Welcome to the busiest place in Peoria. Not only are the Mariners in mid-spring training form, their minor leaguers hold their first full-squad workout today.
That’s what makes this part of March, in my opinion, the best part of spring training. Fans can watch the big-leaguers work out in the morning, then venture down to the lower practice fields and see every minor leaguer in the system — 151 at this point — pursue their dreams. That’s not to mention the weather, which usually is spectacular by this time of the month (we’re headed toward the mid-80s next week).
Before they hit the fields this morning, the minor leaguers will spend an hour getting to know the organization — from being introduced to CEO Howard Lincoln to learning what’s expected of them from minor league director Pedro Grifol.
Grifol will deliver two basic messages: He wants them to carry themselves with character and integrity, and he expects them to compete from the get-go. Roster spots are precious, especially at the lower levels of the system.
“I don’t know if they think of it this way, but when you put it all together, our Clinton club had a 25-man roster and probably 10 will come back this year,” he said. “That means there will be 15 spots (available). You have 90 players from short-season clubs last year trying to fill those 15 spots.
“I’ll give them the numbers and tell them that one of the hardest parts of our job is evaluations, not only evaluating them but evaluating them compared to other players. You want to make our jobs easy? Lack professionalism, lack integrity, lack character and somebody else will take your job. You want to make our jobs hard? Do all of the above and let us evaluate. That will be my message.”
Among those here for the first day of minor league workouts are three from the Everett AquaSox front office — executive vice president Tom Backemeyer, community relations director Katie Crawford and video coordinator Stephen Myslik. Part of their work here is to capture video and images for the AquaSox’ new video board at Everett Memorial Stadium.
And now, on to big-league matters. Here are a couple of interesting notes from my report that ran in this morning’s Herald sports section:
The corndog stand at Peoria Stadium, located behind the grandstand on the third-base side, is by far my favorite. Their offerings come in two sizes: regular and vulgar.
MARINERS
Ichiro Suzuki, right field
Chone Figgins, second base
Jose Lopez, third base
Ken Griffey Jr., DH
Eric Byrnes, left field
Casey Kotchman, first base
Franklin Gutierrez, center field
Adam Moore, catcher
Josh Wilson, shortstop
Right-hander Doug Fister, starting pitcher
GIANTS
Andres Torres, center field
Edgar Renteria, shortstop
Fred Lewis, DH
Juan Uribe, second base
John Bowker, left field
Eli Whiteside, catcher
Ryan Rohlinger, third base
Brett Pill, first base
Eugenio Velez, right field
Right-hander Kevin Pucetes, starting pitcher
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.