't the highest quality.

As for the workout, all the pitchers threw bullpens, with Mark Lowe, Arthur Rhodes and Chris Reitsma throwing modified pens as they recover from their repsective surgeries.

Mark Lowe throwing a bullpen

Jeff Clement works on receiving

New bullpen coach Norm Charlton and closer JJ Putz coverse shortly after Putz finished throwing

Editing in progress

Well, a cool morning is starting to turn warm as the sun breaking through the clouds at times and a warm day in the 70s is expected.

We had an ambulance and fire truck at the complex after a health scare. It wasn't one of the players, instead it was Class AA pitching coach Scott Budner, who was complaining about extreme lower back pain that made it difficult to walk, according to Mariners media director Tim Hevly. The ambulance was precautionary and the early prognosis was that it was nothing too serious and that Budner was being transported to Arrowhead Hospital for observation.

After a couple of meetings, we met with John McLaren for the morning briefing. It's a standard deal every day in spring.

A few things from it ....

* He mentioned that he has his five starters chosen, which wasn't really a surprise. As we said yesterday, Erik Bedard is the No. 1, Felix Hernandez is No. 2, and that leaves the three spots to Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista and Carlos Silva. Now in what order those three will go has yet to be determined.

They could drop Washburn, who was No. 2 last year to No.3, so they go left-right-left at the top of the rotation. But both Batista and Silva are sinkerballer pitchers so they may also want to split them up. Batista is coming off his best season in years, while the Mariners did pay Silva a pretty healthy sum of money, enough to where they wouldn't like to see his starts skipped as the No. 5

If you were McLaren what would you do?

* McLaren said that Morrow's role would be the seventh and eighth inning guy in the prepping to be a starter, his pitch count and arm strength are up and McLaren is comfortable using him for two-innings or on back-to-back days.

* Also if catcher Jeff Clement doesn't win a starting job at catcher or DH, he's ticketed for Tacoma. McLaren feels that Clement's potential is far too great to have him sitting on the bench in Seattle rather than playing every day in Tacoma. He also said that there are no plans to move Clement to another position -- say first base.

Clement and some of the other catchers were trying on and playing with a fast-pitch softball catchers mitt in preparation for catching knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. It's the same type of glove that Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli uses to catch Tim Wakefield.

* It also appears that Eric O'Flaherty leads the competition to replace George Sherrill in the lefthanded specialist out of the bullpen. Fellow lefties Ryan Rowland-Smith, Cesar Jimenez and Arthur Rhodes will all compete. Rhodes will have to wait a little, since he's still recovering from Tommy John surgery.

* The signing of Greg Norton was something that McLaren was all for, having coached him in Venezuela and against him over the years. Besides being a switch-hitter, Norton can play a handful of positions, including first and third base, and is a good pinch hitter with some pop.

The Mariners announced today that Greg Norton has been signed to a minor league contract and invited to spring training.

The 35-year-old switch-hitting Norton spent the last two seasons with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, or Rays, as they are called this season.

Knee surgery forced him to miss the first month of the season. He hit .243 in 75 games with four home runs and 23 RBI for Tampa Bay; most of his plate appearances came as a pinch hitter.

It was a large drop off for Norton, who was solid in 2006, hitting .296 with 17 home runs and 45 RBI in 98 games.

Norton's addition pushes the number of players at camp to 56, with 39-rostered players and 17 non-roster invitees.

From my acqb1424 (also known as my boy, Aaron Chantler): Ryan, it's your former sports clerk, Chantler. Just wanted to say glad to see that you got the M's beat for awhile. Anyway, I've kind of been hearing that Corey Patterson might be a fit for the M's, if you hear anything like that down there will you let us know? Also, I'd love to hear what you think about Morrow being moved back to the pen. I hate that move and think you're wasting the number five pick as a setup guy. This is only going to hurt his development. What do you think?

