TODAY
The Seattle bullpen – pitchers Jesus Delgado, Mark Lowe and Randy Messenger – allowed seven runs over the final three innings, turning a pitching duel into an ugly loss to Milwaukee, 9-7.
TODAY
Seattle plays at Cleveland in a 1:05 p.m. game that will be broadcast by KIRO. Probable starting pitchers: Chris Jabukauskas vs. Scott Lewis.
NOTABLE
Non-roster outfielder Mike Wilson wanted nothing more than to show the Mariners he had power and could drive in runs this spring. After hitting his sixth home run of the spring in the fifth inning – then No. 7 with two outs in the ninth to tie the game - Wilson leads Seattle in home runs and RBI (17). …
Ryan Rowland-Smith, the No. 5 starter in Seattle’s rotation, threw six innings and allowed two runs – on a fifth-inning home run by Prince Fielder. It was his strongest game of the spring, and followed a series of three games in which Seattle starters Erik Bedard, Felix Hernandez and Carlos Silva were shelled. Rowland-Smith began the game 2-for-2 at the plate this spring, drew a walk and struck out in two plate appearances. …
Manager Don Wakamatsu and pitching coach Rick Adair took all 19 pitchers left in camp to the bullpen not to pitch but to listen. “A lot of it had to do with their bullpen routines, signs, communication with catchers - how critical that stuff is,” Wakamatsu said. …
Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt is taking daily bunting drills on a half field in camp, and is spending more and more time bunting for hits, not just sacrifice bunts. The theory is that the occasional bunt for a hit would open up defensive holes by forcing the infield corners to play in for Betancourt. Will he try it in a game? Not even the Mariners know that. …
Reliever Roy Corcoran talked about accountability after a couple of sub-par appearances, saying there was no excuse he could use. “I don’t care when they say you’re just working on things. It’s not like that,” Corcoran said. “I can’t go home and think that because it makes me feel weaker as a person, like I can get away with doing it. I can’t. Jack (Zduriencik) expressed that early in camp - your performance is going to dictate what happens, and there is a sense of urgency. I want to pitch well. But I haven’t. I will.” Coming off a year in which he had a 3.22 earned run average in 50 games, Corcoran has battled arm problems this spring – when hitters have batted .357 against him and his ERA has ballooned to 12.79. Still, it’s a small spring sample. Corcoran has pitched only 6 1/3 innings. …
Ichiro Suzuki batted third against the Brewers, and went 1-for-2. Of his 1,264 major league starts, only 13 have been in a spot other than leading off. Neither the team nor the player made much of it. …
Ken Griffey Jr. was smiling more broadly than usual, and with reason. Wife Melissa and the kids haver rejoined him briefly during spring break. “After this, I’ll probably see them three times the rest of the season,” Griffey said. “It’s gonna be tough.” …
How’s catcher Kenji Johjima doing since his return from the World Baseball Classic. Even in a 17-12 loss, Johjima earned praise from his manager. “Joh did a phenomenal job with (Jarrod) Washburn and made adjustments as the game went on and had four really clean innings,” Wakamatsu said. “What's impressed me is Kenji went out of his way to go over and talk to the pitchers during the game, to work with them.” …
After battling high blood sugars all day Sunday – he was up in the high 300s – diabetic Brandon Morrow suspected he had a problem with his insulin pump. He reseated it on his abdomen, got it going again and soon dropped to 98. “I feel a whole lot better today,” Morrow said. He didn’t miss work either day. …
QUOTABLE
From Corcoran, on watching other relievers pitch well while he’s struggled: “It’s something I shouldn’t worry about right now, but it’s hard not to worry about it. You’ve got guys throwing the crap out of the ball.”

Just a heads up, I'm going to go on the Ian Furness show on 950 KJR-AM about 1:50. They'll be doing a roundtable discussion about the M's at 1:20 before that. Also Brandon Morrow is going on with Groz and Gas at 5:20.

Here's the podcast of me on the radio. No making fun of me.

Here's the Brandon Morrow interview with Mike Gastineau.

Well, it was an interesting day and the Mariners have moved a little closer to the 25 players they’ll be taking with them to Minneapolis for opening day against the Twins.

A few things on the moves …

• I’m holding out judgment on the Brandon Morrow decision to go to closer. Initially, my thought it was a colossal waste of a top pick and categorical screw-up from the very start by the previous regime starting with former GM Bill Bavasi and former manager Mike Hargrove. Look I have nothing against drafting Morrow, his potential seemed limitless. Sure he’s not Tim Lincecum, but really he could have been and should have been more than he is now - a guy choosing to go back to closer after lobbying to start from the moment he was drafted. The wishy-washy way in which Bavasi and Hargrove handled Morrow’s progress – first allowing Hargrove to even put him in the bullpen that first year – is a reason why the Mariners are sitting at this juncture. If he was drafted as a starter, then that’s what he should have been from the very beginning. No matter what he did in his first spring training. I understand Morrow's desire to go back. But if he'd been a starter from the beginning I doubt he would be looking to do this.

Ask yourself this question: If the Mariners knew that Morrow would be a closer not a starter for his career, would they have taken him before Lincecum?

I guess if you're looking for a bright spot in it, Wakamatsu isn't forced to choose from Miguel Batista or David Aardsma or Make Lowe as closer.

