Ugueto to stay with Mariners
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, March 27, 2002
By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
PEORIA, Ariz. – Luis Ugueto, the promising young infielder who presented the Seattle Mariners with a difficult roster decision, apparently has made it as a major leaguer.
Manager Lou Piniella and members of the front office met Tuesday night to finalize the 25-man opening-day roster and the 23-year-old Ugueto appears to be on it.
Piniella said the team won’t make an official announcement until at least Saturday.
The choice of Ugueto, a 23-year-old Venezuelan who has never played above the Class A level, means that veteran infielder Alex Arias probably won’t make the team.
Ugueto became not only a difficult choice for the Mariners, but also a complicated one. As a Rule V draft selection, the Mariners would have to offer him back to the Florida Marlins if they didn’t keep him on the 25-man roster.
“I don’t know about complicated, but it’s the most involved decision we had,” Piniella said. “We didn’t know what to expect.”
What they have is a player with a strong arm and blistering speed on the bases. What they hope will develop is Ugueto’s bat and his overall feel for the game, especially defensively, at this level.
“He’s got good athleticism. He’s got some tools,” Piniella said.
The final two roster spots came down to a competition among Ugueto, Arias and Charles Gipson. Gipson gives them versatility as an infielder and outfielder, plus speed as a late-inning pinch-runner and defensive replacement, making Arias the odd man out.
Arias, obtained from the Padres in December as part of the Ben Davis trade, played well this month, batting .305, but doesn’t have the speed and versatility of Gipson or Ugueto.
Ugueto gives the Mariners a sixth switch-hitter, along with Mark McLemore, Carlos Guillen, Desi Relaford, Ben Davis and Ruben Sierra.
Without the Rule V issue, Piniella said Ugueto would be better served playing regularly in the minor leagues.
“He would fit well on somebody’s Double-A roster,” Piniella said. “He needs to play. Well, put it this way, he doesn’t need to play. He should be playing.”
That won’t happen with the Mariners.
“If Ugueto is with us, he’s going to be sitting with me and we’ll utilize his speed late in the ballgame,” Piniella said.
Mariners coach Dave Myers, who handles infielders, said Ugueto improved as spring training progressed.
“In the last week or so he has played extremely well defensively and has shown some ability to move around position-wise,” Myers said. “I was quite impressed with his reactions at third the game we used him. He had several challenging balls and he made all the plays. I think he’s gotten better, and hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.”
The second lefty: The only other roster drama – who will be the second situational left-hander in the bullpen – also seems to have been answered: nobody.
Brian Fitzgerald, the lefty who pitched impressively late in spring training and had the team considering him for the bullpen role, will play at Class AAA Tacoma.
“He will start the season in Triple-A,” Piniella said. “But I like what I’ve seen.”
That will leave left-hander John Halama in a long relief role and right-hander Ryan Franklin in middle and setup relief. Those two competed for a starting spot with right-hander Joel Pineiro, who Piniella said entered camp as the favorite and hasn’t done anything to change his mind.
It will be a different role for Franklin than he served last year.
“He’s an important part of our bullpen,” Piniella said. “The way we’re put together here, Franklin will be pitching in that middle role and even into the setup role depending on availability. I think to keep everybody sharp, you need four people to rotate, not counting the closer. Franklin will be one of those four (along with Jeff Nelson, Arthur Rhodes and Shigetoshi Hasegawa).”
Ruben sandwiched: Piniella said nobody who has experienced injury problems is a candidate for the disabled list, but he is worried about left fielder Ruben Sierra.
Sierra has hobbled on a sore hamstring much of spring training and is hitting just .111 in 36 at-bats.
“He’s coming along awfully slow,” Piniella said. “My concern is getting him some at-bats. He hasn’t been swinging the bat particularly well and we’d like to see him get 10 or 12 at-bats before we start our season.
“The trainer tells me he’s available the next day, and the next day turns into the next day. He told me he’ll be able to play tomorrow, so we’ll see.”
Piniella was more enthused about catcher Ben Davis, who has battled a strained oblique muscle the past two weeks.
“He caught yesterday with no problems and he wanted to catch again today, and that’s a good sign,” Piniella said.
Davis, a switch-hitter, still hasn’t been able to bat left-handed since being injured while swinging at a pitch on March 13.
Another loss: The Padres’ 4-1 victory Wednesday assured the Mariners of a losing record in Arizona. They’re 13-15 with a final game today against the Padres, and just 4-12 at Peoria Stadium.
“We’ve been putting different lineups out there,” Piniella said. “Don’t read anything into spring training. We’ve gotten our team in shape and we’re ready to start the season.”
West-coast swing: In the next three days the Mariner will play four games in four states, with split-squad games today in Peoria (against the Padres) and San Bernardino, Calif., (against their Class A team), Friday in Portland against the Padres and Saturday in Seattle against the Padres.
The group headed to California will board a bus for the airport at 9 a.m. today, fly at 10 and play at 2 p.m., then bolt from San Bernardino shortly after the game for the flight to Portland.
The crew remaining in Peoria will fly directly to Portland after the game, arriving three hours before the others.
“If I knew the group we have playing here was getting in at Portland at 6 and the other one will get in at 9, I would have stayed here,” Piniella joked.
Then again, if he didn’t go to San Bernardino he’d miss seeing actor Kevin Costner playing for the Stampede. Piniella rolled his eyes at that one.
“We’re going to have to find our own star somewhere to counteract that,” he said. “We’ve got a call in to Tom Sellick right now.”
Today in camp: It’s getaway day with half the team leaving early this morning for San Bernardino and the other half staying to play the Padres in the final Arizona game of the exhibition season.
Right-hander Paul Abbott is scheduled to pitch six innings against the Padres (11:05 a.m. PST on KNWX radio, 770 AM) and right-hander Greg Wooten will work the first five against the Mariners’ Class A team in San Bernardino (2 p.m., no radio).
