Piniella to make first roster cuts
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, March 12, 2002
By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. – He has watched young pitchers give up late-inning runs by the half-dozen and inexperienced position players make any number of mistakes afield.
Tonight, Lou Piniella will sit down with members of the Seattle Mariners’ front office and do something about it.
“We’re going to meet tomorrow night and cut the camp down,” the Mariners’ manager said.
Normally, the Mariners have made their first cuts by now, but the early Cactus League schedule forced Piniella to keep everyone on hand until after the three-day trip to Tucson, which ended Tuesday.
“I don’t think you’ll see any surprises,” Piniella said, without indicating who would be cut. The Mariners still have the original 52 players in the major league camp.
After Tuesday’s 6-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Mariners’ record fell to 6-7. Piniella is confident that the results will change after the cuts are made and the regular starters get more playing time.
“But we’ll cut this down to a more manageable number and start playing our regulars a little more,” Piniella said. “And, we’ll be picking up with some of our bench players, and that should make a difference.”
Rocky outing for Moyer: Mariners starter Jamie Moyer looked crisp in the first inning against the Diamondbacks, then trudged through two more innings of his worst outing of spring training.
He allowed six hits, one of them a homer, two walks and two earned runs in a game in which he was scheduled to work four innings.
“He threw a lot of pitches,” Piniella said. “He hit his pitch count (63 pitches) after three innings, and we made a couple of errors behind him that didn’t help him out. But he got his work in.”
Aided by Bret Boone’s dropped popup, the Diamondbacks scored two unearned runs in the second inning, then two more in the third on Luis Gonzalez’s home run and two more hits.
“He just didn’t find his rhythm, for whatever reason,” catcher Dan Wilson said of Moyer. “He didn’t get locked in.”
Tuesday’s game was Moyer’s first loss in spring training since March 3, 2000. He had won seven straight since then.
Who’s on first? Jeff Cirillo started at first base Tuesday and played a flawless defensive game, including a back-hand stop of a one-hopper over the bag by Erubiel Durazo.
“I like what I saw at first base,” Piniella said of Cirillo, his usual third baseman. “He gives us an option when we rest (John) Olerud and put (Desi) Relaford at third base.”
So far, so good for Cloude: Ken Cloude, the comeback story of the camp so far, pitched two scoreless innings Tuesday as he continues to progress from two years of injuries.
“He mixed his pitches well, threw strikes and gave us two scoreless innings,” Piniella said. “He’s throwing the ball good.”
Cloude rehabbed nearly a year from “Tommy John” elbow surgery, then tore his Achilles’ tendon last winter.
Important first step: To hear Gil Meche talk during the days leading to Monday’s return to the pitcher’s mound, it was hard tell if he was mentally or physically ready for it.
“If (pitching coach) Bryan Price feels I’m ready, then I’ll throw,” Meche said then.
On Monday, he showed he was ready, giving up a hit and a walk against the White Sox in one scoreless inning. It was Meche’s first game since a rehab start with the Everett AquaSox on Aug. 27, 2000, when he lasted only one inning because of shoulder pain. He’s had two surgeries since.
“I don’t think he fully knew what to expect,” Price said. “I’ve been through two surgeries myself and I fully understand that pain and discomfort and struggling with mechanics are all part of the recovery process.
“He’s been away from live pitching for 18 months or more. He has to pitch and there’s going to be some aches and pains along the way, but that’s part of recovery and if he can accept that then it’ll be an aggressive recovery and we’ll see him make some rather quick strides.”
Meche probably will pitch again Saturday against the Padres.
“Part of rehabilitation is going out there and pitching,” Price said. “There’s going to be discomfort. There’s going to be a feeling of being in a foreign place. But the real progress can’t happen until you’re back on the mound facing hitters.”
Anderson still delayed: Ryan Anderson, the Mariners’ left-handed pitching prospect who is recovering from shoulder surgery, probably won’t see any game action in spring training.
The Mariners, still hoping Anderson will be available sometime this season, say he doesn’t have the arm strength to throw off a mound, much less pitch in a game.
“I think it’s unrealistic to think that he’s going to be in a game this spring,” Price said.
Anderson had surgery last March 6 to repair a torn rotator cuff. He threw off the bullpen mound last fall but hasn’t taken that step in spring training.
“His arm’s not real strong right now, so he’s more susceptible to having the aches and pains of throwing off the mound,” Price said. “We’re going to go back to square one as far as his throwing program goes and build his arm strength from long toss and not expect much from him on the mound.”
Lights, camera, commercials: The humorous television commercials that annually feature Mariners players and coaches will be shown for the first time during Thursday night’s telecast of the M’s-Giants game from Scottsdale.
The game will be televised at 6:05 p.m. on Fox Sports Net.
The Mariners won’t unveil the commercials to the media until Thursday afternoon, but two of the topics will revolve around the Mariners being challenged by the 1906 Chicago Cubs, and a touching love story about Edgar Martinez and his bat.
Today in camp: Mariners vs. White Sox at Peoria, 12:05 p.m. on KNWX radio (770 AM). Right-hander Paul Abbott is scheduled to pitch four innings for the Mariners, then will be followed on the mound by right-handers Ryan Franklin, Brian Falkenborg and Aaron Taylor. Chicago’s starter hasn’t been determined.
