Meche and Anderson are on the slow track

By Larry LaRue

The New Tribune

PEORIA, Ariz. – Together, they represented the potential of a franchise – the right and left-handed aces that would lead the Seattle rotation well into the new millennium.

Today, Gil Meche and Ryan Anderson may still be the future, although clearly the future isn’t now.

Nor is it opening night.

Both Meche and Anderson are 23 years old, and each is coming off a season lost to shoulder surgery. For Meche, who has made 30 major league starts in his career, spring training is about a comeback.

For Anderson, who’s never appeared in a big-league game, this camp is about getting healthy – and regaining his role as one of the brightest young pitchers in the game.

“The first time I face a batter in a game this spring, my heart is going to explode,” Meche said. “A lot of people had doubts about me getting back, and I realize anything could still happen.

“But I want to pitch more than ever. Throwing in the bullpen makes my day now.”

At 6-10, Anderson’s frame was as large as his talent, and his ability to throw a baseball in the high 90s – and the fact that he was left-handed – quickly produced the nickname ‘Little Unit.’

Anderson now has another, ”Space Needle” or simply ”Needle”. What he wants more than a nickname is the chance to do what he’d hoped to do a year ago.

Win a major league job.

“Do I want to make this team? Sure, but it’s not going to happen,” Anderson said Saturday. “I missed a full year and just starting throwing in January. I could say I expect to pitch this spring, but that would just be words.

“I’d love to pitch, but I’m not going to rush myself into a setback.”

The Mariners won’t push either man this spring, content to get each healthy and have them begin the regular season in one minor league city or another.

“They’re not going to be ready,” manager Lou Piniella said, “but if we can get them pitching again, who knows – maybe a few months into the season if there’s a need … “

When they were drafted, both Meche and Anderson were projected as No. 1 or No. 2 starters. Two surgeries later, Meche wants to prove he remains a viable major league pitcher.

Anderson – who once said he thought he might become the best big-league pitcher in history – wants to prove he belongs.

“After my surgery last year, I knew my shoulder still wasn’t right,” Meche said. “When I started throwing again in September, something was still wrong, and I started getting those looks.

“You know, a guy looks healthy, he’s had the surgery and he still can’t go?”

Meche took his concerns to the team trainer, Rick Griffin, and the team orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Larry Pedegana.

“I told them exactly what I felt, how the shoulder felt, and we all agreed Dr. Pedegana would go back in,” Meche said.

Pedegana, who didn’t perform Meche’s initial surgery, operated in October and essentially shaved an impingement in the shoulder. Four months later, Meche is feeling better than he has in years.

“Now it’s a matter of doing everything correctly again,” he said. “You forget what it feels like to be on a mound after a year. The last time I pitched, I was dropping down almost sidearm because that wouldn’t hurt as much.

“Two days ago, (pitching coach) Bryan Price talked to me because I was still doing it without even thinking about it. Now I’m back at three-quarter again, back where my arm should be. So much of this is mental.”

Anderson’s comeback was slowed last month when he lost 17 pounds to a stomach virus.

“I’ve gained about 14 of it back, but I couldn’t do anything for awhile,” Anderson said. “I haven’t had the smoothest ride, so far.”

Still, rehabilitating most of last summer in Arizona – with teammates Ken Cloude and Meche – Anderson said he learned more than in any other season.

“I was with a good group of teammates and we worked hard, and we joked that this was a country club,” he said. “We talked baseball, we talked about pitching. I guess if it had to happen, I picked a good year for it to happen, because it put me with a good bunch of guys.”

Meche and Anderson, however, agree on one thing. They don’t want another year like 2001.

“I don’t know where I’ll be when the season starts, and it doesn’t matter – as long as I’m not left down here again,” Meche said. “I’m not 100 percent, I don’t know if I will be by then. I don’t know the team’s plans. But I want to pitch somewhere for someone.”

Ironically, neither man may start his season in Tacoma.

“The Rainiers open their season in Omaha,” said Benny Looper, the team’s vice president of player development. “April in the Midwest can be freezing, and I’m not sure sending them to Omaha from Phoenix is the right call.”

More than likely, Anderson or Meche or both will pitch for the Rainiers sometime this season. What both are hoping is that will be a quick stop on a trip further up the system.

“I don’t know when, but I believe I’ll be there,” Anderson said.

“I’m getting back,” Meche said. “If not in April, then soon.”