Franklin Gutierrez said last week when he arrived at spring training that he was fine after the stomach/digestive problems that plagued him last season.
Thursday, he wasn’t so fine.
The Mariners’ Gold Glove-winning center fielder was back in Seattle Thursday to undergo more tests. Mana
ger Eric Wedge didn’t believe it’s anything serious and he expected Gutierrez to play in today’s intrasquad game if he was able to return to Arizona late Thursday.
“We want to be pro-active about this and stay ahead of it to make sure he doesn’t have some of the same issues he had last year,” Wedge said.
Wedge said Gutierrez was able to participate in all drills his first week of spring training, but that the stomach bothered him “a little bit on and off. We saw him out there working out and doing his thing, but it was enough for us to check it out a little bit further to stay ahead of it. We’ll see what they come up with, if anything, and we’ll go from there. There’s really no reason to speculate right now.”
Gutierrez played 152 games last year. He played 153 games his first season with the Mariners in 2009, the most in his career.
“I’m optimistic, obviously. One thing I want to do with Guti this year from a playing-time standpoint is to make sure we give him a few more days off. I felt that was something we needed to do in Cleveland and it helped him a little bit.”
Felix faces hitters
Felix Hernandez stepped onto the mound with hitters in the box for the first time since last September, throwing a sort-of session of live batting practice Thursday morning.
It actually was tracking practice because the hitters — Chone Figgins, Dustin Ackley, Brendan Ryan and Carlos Peguero — were instructed not to swing.
Felix’s assessment?
“Boring,” he said. “It’s not the same when it’s your own hitters. You don’t want to come inside on them.”
Still, he was pleased to get back onto the mound after a Cy Young Award-winning season when he pitched a career-high 2492/3 innings. Would Felix like to count this as the 250th inning?
“Naw,” he said. “I’ll throw 250 this year.”
The Mariners will ease him into it, just like they did last year. Some pitchers have thrown two live BP sessions by now, but Hernandez’s “tracking” session Thursday was his first. He said he will throw a bullpen session on Saturday, likely followed by a simulated game a few days after that and then an exhibition.
“I just wanted to throw strikes today,” Hernandez said. “Throw strikes and throw all my pitches.”
He did that, including a nice sinker that thumped off the heel of catcher Miguel Olivo’s mitt before rolling away.
Later, after Hernandez’s final pitch to Ryan (a knee-high fastball on the outside corner), for the first time this year he performed his finish-em-off twirl from the mound. After a few pitchouts, his session was done.
Of note
Gutierrez’s situation makes the Mariners’ center field backup situation a lot more important. While Michael Saunders worked in center with the regulars Thursday, Wedge wouldn’t say he’s the logical choice to play center when Gutierrez isn’t there. Wedge also will look at Gabe Gross, Jody Gerut, Ryan Langerhans and Greg Halman. … Milton Bradley served as the chief motivator for the outfielders during Thursday’s practice. After Jack Cust fielded his final ball, Bradley came at him with a leaping chest bump, and Bradley did the same to Saunders in center. Bradley also made his way to right field, where the flying chest bump was replaced by a shoulder nudge with Ichiro Suzuki. … The Mariners followed infield/outfield work with a pop fly drill, and the only near-casualty was inflicted by the guy running the drill. Third-base coach Jeff Datz operated the machine that shot balls high into the air, and he fired one behind the plate for Adam Moore. The ball started near the backstop but, because of the backspin, it drifted back to the plate and hit the ground just inches from where Datz was standing.
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