No word on Patterson, although Bavasi didn't rule out signing another player for depth. I like Patterson's speed (he stole 37 bases last year, and 45 the year before), and defensively he's better than most outfielders, with a surprisingly good arm. That's something that could help the Mariners, particularly since Raul Ibañez is starting to wear down physically and Brad Wilkerson has been hampered by injuries.

The biggest problem I have with Patterson is that he's a hacker. He'll swing at anything. Now, while his strikeouts have gone down every year since peeking at 168 in 2004 when he was with the Cubs, so have his at-bats, particularly against left-handers. His power numbers also have steadily declined, even playing at hitter-friendly Camden Yards.

I don't know that you want to add another free swinger to a team full of them, but then again, if they want a fourth outfielder and some insurance for Wilkerson, he might be the best option because there isn't a lot out there right now and Patterson might be the best, at least according to this blogger.

As for your question about Morrow, John McLaren confirmed today that Morrow's role this season will be in the bullpen. He will not compete for a starting job in spring training. Horacio Ramirez and R.A. Dickey will most likely be the long relievers, unless they can unseat Miguel Batista or Carlos Silva for a rotation spot, which is highly unlikely.

I think it's frustrating for Mariners fans to see Morrow not have an established role, particularly with local boy Tim Lincecum, who was drafted after Morrow, starting for the Giants. But with the signings of Bedard and Silva there is no rush to put Morrow in as a starter.

According to McLaren, Morrow's slider and splitter improved vastly this winter and he's comfortable enough to use them on a regular basis this season. The Mariners have adopted a win-now mentality and I think he helps them do that. They are a much better staff with him on it, even from the bullpen. They need a power arm as a setup guy, and until Mark Lowe is proven fully recovered from arm surgery, Morrow is the best option (unless they can reswap Ramirez for Rafael Soriano).

Are they sacrificing some of Morrow's development to win now? Perhaps. But the Mariners feel they are close right now and it does no good having Morrow's electric arm dominating Triple A, when it could be getting big late inning outs in the big leagues.

There hasn't been an official workout for pitchers and catchers yet, but Mariners manager John McLaren has named newly acquired lefty Erik Bedard as the starter for opening day against the Texas Rangers on March 31 at Safeco Field. It means Bedard will replace Felix Hernandez as the team's No. 1 starter for the season.

McLaren cited "experience" as the main factor.

What's interesting is that the two met for the first time this morning.

"It was nice meeting Erik this morning, and I let him know he was going to be our opening day starter," McLaren said.

When asked if being the opening day starter was the first thing McLaren told him, Bedard said, "pretty much."

McLaren said he informed Hernandez of the decision on Monday.

"He's comfortable with our decision," McLaren said. "We haven't put our rotation together yet to see how everything falls in. Erik's definitely going to be opening day, and Felix is going to be No. 2 and we'll let the rest kind of work it's way out."

McLaren said he wanted to tell Felix immediately to end any speculation by the media.

"I didn’t want him being approached by you guys without me talking to him first," McLaren said. "He was fine with it."

Bedard, who puts little stock into things like this, shrugged about the news.

"I don't know why everybody makes such a big deal about it," he said.

He isn't alone in his thinking.

"Y'all are going to make a bigger deal out of this than anybody else," McLaren said. "Felix is fine with it. We're fine with it. We just think this is the best route to go with at this point."

We're coming to you live from the Mariners' spring training complex in Peoria. There are a few writers here today. Manager John McLaren is going to talk with the media about 10:30 a.m.

In the mean time, I thought I'd post some info about what the other teams are doing.

The Los Angeles Angels are in Tempe. Here's a story from their official site about their rotation and an update on Kelvim Escobar's injury.

From the Los Angeles Times, it appears that K-Rod is headed for salary arbitration. Infielder Erick Aybar could push for the Angels' starting shortstop spot with the absence of the traded Orlando Cabrera.

From the Orange County Register, like the M's, the Angels face their own set of questions headed into spring.

Let's check on the Texas Rangers....The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant explains why the Rangers couldn't make a move for a frontline pitcher like Erik Bedard. The Rangers welcomed back the man with the largest head in all of baseball (size 8 hat) Kevin Mench, signing him to a free agent contract.

