The Mariners have cut eight players from their big-league camp, including Ryan Feierabend and former first-round draft pick Josh Fields.
Feierabend, who had Tommy John elbow surgery 13 months ago, pitched two scoreless innings Monday against the White Sox. He was optioned to Class AAA Tacoma.
Fields, Steven Shell, Nick Hill, Chris Seddon and Mauricio Robles were the five pitchers re-assigned to the minor-league camp along with two catchers, Luis Oliveros and Steven Baron.
The moves leave 55 players in the major league camp.
A few other notes from this morning before the Mariners boarded the bus for the stoplight-and-go trek down Bell Road, which take anywhere from 20 minutes to more than an hour depending on the number of estate sales in Sun City:
—Pitcher Erik Bedard threw from 120 feet this morning and, in manager Don Wakamatsu’s words, “looked great.” Wakamatsu didn’t know when Bedard (labrum surgery in left shoulder last August) would pitch off a mound. Going into spring training, the Mariners weren’t sure if Bedard would get on a mound before they broke camp.
—Catcher Rob Johnson’s surgically repaired hips felt fine today after catching Felix Hernandez’s two-inning simulated game on Tuesday. Wakamatsu said Johnson would catch one of the two games in Tucson on Sunday (against Colorado) or Monday (against Arizona).
There’s a good chance Johnson will catch Cliff Lee on Monday with Rob Johnson catching Felix Hernandez on Sunday. Johnson has become Hernadez’s personal catcher, although the Mariners want Moore to catch him during spring training in the event Johnson isn’t ready to start the season.
—Center fielder Franklin Gutierrez is the first Mariner to start three straight days, which puts him back in Wakamatsu’s pattern of playing his regulars at least every other day. Gutierrez had a sore shoulder and didn’t play until Monday. “He said he feels pretty good after the test he gave it yesterday with that throw to first base,” Wakamatsu said, referring to a throw Gutierrez made trying to double the Indians’ Shin-Soo Choo off first base after he made a shoestring backhand catch.
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