The Seattle Mariners took a low-risk move by signing right-hander Chad Cordero, who just two years ago saved 37 games for the Washington Nationals, to a minor league contract.

Cordero, who turns 27 next week, hasn't pitched since early last year and is still recuprating from shoulder surgery last July.

"We are going to take it one step at a time, but we are optimistic that Chad can help us this season," general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "Chad has been a quality Major League closer and we look forward to his contributions to our ballclub in 2009."

Cordero has 128 career saves, 47 of them for the Nationals in 2005. In 305 big-league games, his record is 20-14 with a 2.78 ERA.

He has not pitched since having the labrum of his right shoulder operated on last year, but has been invited to camp as a non-roser invitee.

Mike Sweeney will make his first appearance in the field and play in back-to-back games for the first time. The Rangers are rolling out a lineup close to what they will for opening day.

Rangers (7-6)
Ian Kinsler 2B
Michael Young 3B
Josh Hamilton CF
Hank Blalock 1B
Marlon Byrd RF
David Murphy LF
Chris Davis DH
Taylor Teagarden C
Elvis Andrus SS
----------
Brandon McCarthy P

Mariners (6-4-1)
Ronny Cedeno SS
Chris Woodward 2B
Ken Griffey Jr. DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Mike Sweeney 1B
Wald Balentien LF
Prentice Redman CF
Jamie Burke C
Mike Wilson RF
-------------
Jarrod Washburn P

Pitchers Josh Fields and Tracy Thorpe, catcher Israel Nunez and infielders Callix Crabbe and Oswaldo Navarro have been re-assigned to minor league camp. That leaves the Mariners with 58 players in major league camp - 40 rostered players and 18 non-roster invitees.

Fields was a late addition to camp after finally get his contract negotiated and has been impressive at times. But this was something that was scheduled to happen because of his late arrival and the fact that he hasn't thrown in a game in over a year. Fields had been scheduled to pitch this weekend in a Cactus League game, but that has been pushed back to a later date.

* Erik Bedard and his ailing gluteus maximus is feeling better and he may throw a bullpen later today or tomorrow. UPDATE: Went to his scheduled session

* Brandon Morrow is feeling better and could throw off the mound in a bullpen this weekend.

* LHP Tyler Johnson threw 25 pitches this morning and feels much better, he could get into game action this weekend.

* The Mariners will be split up on Friday with a team heading south to Tuscon and another team traveling to Mesa. Wakamatsu will go with the Mesa squad to see relievers Mark Lowe, Shawn Kelley and David Aardsma throw. Ty Van Burkleo will go with the team to Tucson and manage that game. Chris Seddon will most likely start. Wakamatsu and some other players will also join the team on Saturday.

Yuni Betancourt, Adrian Beltre, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Sweeney will most likely not make the trip for either game in Tucson.

In a camp full of large men, Phillippe Aumont still looms above the fray at 6 foot 7. Fresh off a successful stint at the World Baseball Classic, the former first round pick of the Mariners was wandering into the complex with a bag of Chick-Fil-A and ready to get back to work.

So the local media grabbed him before he could disappear into the minor league clubhouse and talked to him about his experience World Baseball Classic.

"Any time I get to wear my (nation's) colors, it’s always an honor and I’ll always enjoy it," he said. "Especially in front of 42,000 people with probably 41,000 who were Canadian. I loved it. It was a great experience and I’ll always remember that outing against the US."

We've already talked about Aumont's eventful and successful inning of work in the WBC. The stories about him keep appearing on the web.

Here's another one from the NY Times' Tyler Kepner, and another one from Amy K. Nelson of ESPN and another one from the Toronto Globe and Mail, heck even the The News Tribune's John McGrath has a columnfrom the other day.

When asked about it, Aumont called it the "best inning" of his short baseball career and a "lifetime experience."

When asked about perhaps getting some of the other Canadian players that skipped out on the classic this year i.e. Erik Bedard, Rich Harden and Ryan Dempster, Aumont knew it wasn't in his place to criticize, but also was hopeful they would play in the next WBC, because if healthy he plans to.

"Hopefully in four years some of those guys will be out there with me and be a part of it," he said.

Anyway, Aumont will be in minor league camp, which he seemed non-plussed about, but also understanding.

"I don’t have any control over that," he said. "There’s people up there who have some reasons. I wasn’t really happy about it, but we’ll go through camp and we’ll start the season. I’ll do the best I can and stay healthy."

“They didn’t really tell me. But I got hurt last year and once you’re in big-league camp, you’re not there to play around. You’re there to perform. I guess they wanted to take it easy on my arm and in minor league camp I can step back a little bit.”