Another one bites the dust

PEORIA, Ariz. — It’s not quite a last-man-standing competition with more than two weeks remaining in spring training, but the battle for the Seattle Mariners’ final rotation spot lost another contender on Monday.

Left-hander Nate Robertson, who signed a minor-league contract with the Mariners in January, will have surgery Wednesday to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow.

While the Mariners believe Robertson will begin throwing in four weeks and pitch sometime this season, it essentially leaves two pitchers remaining for the last spot in the rotation — right-handed rookie Michael Pineda and left-hander Luke French.

Pineda, an imposing 6-foot-7, 260-pounder, has a 2.57 earned run average in three spring training outings. That includes his start Friday when he allowed four hits, a walk and two runs against the Indians. He impressed the organization with how he maintained his composure and made adjustments to mechanics that troubled him early in the game.

French, who started 13 games for the Mariners last year, has allowed only one earned run in eight innings over three spring outings and has a 1.13 ERA.

Two other right-handers no longer appear in the mix to start — David Pauley and knuckleball specialist Charlie Haeger.

Pauley hasn’t pitched more than two innings in any outing, and the Mariners used him only one inning in Monday’s 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Haeger missed time early in camp because of back problems and pitched his first game Sunday, working a scoreless inning against the Angels.

Barring injury, the starting rotation figures to be Felix Hernandez, Jason Vargas, Doug Fister, Erik Bedard and either Pineda or French.

The Mariners had hoped the 33-year-old Robertson could lend some veteran presence to the rotation. However, he wobbled through each of his three exhibition outings, particularly the past two when the elbow bothered him.

He has a 7.71 spring ERA after allowing four hits and two runs in two innings of his last outing Friday against the Cleveland Indians.

“I felt great after my first outing, but I started feeling something coming on in my second outing,” Robertson said. “I was hoping it was just inflammation.”

Instead, the elbow became downright “angry,” as Robertson put it, in his last outing.

“At this point, it’s locked up,” he said. “I can’t throw a baseball right now.”

The arthroscopic surgery Wednesday will be performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ team orthopedist who has been involved with both operations on Robertson’s elbow.

“This will be the third time he’s diving in,” Robertson said with a smile. “I guess it’ll be another new car for him.”

Robertson doesn’t believe he’ll need to start over with his conditioning because this injury occurred in the middle of spring training.

“I’m built up,” he said. “You should be kind of peaking right now. We’re deep into camp and I’m not going to lose a whole lot.”

In fact, Robertson said he’ll return to his workouts the day after his surgery.

“I’ll fly out (today), have surgery on Wednesday, have a checkup on Thursday and I’ll fly back here for the night game Thursday,” he said. “I’ll be right back here getting after it.”

Fister makes the adjustment

Right-hander Doug Fister knows that when he doesn’t keep the baseball down in the strike zone, he’ll get hit. The Cubs did that to him Monday, scoring twice in the first inning and threatening with runners in every other inning Fister pitched in his fourth spring training start.

His 4 1/3-inning start was the longest by a Mariner so far, and his bend-but-not-break outing helped the Mariners come back for a 5-3 Mariners victory.

“Today was a really big struggle, trying to get the ball down and get it into the places I want to put it,” he said. “That’s going to be a focus for me all year, keeping the ball down.”

Manager Eric Wedge wasn’t as harsh, saying the right-hander made the necessary adjustment to keep the game close.

“I was really impressed with the way he found it,” Wedge said. “He did a good job of gathering himself and getting himself back down in the zone.”

Fister, who has a 4.72 ERA in four starts, threw 78 pitches, the most by a Mariner in spring training.

Eventful day for Ackley

Second-base prospect Dustin Ackley began his day with a long home run in the Mariners’ 4-1 B-game victory over the San Diego Padres and finished it with another impressive at-bat and nice play in the field against the Cubs.

Ackley went 2-for-4 in the B game, including a home run off Padres left-hander Rob Musgrave that amazed those who saw where the ball landed. It easily cleared the 340-foot mark on the right-field fence and bounced off the roof of the Padres’ two-story clubhouse building. That building stands about 40 feet beyond the outfield fence.

Against the Cubs, Ackley fielded a high bouncer and started a double play that ended a Cubs threat in the top of the eighth inning. And in the bottom of the eighth, he lined an ankle-high pitch by Thomas Diamond into center field for a single. He’s batting .350.

“Not too many people can go down and scoop that ball out of there and line the ball the way he did,” Wedge said. “He swung the bat well in the B game as well. He’s been swinging the bat well all camp.”

Today in camp

It’s the Mariners’ only day off of spring training, meaning there will be golf time for some and family time for others. Left-hander Erik Bedard, however, will pitch in a morning minor league game.

Of note

The Mariners made five roster moves Monday, optioning infielder/outfielder Mike Carp, outfielder Greg Halman, left-handed pitcher Edward Paredes and right-handed pitcher Chaz Roe to Class AAA Tacoma and re-assigning left-hander Chris Seddon to the minor-league camp. … Edgar Martinez was in camp Monday to work mostly with the Mariners’ minor leaguers. He said he’ll talk a lot with them about the mental approach to hitting. … Two players in the big-league camp, catcher Steve Baron and pitcher Tom Wilhelmsen, were presented Northwest League championship rings in a ceremony Sunday honoring those who played last year with the Everett AquaSox. Baron said he planned to keep his ring in a safe place at home. Where will Wilhelmsen put his ring? “On my finger,” he said. … With nearly 150 players now taking part in full-squad minor league workouts, Roger Hansen’s “Breakfast Club” also has started. Hansen, the Stanwood resident who’s the Mariners’ catching coordinator, oversees the pre-dawn running that’s assigned to players who break organizational rules. He entertained his first victim Monday. “We were here at 5 a.m.,” he said. “That made me get here at 3:45 to get in my workout. In other words, I’m in Breakfast Club, too.”

Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com/marinersblog and follow his Twitter updates on the team at @kirbyarnold.