PEORIA, Ariz. — When manager Don Wakamatsu speaks to the Seattle Mariners’ pitchers and catchers before their first spring training workout this morning, he’ll make sure they hear one word clearly.

“Accountability,” he said. “That’s a word I’ll use a lot.”

It’s a word that often was missing last year when the Mariners lost 101 games and became a fractured team. As a result, there are several new faces around the Peoria Sports Complex, including Wakamatsu in the manager’s office and a new set of coaches.

Wakamatsu is reluctant to make references to last year because he wasn’t a part of that team. But he saw enough from across the field as the Oakland A’s bench coach and heard enough from those directly involved with the 2008 Mariners to know changes must involve the players’ approach as well as their attitude.

“We’re going to talk about growth — how much we can grow as individuals and how much we can grow as a team the next six weeks,” said Wakamatsu. “A lot of the stuff we talk about is teaching from the neck up.”

Where accountability comes in, Wakamatsu wants to see players who put in extra work beyond the scheduled workouts, who are as proud of team accomplishments as they are of their own.

“”There has to be accountability to themselves first, but also to their teammates, to the organization and to the fans,” Wakamatsu said. “Where there’s pride, guys will want to do a little more.”

If nothing else, stiff competition should push the Mariners in this camp. Last year, all but a few relief pitching roles were set before spring training began. Twenty pitchers are in camp this year.

“There are a lot of guys coming into this camp thinking they have an opportunity, and that’s healthy,” Wakamatsu said.

“We’ve got to come down to five starters. There’s the closer role. How is the bullpen going to line up? There’s the left-handed situational spot we’re looking at, there’s long relief we’re looking at. Is it an interchangeable bullpen or is it a structured bullpen? Those are all things we can define as we see these guys a little more.”

The closer job will get considerable attention.

The J.J. Putz trade to the Mets created a wide-open competition among Miguel Batista, Roy Corcoran, Mark Lowe and Tyler Walker.

Wakamatsu would like clearly defined roles, but said it could become an interchangeable bullpen with all of them getting time in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

That doesn’t mean Wakamatsu would favor a closer-by-committee approach.

“I like to establish a closer,” he said. “If I think we’ve got three guys who are capable of doing it, we might get into a little bit more of a committee-type situation.

“But let’s say Batista wins it out of the chute. Can Batista at his age sustain it all season? Lowe is a guy who’s a real strong candidate for it, but is he ready? He had some command issues last year but that’s because of the injury he came back from.

“I would like to establish roles as much as I can, but I don’t think anything is set in stone.”

Read Kirby Arnold’s blog from spring training at www.heraldnet.com