State of Seattle Mariners as camp breaks for season

Well, it is just about go-time. The Mariners played their final Cactus League game against the Padres on Monday. Appropriately, that’s kind of what they do at the end of spring trainings now is finish up at home, which is nice because they want to get out of here as quickly as they can. Not because they’re tired of the 100-degree temperatures, but because they want to get this thing going.

Highlights: Seattle Mariners’ big names end spring training on high notes

Now, it’s really hard to quantify the quality of a spring training. Nothing really feels real until you get into the regular season. But that aside, I think this has been a very good spring for the Mariners, starting with – knock on aluminum – you’re OK with the injury situation. Yes, you did have a couple of injuries. They are not – again, knocking on the aluminum – of the serious variety.

Injury status

We should see shortstop J.P. Crawford (shoulder) and starting pitcher Bryce Miller (oblique) after not too long – probably Crawford before Miller because he is going to need a number of rehab starts before they put him back in the rotation. And something to keep in mind, it’s not going to be just a matter of when Miller is ready to go. It’s also how does that fit with what they’ve got going. Is the bullpen tired? What spot would he slide into?

The Mariners know that it’s kind of a wild card when you bring a starter back; you don’t know what’s going to happen the first couple of starts. So you do need to have a little bit of extra backup in that situation, and I’m not saying that would delay things for a week, probably just a couple of days. But it’ll be interesting to see how they get him back in there.

Needless to say, Miller is looking good in everything that he has done, particularly in the last week. His bullpens have been extremely sharp. On Monday, he threw his first 100%-intent bullpen since the oblique injury. I watched the whole thing. He told me everything felt great and he was throwing 98 mph on the fastball, breaking balls were very sharp – and not just by my eyes but by what they were seeing on the numbers up on the screen, from talking to a couple of people and also by the reaction of his teammates that were watching the bullpen. Pretty exciting stuff, but it’s one foot in front of the other.

Miller is gonna throw a live batting practice and then probably a second down here next week. And then after that, if everything feels good, he’ll be ready for his rehab starts and we’ll see how many that takes.

Where things stand with Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller

Crawford has been swinging. He was supposed to throw Monday. We’re not sure if he did or not, but I think that it’s just a matter of making sure that his shoulder is sound at this point and getting a couple of at-bats. So he will be left behind in Peoria, Ariz., as will utility player Miles Mastrobuoni. But I’m really anticipating Crawford will return sooner than later, and Miller is on a good path right now. So I would say, at this point, you feel pretty good about where they are injury-wise, and you’re also really interested to see what Emerson Hancock has filling in for Miller in the rotation after the spring that he had.

It’s different because Hancock has made some changes. The sweeper is different for him. He’s not throwing the changeup as much, although he says he is going to start throwing it more and he has been experimenting with some grips. What could that be? We shall see. It will be interesting to see where they slot him in, if they want to get him in against Cleveland in that fourth game of the opening series or if he pitches in Game 1 of the series against the Yankees. We’re just gonna have to wait and see what happens with that.

A different kind of spring training

Half your team was gone it seemed like in the World Baseball Classic. Cal Raleigh is still trying to get caught up even at this minute. I think it’s going to be good for him to have the day off Tuesday because he has not stopped since he got back, but you know he will be there when it is time. He is focused on what is coming up. Not just what he does with the bat, but what he does with those pitchers, and he has made an effort to get behind the plate for all of them. He said, man, it feels like I have been away forever.

I think Julio Rodríguez is the wild card, and in the very best of ways. He has been sneaky under the radar this spring, partly because he was gone for the WBC and also partly because I think he has learned how to quiet the noise around him. I think that’s a great development, and I think that all goes back to what he did at the All-Star break last year. Really interested to see how that impacts his season this year. He has been so calm, so focused, and we’ve seen good spring results from him from start to finish. Then, of course, he had the WBC as well. Fortunately for the Mariners, he was able to come back a little bit sooner with the Dominican Republic not being in that final game, and I don’t see him as really losing too much being away. But man, he could have a monster season ahead of him.

The new guys

I’m very anxious to see what new third baseman Brendan Donovan is in the regular season. He has been so good in the spring. What is that going to look like? Just try to keep in mind he’s leading off and will be leading off every day, and that has not always been his best spot in the order. He’s also going to be facing lefties every day, and that’s not always the best for him either. But everything that we have seen down here, he has looked fantastic at the plate.

Donovan is a ballplayer. That is the first word that comes out when asked to describe him to anyone, and I think he’s going to be a tremendous, tremendous addition to this team. He’s looking good at third base, continuing to work on that every day with infield coach Perry Hill and a lot on his own throwing against the plyo wall. I was told that was in order to build up some more arm strength, which obviously you’re going to need at third base, but good to see there.

I think that left-hander Jose A. Ferrer has made good progress throughout the spring. I’m very interested to see what happens when the lights go on with him. Does he get that little extra kick as a reliever? Also, he is just such a lively guy. I wonder if he’s somebody that has to settle down a little bit.

A lot of excitement

The rotation looks solid. They look ready to go. George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, in particular, have looked fantastic. Bryan Woo has looked like Bryan Woo. He did not make any changes from last year. He went to work on his sweeper a little bit, but he looks like Bryan Woo. In fact, his outing Sunday night was so fun. It was one of those outings where you were wondering if there were relievers that weren’t going to get work because he was able to economize on his pitches, which is what we have seen from him when he is at his absolute best.

So there’s really a lot of excitement and just no question marks going into the season. How many seasons have there been when you’ve been thinking, well, hopefully this person pops, or hopefully this person is ready, or maybe there’s a surprise here or there, or what’s this going to look like? I think maybe right field might be one of the only situations where you think about it that way. Right now they have the designated hitter-right field platoon between four players. The door is open for somebody to grab a more everyday role in right field. Could we see that? It’s something to keep an eye on.

This post is a transcript of the video at the top of the post. It is edited for clarity.

State of Seattle Mariners as camp breaks for season

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