By Larry LaRue
The News Tribune
PEORIA, Ariz. – The first exhibition game of spring training is now three days away, and manager Lou Piniella and his staff began planning for the spring schedule in earnest Sunday.
Pitching coach Bryan Price was devising a rotation for pitchers, Piniella and his coaches were talking to position players about how often they wanted to play early – and what positions they might play on the field.
“Early on in camp, you want to look at a lot of kids, see the players who might make up your bench,” Piniella said. “I know what my veterans can do, so we let them dictate a bit more how much they want to play the first week or 10 days.
“We’re going to stretch seven pitchers out, four from our rotation and three guys for the fifth spot in the rotation,” Piniella said. “We’ll let Joel Pineiro, John Halama and Ryan Franklin get some innings this spring and see who steps up and grabs the job.”
As the regulars work themselves into shape, the Mariners want to see how reserve candidates like Desi Relaford, Alex Arias, Luis Ugueto and Charles Gipson fare at a number of positions.
Relaford, for instance, has never played the outfield. He will this spring.
“One of the keys to a strong bench is versatility,” Piniella said. “The more things you can do, the more often you play.”
Reserve infielders will get the chance to play all over the infield and in the outfield. Third baseman Jeff Cirillo might even expand his range this spring.
“We’ve thought about having him play first base a little bit,” Piniella said.
“When John (Olerud) needs a day off against a tough lefty, Cirillo could play first and Relaford could play third, get us two nice right-handed hitters in there.”
As for pitching, four arms won’t work the first week – Ryan Anderson, Gil Meche and Ken Cloude will be held back about 10 days and Jeff Heaverlo will have season-ending surgery this week.
“We only have 20 healthy pitchers in camp, and we’ll probably see all of them in the first three or four games,” Piniella said. “That’s why we haven’t scheduled any ‘B’ games this spring. We just don’t have enough pitchers to chew up all the innings.”
The Mariners play the Padres in Peoria Stadium in their annual charity game Thursday, then begin Cactus League play a day later.
Watch out: It was a painful day on campus, with balls finding bodies a little too often. Ryan Anderson, recuperating from shoulder surgery, took a ground ball off his right knee during fielding practice and went down in a very long pile. He iced it and was declared fit to throw again today.
Eugene Kingsale, meanwhile, was taking live batting practice against right-hander Jeff Nelson and Nelson drilled him. Kingsale walked around for a moment or two, then got back in the cage.
Short hops: Four Mariners minor leaguers signed contracts for the upcoming season: Willie Bloomquist, Antonio Perez, Luis Ugueto and Greg Wooten. … Most players ran through sliding drills on a soft pad Sunday, but not all of them, including veteran Mark McLemore. “I’ve seen guys blow out their knees in drills like this,” he said. “If I’m going to blow out my knee, I’ll do it on the playing field. And if I don’t know how to slide by now, this drill won’t save me.”
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