Mariners taking shape, and it looks good

Two milestones for the new season in Seattle this week: the first cuts from the major league camp and the new television commercials which, for Mariners fans, are a rite of passage to Opening Day. First, the commercials, which you can view here (and get two DVDs containing all 100 Mariners commercials on two Friday nights this summer—strange as this may seem to fans in other cities, these spots are funny and a key to the players’ relationship with fans here). The 100th spot, featuring Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez, is especially funny because of Bone and Gar’s ability to play straight men. I was wondering why the Mariners didn’t get California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger or, at mimimum, a life-size cut-out of the big Austrian for the Ryan Rowland-Smith Austria-Australia confusion spot. With the California budget in the shape it’s in, the Governator could have used the spare cash.

But on to other, more important issues. Mike Sweeney, whose bat came to life in today’s game against Oakland, will likely be the backup first baseman this season, as Bryan LaHair was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma to continue to develop his game after serving a tour in Seattle after the exile of Richie Sexson in 2008.

Chris Shelton, who is batting .516 with three home runs as of Friday, has always been better in the early part of the year and will not likely make the Mariners roster because Sweeney is the kind of veteran who can have success in pinch-hit at-bats.

Based on his .235 batting average this Spring, Jeff Clement is the man on the bubble, who could lose out as backup catcher and backup DH to land back in Tacoma. The kid has a ton of potential, but with so many catchers in the system, is starting to look like trade bait to me. Remember, Jason Varitek started in the Seattle system. Clement is beginning to show the signs of “former Mariner,” the kind of guy we see in another uniform and wonder what went wrong here. Rob Johnson, meanwhile, is batting .409 with better power and plate discipline this Spring.

What to do with Matt Tuiaososopo will be the biggest challenge at the end of camp. In 50 at-bats, he’s batting .440, slugging .700 and some respectable power despite striking out 28 percent of the time. Smart money says he goes back to Triple-A to see if he dominates there, because Adrian Beltre has a well-deserved lock on third base. But if GM Jack Zduriencik sees an opportunity to trade Beltre, should Seattle decide it can’t sign the walk-year veteran for another contract, expect a deal early in the season. Beltre is an excellent defensive third baseman, it would be disappointing to see him go. With a kid tearing the cover off the ball behind him, though, it looks like the Mariners will not agonize over letting Beltre go.

Pitching remains the most difficult call—it’s what I’ll be concentrating on here in the final two weeks of this long Spring Training.

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