PEORIA, Ariz. — A relatively slow day at spring training for the Seattle Mariners because of rain ended Sunday with some interesting discussion by manager Eric Wedge about his middle infielders.
Jack Wilson and Brendan Ryan will get a lot of time at shortstop in drills early in camp, and both worked out there in the team’s only full-squad workout. The logic is that with Jack Wilson’s history of injuries it’s wise to give Ryan plenty of reps at shortstop, which is his more natural position.
However, Wedge added another dimension to the middle infield equation: In order to give him plenty of lineup options, Wedge plans to try Wilson at second base with Ryan at shortstop.
Any chance they could line up that way in the regular season?
“I’d say that would be a bit of a reach right now, but it’s still possible,” Wedge said.
Possible enough that he spoke with Wilson about it.
“I told him, ‘I’m not sure how it’s going to play out yet. I’m going to take a good look at the Ryan kid. Both of you will be somewhere,” Wedge said.
Of course, that’s as long as Wilson remains healthy. He has played only 92 games since coming to the Mariners in a midseason trade in 2009.
“Jack’s had some issues staying healthy and he’s got to show us we can count on him physically,” Wedge said. “I don’t know how it’s going to play out, but I want to have options. I think if Jack’s healthy and out there doing what he’s capable of doing, we’ll be in good shape with him. If Ryan shows what we believe he is, he’ll be a good option for us, too. I’m not ready to make that call yet.
“The first thing we have to do is look at Ryan and Jack at shortstop and go from there. I don’t want to pigeon-hole myself here early on until I see them. Whether they like it or not, I don’t know. But that’s what we’re going to do.”
Wedge stressed that his goal now is to see that every middle infielder in camp — Wilson, Ryan, Josh Wilson, Adam Kennedy, Sean Kazmar, Luis Rodriguez and Dustin Ackley — gets a good look. He not only needs to see who fits best in the shortstop and second base positions, but also who can back up Chone Figgins at third and Justin Smoak at first.
Ryan will play some third base in spring training, and Kennedy not only will play second but also first.
Of note
Coaches have thrown batting practice since spring training began, but that will change today when the pitchers throw live BP for the first time. … The grounds crew had the practice fields in good shape early Sunday morning after overnight showers, but a hard rain less than an hour before the Mariners were scheduled to go outside wiped out their workout. Instead, the hitters took batting practice in the covered cages. … Sunday was photo day, with players going from station-to-station to pose for mug shots and read scripts that will appear on the Safeco Field video board this season. Today, crews will be in Peoria to begin three days of shooting for the team’s annual set of TV commercials. There will be five commercials this year.
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