• The situation with Jeff Clement going back to Tacoma isn’t surprising. We mentioned a few times that he was playing his way into forcing Wakamatsu to make this decision. The problem is Clement will go and dominate Triple A pitching, and the Mariners will not be any closer to knowing if he’s a legitimate major league hitter. And if Rob Johnson is the back-up catcher, how much does he play? Will it be like what Jamie Burke had to do two years ago, start about once every seven days? Realistically, that that will stunt the considerable progress Johnson has made in the last two years. And then there is the question of Burke. They certainly don’t need three catchers on the roster now, to they? They could use Johnson as a pinch runner and other things, but three catchers seems excessive especially when one of them isn’t getting significant at-bats at DH. Also what does this do for Adam Moore’s progress? Catching coordinator Roger Hansen talked about the need for Moore to be challenged in Triple A this season, if he goes back to AA it won’t happen.

• Tyler Walker was a casualty of his own inability to stay healthy. He seemed pretty sure that he would make the team, but you don’t make a team if you don’t pitch well, or in his case, don’t pitch at all.

• Chris Burke will go to Triple A Tacoma. He has never proven to be a legitimate hitter in the big leagues, but the Mariners have kept similar non-hitting utility men around before.

Ok, now let’s get to the good part....
At the bottom of this post is a list of the remaining players in major league camp. The task for GM Jack Zduriencik and manager Don Wakamatsu is to cut it down to 25 players, that feature the right mixture of everything: starters, bench players, pitchers, relievers and now a closer. Sound easy, it isn’t. Remember you also have to take into account contracts, meaning Carlos Silva and Kenji Johjima make the team because the Mariners are paying them AIG bonus-type money for their services. Don’t forget about injuries or spring training performance.

So give it a try, build your 25-man roster. Think about your lineups, your rotation, your bench, your bullpen, and them post them in the comments section. I’ll do the same.

Here's my personal 25-man roster ...

Projected lineup
RF Ichiro
CF Franklin Gutierrez
DH Ken Griffey Jr.
3B Adrian Beltre
1B Russell Branyan
2B Jose Lopez
C Kenji Johjima
LF Endy Chavez
SS Yuniesky Betancourt

* Notes: Obviously there will be platooning with Balentien and Sweeney replacing Branyan and Chavez when the M's face tough left-handed pitchers. I honestly have no idea how much they will play Griffey in the outfield, which is why I didn't put together lineups vs. lefties and righties.

Bench
IF Ronny Cedeno
IF/DH Mike Sweeney
OF Wlad Balentien
C Rob Johnson

* Notes: Sweeney’s hot bat of late and his overall clubhouse presence will force Chris Shelton to Triple A Tacoma. Mike Morse is gone. He’s out of Triple A options and probably won’t clear waivers. The M’s will lose Corona because he’s a Rule V guy unless they make a trade for him. But signing Chris Burke and keeping Chris Woodward might make him an afterthought. If Johjima is going to play often, sitting Johnson on the bench is worthless as I mentioned above. Jamie Burke could do that. Which would leave Johnson, Clement and Adam Moore in the minors. They need to trade somebody. But Burke may want a chance to look around and hook on with another team and ask for his unconditional release.

Rotation
RHP Felix Hernandez
LHP Erik Bedard
RHP Carlos Silva
LHP Jarrod Washburn
LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith

* Notes: I don’t like having Silva at the three, but Washburn prefers not to pitch the game after a left-hander. Rowland-Smith isn’t bothered by matters like that.

Bullpen
RHP Chris Jakubauskas (long reliever)
RHP David Aardsma
RHP Roy Corcoran
RHP Mark Lowe
RHP Shawn Kelley
RHP Brandon Morrow (closer)
LHP Cesar Jimenez

* Notes: Tyler Johnson would be my situational lefty instead of Jimenez, who actually isn’t very good against lefties. But Jimenez is pretty versatile and showed he can pitch multiple innings. Kelley was the most consistent pitcher in the spring. I take Jakubauskas over Miguel Batista just because of personal preference. Batista has been bad this spring and seems displeased with his overall role. Eat the 9 million and go with a youngster. Even lefty Garrett Olson might be better in the long relief role. But my gut says they’ll keep Batista and I’ll be banging my head off the table in the press box about three times a week.

REMAINING PLAYERS in CAMP
Pitchers
45 Bedard, Erik LHP
31 Feierabend, Ryan^^ LHP
37 Jimenez, Cesar LHP
58 Johnson, Tyler* LHP
54 Lugo, Jose LHP
49 Olson, Garrett LHP
18 Rowland-Smith, Ryan LHP
56 Washburn, Jarrod LHP

53 Aardsma, David RHP
43 Batista, Miguel RHP
48 Corcoran, Roy RHP
33 Cordero, Chad* RHP
67 Delgado, Jesus RHP
34 Hernandez, Felix RHP
71 Jakubauskas, Chris* RHP
66 Kelley, Shawn* RHP
57 Lowe, Mark RHP
26 Messenger, Randy* RHP
35 Morrow, Brandon RHP
52 Silva, Carlos RHP

Catchers
15 Burke, Jamie* C
2 Johjima, Kenji C
32 Johnson, Rob C

Infielders
29 Beltre, Adrian INF
7 Betancourt, Yuniesky INF
30 Branyan, Russell INF
3 Cedeno, Ronny INF
1 Corona, Reegie INF
4 Lopez, Jose INF
13 Shelton, Chris* INF
5 Sweeney, Mike* INF
6 Woodward, Chris* INF
0 Chris Burke INF/OF

Outfielders
25 Balentien, Wladimir OF
10 Chavez, Endy OF
24 Griffey Jr., Ken OF
21 Gutierrez, Franklin OF
12 Morse, Mike OF
51 Suzuki, Ichiro OF
61 Wilson, Mike* OF

* non-roster invitee
^^ 60-Day DL