There’s activity on every field (plus today’s lineups)

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:

  • How good is Erik Bedard’s rehab going? So good that he may throw from a mound in about 10 days. Bedard had surgery Aug. 14 to repair a torn labrum and, even amid reports that he might be pitching as early as May or June, the Mariners didn’t think he’d get onto a mound before spring training ended.
  • The Mariners haven’t announced their next round of cuts, although that’s expected to happen today. Need a clue? Seen moving their belongings out of the big-league clubhouse Friday afternoon were first basemen Brad Nelson and Tommy Everidge and outfielders Greg Halman and Mike Wilson.
  • Left-hander Ryan Feierabend, optioned to Class AAA Tacoma in the first round of cuts Wednesday, will remain in Arizona when the Rainiers’ season begins and join the team at the end of April. That will allow Feierabend, who had “Tommy John” elbow surgery almost 13 months ago, to avoid a heavy workload of innings early in the season and be available if the Mariners need him for the stretch drive.
  • And finally, on a purely personal note, this is my annual Corndog For Lunch day at spring training. Kelly Munro of the Mariners’ baseball information staff is a noted corndog connoisseur and we usually forgo the $7 media lunch on the last day of spring training in favor of something beefier, corn-breadier and, yes, deep-fried-fattier. Since this is the final home exhibition before Kelly goes back to Seattle, today’s the day.

    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.

  • Oh yeah, there is a game today. Here are the lineups:
  • 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

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