Throughout the winter, Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik couldn’t say who’ll be his closer — or designated hitter or left fielder — because he hadn’t gotten the manager and coaches together with the front office to discuss those issues.
That changes beginning Friday when Zduriencik and his executives begin three days of meetings in Seattle with manager Don Wakamatsu and his staff, plus the scouting department.
Yes, they’ll talk about who’s capable of replacing J.J. Putz as closer. And, yes, they’ll discuss the DH and left-field situations.
But there’s a lot more to deal with than those front-burner issues.
This is the first opportunity for Zduriencik and his assistants to run their ideas past Wakamatsu, the coaches and the scouting department face-to-face.
“I’ll give them the state of the union based on where we stand and why we did things the way we did,” Zduriencik said. “It’s an opportunity to get everyone together here and get on the same page.”
Dissenting opinions are encouraged.
“Without a doubt,” Zduriencik said. “Everybody wants to hear what I have to say and I want to hear what everybody has to say. I’ll be interested in their views, their thoughts and ideas.”
It’s an important weekend for the scouting staff, particularly the scouts who’ll hit the road soon to watch college and high school players.
“We’ll talk about players throughout the country and set up how we’re going to organize the areas throughout the country,” Zduriencik said. “We’ll talk about players, the grading system, evaluating and communication — all the things that lead up to the amateur draft in June. And we’ll talk about the statistical analysis aspect of how we’re going to look at players.”
With so many personnel changes throughout the organization since the end of last season, there will be a lot of introductions. Even that is an important step, Wakamatsu said.
“As a staff, we talk a lot on the phone,” he said. “But it will be nice to get us all in a room together. We function as a group and the more we can get in front of each other and talk about certain philosophies, the better we will work together.”
Wakamatsu and the coaches also will discuss how they’ll organize spring training and, yes, how the team might come together.
“It’s still a little early to discuss lineups, but we’ll deal with how we want to go about our business, the scheduling and things we want to accomplish at spring training,” he said. “If you look at the (coaching) staff, we’ve taken guys from Colorado, Anaheim, Texas and Oakland — a lot of organizations that do a lot of things right. To approach a subject and get five or six different opinions will be valuable.”
Bedard progressing: Pitcher Erik Bedard, who underwent shoulder surgery in September, has been throwing for a month and seems on his way to being at or near full strength when spring training begins Feb. 14.
“He’s thrown for a month with no setbacks and no problems to this point,” trainer Rick Griffin said. “He’s starting to work on his intensity now.”
Pitcher Carlos Silva continues to follow a weight-loss program and should report to spring training lighter than he was at the end of the season, Griffin said.
Third baseman Adrian Beltre, after surgery in October to repair damage to his left wrist and shoulder, has been hitting and taking ground balls with no problems.
And catcher Jeff Clement, who underwent surgery on his left knee in early September, also has recovered well and will be in Seattle this month working with catching coordinator Roger Hansen. Clement has been hitting and throwing, and he recently began catching drills.
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com.
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