Spring is Upon Us!

Well, it's been almost a month since I lasted updated this. I got married and just returned from a two week honeymoon in Florida. I did get some of my baseball fix by attending a Braves and Mets game at Champion Stadium in the Espn Wide World of Sports complex. However, as I left, the Mariners began their work in Arizona and since then, a lot of things have happened.

Of course, the most exciting action is where competition for remaining roster spots have heated up. We all know that Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee, Ryan Rowland-Smith, and Ian Snell will be penciled in 4 of the 5 starting rotation spots at the beginning of the season and when he's healthy again, Erik Bedard will become #5. Until then, Jason Vargas, Doug Fister, Garrett Olson, and Luke French are all vying for that spot.

The clear leader is Jason Vargas. He's pitched 5 and 2/3 innings so far while only allowing 3 hits, 1 walk and no runs. Meanwhile, Fister got smacked around a little by Milwaukee, Garret Olson got whalloped by San Diego for 6 runs in 2/3 of inning, and French has thrown 4 scoreless innings of relief. Spring is still young, but Vargas may also have an edge as he has considerable more experience starting than either Luke French or Doug Fister, and appears to be a bit more effective than Olson.

Next, the catching situation is still to be decided between Rob Johnson, Adam Moore, and Josh Bard. The big question of course: is Rob Johnson fully recovered from his multiple hip surgeries? Johnson has yet to play a game this spring, but managed to catch a simulated game for Felix Hernandez and is slowly gearing up for his catcus league debut. Meanwhile, Adam Moore is crushing the ball, hitting .583 with a few doubles and rbis. It's going to be hard to ignore this kid if he's the type of offensive player that neither Johnson or Bard are. Prior to signing Bard, it was assumed that Johnson and Moore would split the duties with Johnson taking the lion's share, but some among the mariners coaching staff and front office believe that Moore would benefit more from another year in the minors where he could play regularly versus being on the big league roster as Johnson's backup, thus leading to signing of Bard. However, if Moore can compete with the other catchers defensively, then the Mariners should start consider giving a good amount of starts this year. A good all-around catcher who can hit is hard to come by.

Finally, Mike Sweeney is making a case for himself, even though the Mariners already have a plethora of DH (Ken Griffey Jr., Milton Bradley, Eric Byrnes, Ryan Garko), and firstbase (Garko, Casey Kotchman, Jack Hannahan) options. Sweeney leads the team with a .769 batting average, 3 doubles and 6 rbis. While he came into camp to fight for a spot that may not be available to him, Sweeney may be the answering to Mariner's need for a right handed offensive threat. Plus, everybody loves the guy. Maybe this would be easier for Wak if Sweeney was a douche that hit sub .250.