PEORIA, Ariz. _ Ever since Jeff Clement enticed the Seattle Mariners with two big home runs last September after being called up, there’s been more than a suggestion that he should make the roster this year.
Where?
Anywhere, said those who’d love to see Clement’s powerful left-handed bat somewhere on the roster — DH, first base, backup catcher, pinch-hitter off the bench.
Mariners manager John McLaren all but squashed any such thinking on the first day of spring training Thursday, saying Clement likely would start the season at Class AAA Tacoma.
“We’re not going to carry Jeff Clement as an extra catcher or as a pinch hitter,” McLaren said. “He’s going to have to be an everyday player at a position.”
Because the starting positions are locked up with Kenji Johjima at catcher and Jamie Burke as his backup, Jose Vidro at DH and Richie Sexson at first base, it’s not hard to figure where Clement will wind up.
As a 24-year-old whose development would be stunted by a year on the bench, the Mariners believe it’s better for Clement to be an everyday player in the minor leagues.
“He has too high a ceiling and he needs to play,” McLaren said. “If he’s a starter, he’ll be on the club. If not, he’ll be in Tacoma.”
First workout: All 28 pitchers worked off the bullpen mound Thursday, throwing nothing but fastballs and changeups.
“Everybody threw the ball well, but we had to tell a couple of them to tone it down a little bit,” McLaren said.
It wasn’t a couple of youngsters trying to leave an early impression.
“Veteran guys,” McLaren said, without naming names.
He was more pleased that three pitchers coming off surgery — Arthur Rhodes, Chris Reitsma and Mark Lowe — threw with no ill effects. Rhodes and Reitsma won’t be ready by the opener, although Lowe says he’s 100 percent.
“It went better than well. I’ll start spinning them next time,” Lowe said, using baseball-speak for throwing breaking pitches.
One other pitcher, closer J.J. Putz, is being restricted in his bullpen work but not because he’s hurt.
The Mariners want Putz to take it easy early in camp to be sure he’s ready at the end. He missed time each of the past two spring trainings because of back spasms in 2006 and a sore elbow in 2007.
“J.J. is not coming off injury, but we want him to watch it,” McLaren said. “We just want to limit the reps.”
Bad to Bone? McLaren plans to bring former players such as Jay Buhner, Rich Amaral and Tony Phillips to camp throughout spring training provide individual instruction.
McLaren promised to work those guys hard.
“I already told Buhner that he’s not going to be happy,” McLaren said. “At the end of the day, he’s going to be tired and it’s not going to be from signing autographs.”
Beware the Sheriff: Asked if new bullpen coach Norm Charlton, a supreme prankster throughout his career, had pulled off anything this early in camp, reliever Brandon Morrow cast a wary eye around the clubhouse before answering.
“Not yet, but we’re waiting,” Morrow said.
McLaren warns that nobody should dare pull any pranks on Charlton.
“All I can say is that the payback with Norm will be worse than whatever they would do to start with,” said McLaren, who goes back to Charlton’s “Nasty Boys” days with the Reds. “I’ve seen Norm in action. Everything that Rob Dibble did, it was Norm’s idea.”
Of note: Position players aren’t required to report until Tuesday, but several already are working out on their own. Among them are Willie Bloomquist, Mike Morse, Matt Tuiasosopo, Wladimir Balentien and Yung Chi Chen. … The Mariners are likely to begin the season with a 12-man pitching staff, although that decision won’t come until just before the season begins. “We’re going to have an open mind about everything,” said McLaren, mindful that four straight snowouts last year in Cleveland wrecked the pitching staff. “We don’t have a whole lot of off days the first month, and God forbid I hope we don’t have another Cleveland situation. That thing was over our heads the whole year. We’ll just have to see how things unfold.” … Scott Budner, pitching coach for the Mariners’ Class A Inland Empire team, was taken to a Peoria hospital Thursday morning after experiencing lower back pain. The Mariners said it was not a life-threatening situation.
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com.
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