Under the theory that a team never has enough pitching, the Seattle Mariners and GM Jack Zduriencik added one.

Luis Pena, a 26-year-old hard-throwing right-hander, was claimed on waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers - the team Zduriencik left to join Seattle.

Pena was in the clubhouse shortly after noon and will begin working out with the team today.

Last year, closing for Class AAA Nashville, Pena had 15 saves, went 2-3 with a 6.93 earned run average in 52 games. He threw 47 innings, struck out 49 batters and walked 47.
Pena's a tall fellow - 6-foot-5 and listed at 200 pounds.

He becomes the 30th pitcher in camp, and that number will grow to 31 in a few days when Jarrod Washburn joins the club after an excused absence.

Ryan Rowland-Smith made the decision he’d been putting off for weeks, passing on the chance to pitch for Australia in the World Baseball Classic.

“We talked about it yesterday, and he said he’d pretty much made up his mind but wanted to sleep on it,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “We’d have supported him either way. Now, we can control his innings, get him ready for the season by actually having him in camp.”

Rowland-Smith, 26, broke into the Seattle Mariners rotation late last year and went 3-2 with a 3.50 earned run average in 12 starts. This spring, the WBC called to him and he spent much of the winter talking to family and friends about just what to do.

“They were more confused than I was,” Rowland-Smith said. “They could see the advantages of staying with the team all spring, and going to the WBC.”

The left-hander had hoped at one point that he could join Team Australia and pitch in games for them while still training with the Mariners – a logistical nightmare Seattle quickly eliminated.

“It wasn’t going to work,” Rowland-Smith.
On Sunday, he made the tough call. Stick with his team all spring and try to pitch himself into a crowded rotation that – beyond Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard – includes candidates like Brandon Morrow, Jarrod Washburn, Carlos Silva and Garrett Olson.

“We’re getting the first chance to put our eyes on a lot of guys in this camp,” Wakamatsu said. “The more you see them pitch, the more you know about them. I’m glad we’ll get to see Ryan all spring. I know it wasn’t an easy decision.”

Among the more excited – and exciting – pitchers in camp is 24-year-old right-hander Shawn Kelly, a genuine long-shot to make the team.

Unless you consider his arm.

Kelly is a high velocity reliever with the stuff to make hitters miss, the kind of pitcher every team covets. He’s survived ‘Tommy John’ surgery, and over the last two years he’s climbed steadily through the Mariners farm system.

Three stops last season, and along the way he saved 15 games. In high Class A, he made 12 appearances – and didn’t allow a run. That earned him 29 games in Class AA, and there he went 3-1 with a 2.11 earned run average and nine saves.

On the first day of camp Saturday, Kelly was one of the pitchers who threw a bullpen session, and believe it, he was closely watched.

“You don’t evaluate too soon,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “But Shawn looked good.”

Kelly was seriously pumped.

“I felt so good, and yeah, I had a lot of extra adrenaline,” he said. “I mean, you’re throwing in front of a big-league manager, a new pitching coach, a new team. When we got done, I called my wife. She was as excited as I was.”

Kelsey and Shawn Kelly have been together for about six years, married the last 18 months. And for a pitcher who’s gotten a lot of press in the past year, Kelsey has taken on the role of The Reader.

“She gets on the internet and finds the stories and will tell me a little about them but won’t let me read them,” Kelly said. “She keeps me level-headed, helps me avoid getting to pumped.”

But throwing on Day One of his first big-league camp?

“She was as excited for me as I was,” he said. “Usually, she’s like, ‘You’ve got to throw another session in two days,’ but this time she just enjoyed the moment with me.”

Whether Kelly pitches his way into the bullpen picture this spring or merely impresses and starts his season in, say, Tacoma, will be one of the stories worth watching.

For now, he’s one of a group of young players whose enthusiasm seems catching. Kelly's a reminder of why we love spring training.