Mariners’ Wedge plans to raise the bar

Pitchers and catchers reported Saturday to spring training, marking the official start of the 2012 season for the Seattle Mariners. It was not, however, the first time manager Eric Wedge has interacted with players in what he says will be a different year.

Wedge, who is beginning his second year in charge of the Mariners, expects this to be a different season of Mariners baseball, and not just in the way his young team approaches the game, but also the way he operates.

“Last year, I sat back and I bit my tongue off more than once, but it was the right thing to do,” Wedge said. “My wife was proud of me, let’s put it that way. This year’s going to be a little different. … We’re going to let it out a little more this year, and raise the bar a little bit.”

And for nine players, a mix of veterans and youngsters, raising the bar didn’t begin this weekend, but rather last month when Wedge called them to Seattle. It was a chance for those players to not only get in a little work in the batting cages and on the field — none of the nine were pitchers — but also to talk with Wedge about expectations, to build team chemistry, and if things go the way Wedge is expecting them to, set the tone for an improved team in 2012.

“It wasn’t by mistake that they were all position players, I can tell you that much,” Wedge said. “… I felt like everybody had something that they needed to accomplish over the course of the winter, whether it be physical, fundamental or mental.”

Wedge’s message in January was simple: “To a man, I need more. I expect more, I want more, you’re capable of doing more. Let’s go.”

This wasn’t the first time Wedge has done something like this, nor is it the first time he has been the man guiding a young, developing roster. He employed similar tactics in Cleveland when he helped the Indians go from a 94-loss team in his first year to an 80-win team a year later and a playoff contender in Year 3. By his fifth season in Cleveland, Wedge had the Indians in the playoffs and earned American League Manager of the Year honors.

Can the Mariners follow a similar trajectory under Wedge? Well, they’ve already gotten that lousy first season out of the way, and while no one is expecting them to contend for a playoff spot this year, being somewhere around .500 is certainly an achievable goal.

What Wedge was able to do with a young team in Cleveland and the situation he is in now makes this something of a perfect marriage between manager and team. Wedge will have the respect of his young players, and he already has made it clear he won’t coddle veterans based on their pay checks. Last year, he more or less benched Chone Figgins a season after he joined the Mariners as their prized free-agent acquisition.

This offseason Wedge said he is strongly considering moving Ichiro Suzuki out of the leadoff role he has held for more than a decade in Seattle. And this is only a hunch, but don’t be surprised if this is the first year that Suzuki isn’t automatically penciled into the lineup every day if he isn’t hitting well enough to merit it.

No, Wedge won’t be afraid to ruffle feathers, and more importantly, he should be allowed to do it his way. Of course that also means Wedge’s way better produce some signs of progress.

He has hinted at moving Figgins to the leadoff spot, an idea that to you, me and anyone who has watched the last two seasons sounds downright asinine. Wedge has also, in his words, stuck his neck out in saying he expects a “significant leap forward offensively.” So while Wedge will have plenty of leeway this season as his young team goes through its inevitable peaks and valleys, he also knows the players have to backup his confidence in them.

“Ultimately it is a different message this year,” he said. “It’s about expectations. It’s not just about breaking kids in, although we’ll be doing some of that this year, it’s about expectations, performance and production. Performance and production, that leads to wins.”

Wedge is in a good spot because his general manager, Jack Zduriencik is on record saying, “This is going to be a challenging year at the big-league level for us. Let’s not kid ourselves.”

But even if Wedge isn’t expected to win 90-plus games this season, he firmly believes in the young nucleus Zduriencik has assembled. The next step, and one of the reasons Wedge called his January session, was to make sure the young players start believing in themselves.

“I told them all, ‘If you guys can just believe in half of what I believe — not just in this organization and this plan, but in yourselves — then we’re gold. Just get to that point. If you can get halfway there, you can finish it off yourself,’” Wedge said.

“That’s how much I believe these young kids.”

Of course it’s not just kids who need to play better this year, which is why players like Figgins, Franklin Gutierrez and Brendan Ryan were also called in last month. As much as the Mariners hope to see growth from young players like Justin Smoak, Mike Carp and Kyle Seager, for the team to win games, the veterans who underachieved last year — and there were plenty of them — also need to improve drastically.

“That was a great idea,” Ryan said of the January meeting. “I thought that was really cool. I’ve never heard of anything like that. It’s good to rub shoulders again, get reacquainted. It’s also kind of a heads up, ‘Hey, we’ve got a month left, so make sure you’re on top of your stuff.’ … I think it’s going to help us down the line.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.