As for the Oakland A's, here's a story about their pitching staff and how it stacks up even without Dan Haren. The A's are taking a chance on KC DH Mike Sweeney as a non-roster invitee. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto has an interesting look at non-roster invitees to camps like Sweeney.

Alright, I made it to Phoenix about 5 p.m. (MST) and it took about an hour to get my bags and rental car and fight rush hour to Peoria and the domicile that will be housing me for the next 44 days. My car's thermometer said it was 74 degrees outside. Yeah, I know you hate me.

I saw current Cubs coach and former Mariners first base coach Matt Sinatro at the airport. I think he was actually on my flight out of Seattle. When I was at the grocery store getting supplies for my lil' condo (they didn't have any gallons of skim milk) I saw King Felix getting some groceries with his family. He looked like he was in even better shape than last year. That's a good sign.

My story from Sunday's paper addressed several questions facing the Mariners this spring.

What are your biggest concerns heading into spring?

As some of you may have noticed, Larry is taking some time away from the beat. I won't get into it, because he's going to let you all know what's going on in the coming weeks. But for the time being, you are stuck with me.

As I told my boss Dale when he approached me about taking over in the interim, this is still Lash's beat and I'm just keeping the seat warm. When he says it's time to come back, I will gladly step aside. I know this much: As an intern at this paper six years ago, and now as an employee, I marvel at his coverage and love his game stories.

While I could never replicate the insight Larry has concerning Mariners baseball, I will try to provide you with plenty of updates, news, analysis, comments, observations and anything else pertinent.

This is my first spring training as a writer (I went to Red Sox spring training three years ago). Consequently, this all pretty new and fresh for me. Along the line of that idea, I want to make sure I try to give you not only the information, but a sense of how it all works down here because not everybody gets a chance to come to spring training. I've got a camera, I've got my recorder and I'm going to post stuff from each on here, as well as daily anecdotes.

I'm also going to post links from different teams and stories from around baseball, particularly the AL West, because I think it's important to know what's going on with the direct competition as well. I did something similar for the Seahawks blog. My feeling is you can never have too much baseball information.

I'll also be working with Darrin Beene back in Tacoma to keep this blog moving and also changing. We're going to add some stuff to make it more user friendly and spice it up and have a little fun with it. To paraphrase Crash Davis in "Bull Durham": "It's fun &%S dammit."

As for me personally, as my bio said, I did play baseball in college at an NAIA school (the low academic qualifying meant we had some real rocket scientists on our team). If I had to give a scouting report of myself: "Pretty good bat, decent power, hits offspeed marginally, defensively he looks like he started catching in college (true) and possibly the slowest person to ever call Montana home."

Now whether it makes me any better at understanding this stuff remains to be seen. But I know baseball, and I know what I look for in good teams and good players, and I'll be quick to point it out.

I know that sabermetrics have become all the rage in baseball analysis. The former player in me will never completely submit to statistical analysis, but I think if you can't recognize its value and substance you are closing yourself to new ideas and possibilities.

It's the same with this blog. I encourage debate and conversation (just keep it civil). I also want this to be interactive. If you have a story idea or are wondering about something, I definitely want to hear it. Part of the blog is shaping the coverage to the readers. Ask questions, and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability. Hear a rumor? I'll try to find out if it's true. Got a story idea? Share it. Got an opinion? Share it. I'm also going to do some live on-line chats from here as well.

Well, I better wrap this novella up. Feel free to post or email me at any time. I won't ignore them.

Who's ready for some baseball?

I know KJR broadcast the press conference live, but for those of you who didn't hear it, you can listen to it here

My initial impression of Erik Bedard is that he's a likable guy. He's friendly and pretty candid, but not too interested in talking about himself, particularly how he pitches, or what he pitches like or his accomplishments. So basically he's the exact opposite of Curt Schilling, who's favorite subject to speak about is Curt Schilling.

