Prospect Insider - Spring Training Countdown: 18 days

Spring Training Countdown: 18 days

By Chris Crawford

By 01-25-2013

There are 18 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training for the Seattle Mariners. That's more than 440-some hours, or so, depending on when you read this, 25,920 minutes, 1,555,222 seconds and probably at least one 40-man roster addition, which is likely to come in the form of a starting pitcher.

Today I'll talk to you about roster flexibility, a few of the links making their way around the blogosphere, and the one thing I can't recommend enough about your stay in Peoria. You are all coming to Peoria right? You should be.

Flexibility, or lack thereof
As the roster starts to take shape, one thing you may notice is that it doesn't appear that the Mariners have a lot of versatility on their roster. If you look at the depth chart here on the Mariner home page, you'll see that they currently have a projected bench of Robert Andino, Ronny Paulino, Casper Wells, and either Raul Ibanez or Jason Bay. Not exactly four Mark McLemores.

One thing this might lead to -- and in my mind it's a positive thing -- is that it might mean the Mariners chose to go with 11 pitchers instead of the conventional 12. The Mariners bullpen, which we will discuss in another edition, appears to be one of the true strengths of the current roster. This might allow the Mariners to open up one additional roster spot.

Should they break convention and choose to go with an eleven-man staff, the question becomes who would fill that roster spot. My guess would be that they go with a guy who could play both the corner positions (Wedge talked about Michael Morse being an emergency third baseman, that is not a good look, as the kids say), but they could go with a guy who has experience playing the middle infield as well, which could mean you see Carlos Triunfel or Alex Liddi start the year on the 25-man roster. This is one of the more interesting battles of spring training that I don't think is being discussed enough.

Around the blogosphere
Larry Stone has some interesting information about the time table for the Mariners participating in the World Baseball Classic

Dave Cameron didn't find too much useful information from the luncheon on Tuesday

Ryan Divish and I don't agree necessarily on the facts of the Justin Upton trade, but this is a very interesting perspective

Finally, Fan Fest is just a couple days away, but I would definitely recommend paying for parking now if you plan on attending, as it's only $5 online.

The most important thing to remember when you book your trip
I really cannot emphasize this enough. I talked about it last year, and I talked about it the year before. If you have to rent a car -- and you probably do -- do NOT rent from the airport.

Using the dates that I am planning on attending, which I'll share at a later date, renting from the airport averages right around $120 a day. Most of this is due to ridiculous taxes and rental fees that have never been fully explained to me. Renting off-site, the total comes to right around $45 a day.

I don't know about you, but having an extra $75 in my pocket feels pretty good. Arizona is going to gouge you one way or another, but this is one way you can at least walk away with your head held high.

Just say no to renting at Sky Harbor Airport.

spring-training-countdown:-18-days

Comments
The following 7 comment(s) for this article are shown below:

1. By: Bookbook on 01-25-2013 05:35:17
I would have loved to have Upton. However, if he had difficulty playing for Gibson there isn't much reason to believe things would have gone smoothly with Wedge.

2. By: sexymarinersfan on 01-25-2013 08:06:07
That tip about the airport and rent a cars is completely accurate. Jason you saved my gal and I almost $200 bucks. But then again we lost it all to ballpark food! Lol! $10 for a tall boy Coors Light x4! Ouch! This year we're buying an ice chest and eating and drinking before and after the game in the parking lot. That'll save us and you others some serious coin as well.

3. By: Paul Martin on 01-25-2013 13:49:04
Triunfel making the roster? Wow, I had him getting cut, clearing waivers, and going to Tacoma...

Eric Thames also starts in Tacoma, and unless Bay has a HUGE spring or Guti gets hurt, he gets cut.

Smoak starts off as the everyday 1B, like they did with Figgins, and like Figgins, if Smoak doesn't produce he will be on a short leash. One to two months and if they don't like what they see, he is in Tacoma too.

We all saw the roster issues when they kept signing or trading for 1B/DH types. Will be fun to see how it all shakes out.

4. By: Jason A. Churchill on 01-25-2013 14:40:35
Early in the year the club is less likely to carry one fewer pitcher, especially if both Erasmo and Beavan -- or any two young arms -- are part of the rotation.

5. By: dewey on 01-25-2013 19:51:00
Jason whats your honest thoughts on the 1b/dh logjam i hear Wedge saying Smoak is his 1b but what do they do with Raul and that 2.9 they are paying him?

6. By: Paul Martin on 01-25-2013 22:25:21
Seattle Times reporting Paulino only gets a minor league deal with spring invite. Could Shoppach still be in play?

He can talk about a multi year deal all he wants, but no one is giving it to him. I think we can still get him on a one year deal, and relatively cheap!!!

7. By: Shawnuel on 01-26-2013 08:19:22
Thanks for the info, Chris.

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