Other stuff you may want to know....

In the press conference, Bill Bavasi implies Brad Wilkerson is the starting right fielder. He also said Brandon Morrow is moving back to the bullpen and that plans to use him as a starter are on the back burner for the time being.

Anyway, I'm writing up my story now, and working on a big Sunday package surrounding the start of spring training.

I was on a onference call with Adam Jones and George Sherrill. Both expressed relief the trade to Baltimore finally went through.

I think the initial shock or surprise or whatever you want to call their reaction to leaving the Mariners has worn off and the realities of life have set in. Remember, these guys are reporting to spring training next week and they need to know where they're going to live and train for the next two months because the O's train in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., while the Mariners are in Peoria, Ariz.

Here's what Jones had to say about learning about the trade while playing in Venezuela and subsequently letting the cat out of the bag when he talked to a reporter down there:

“The first time I heard about it was the second week I got there… My manager told me I wasn’t playing and I was upset about it, but I understood what was going on and I was trying to figure out what the situation was. Then the second time was during the final, which hurt me personally because I wanted to be there for my teammates, but I understood the situation. I was just trying to let everybody know what was going on and (share) all the information that I had. I wasn’t sure about everything… but you put one and one together. The whole situation blew up quickly and everybody started to know about it. But I’m glad that nobody was hurt over it and now we can move forward.”

=> Read more!

Just got the word from Mariners' Jeff Evans that trade has been finalized and a press conference is scheduled for 2 p.m. today. I'm getting ready to head up that way, and I'll post as soon as possible about the dealings.

This is what passes as news on the Erik Bedard trade front: Three newspapers are reporting that Bedard has left his home in Canada this morning to fly to Seattle for a physical that will finally end this saga.

The Baltimore Sun, The Seattle P-I and the Seattle Times are saying sources have confirmed that Bedard will be in Seattle this afternoon. A Seattle Mariners official would not confirm this and said the team currently does not have plans for a news conference.

The reports said an announcement may not come before Friday or even Saturday because Bedard's examination could take up to two days to complete. That's some physical.

Erik Bedard is expected to arrive in Seattle this afternoon to take a physical, the final step in the completion of the six-player deal between the Orioles and Mariners.

The Mariners have agreed to send outfielder Adam Jones, left-handed releiver George Sherrill and three minor league pitchers to the Orioles in exchange for the 28-year-old Bedard.

Wednesday is shaping up like much of the rest of the week in regards to the Mariners trade with Baltimore for pitcher Erik Bedard: Nothing to report.

The Baltimore Sun, on its website, reports that as of late Wednesday afternoon Bedard had still not traveled to Seattle to take a physical. And despite reliever George Sherrill and outfielder Adam Jones having already taken their physicals earlier this week in Baltimore, the trade can't go through until Bedard takes his. So maybe Thursday that gets done... or Friday.. or whenever.

Jones and Sherrill are two of the five players the Mariners are reportedly sending to the Orioles for Bedard.

Another late post thanks to some Super Bowl-sized indigestion. Maybe it was the spicy gumbo. Maybe it was the taquitos and empanadas. Maybe it was the layered dip and tortilla chips. Maybe it was the second or third helping of each. Maybe I’m a pig.

Anyway, it looks like the Bedard thing may be getting closer. The PI has a source saying Adam Jones was in Baltimore on Sunday for a physical. That would be roughly the third time Jones was supposedly there for a physical. Also here's the latest from the Baltimore Sun.

As soon as I find out something, I’ll post it immediately. I’m hoping it gets done in the next two days, so we can all move on to spring training.

I know many of you have your opinions on the trade, and you’ve shared them, which is good. It’s a big part of what this blog is for. As for me, I’m still waiting for it to become official before I completely make up my mind – because I’ve changed it a few times.

Feel free to keep posting your thoughts … and I’ll be sharing mine daily.

And to answer a previous question: Yes, I’m going to spring training. I leave Feb. 12, but more on that situation later.