Reality biting Mariners, but progress shows

Now that the M’s have lost three games in a row, and trail lead in the Saturday game 2-7 (now the M’s have come back to score four in the 8th, making it 6-7; now, in the 9th, Brian LaHair gave the M’s the lead with a two-run homer) to the Dodgers, the club’s rebuilding challenges are laid plain: The team needs power and to strengthen every aspect of its pitching. Manager Don Wakamatsu has shown he can direct his players to generate hits and put the “game in motion.” Adrian Beltre has shown he is healthy, but home runs are coming in eccentric bursts from prospects who have never shown consistent power.

Because of the WBC, which is showing itself to be consistently thrilling and worth the distraction from team-building debates, the next couple weeks will remain a protracted audition for youngsters.

In the WBC, Seattle’s Phillippe Aumont, a 20-year-old right-hander, has pitched very well for Team Canada. His performance suggests he could be a solution to the Mariners’ problems in middle- or late-inning settings, but the team should not rush his development. Let his WBC appearances build his confidence, but remember that this kid has never played above A ball and needs a full year, or more, of professional pitching before stepping into Safeco. He could finish this year at Tacoma, if his elbow, which wore out last summer in Wisconsin, holds up. But this is a case where patience will pay off.

Inchiro Suzuki was off to a slow start for Team Japan, something he wasn’t happy about. In the team’s second game, against a very capable Korean team, Ichiro went 5-for-5 with three runs scored. During the first game, against Team China, Ichiro’s speed to first base appeared to have slowed, as he was getting out of the box slowly. In the Korea game, his bat was quicker, but he seems to have added a step to his slashing swing, a sort of pause in the box when he would have been stepping toward first in previous seasons. On the basepaths, though, Ichiro was flying.

Erik Bedard is healthy. With 4.2 inninings pitched this Spring, Bedard has returned to the quiet effective pitching that made him so attractive to the Bavasi regime. Good for the 2009 Mariners and Bedard, too late and too little for Bavasi. Bedard’s strike outs-per-inning ratio isn’t up to his stellar 2007 level, but the 0.00 ERA and one hit allowed look very good. The question is, does Seattle keep him, even re-sign him, or trade him for prospects or a bat, or batting prospects? In a rebuilding year, these are the questions management should be asking and, probably, are.

Back in Arizona, the kids are alright, but not spectacular. Ronny Cedeno is touted as making his case for a starting role at Shortstop, but Yuniesky Betancourt’s defensive play has impressed. Cedeno is a better batter and, frankly, a better fielder, who could win the position once Betancourt’s batted a comparable number of times (at this writing, Cedeno is batting .333 in 18 at-bats while Betancourt’s batted .333 in three at-bats. The numbers will eventually work in Cedeno’s favor.

The happy surprise of the Spring so far is Franlin Gutierrez’s batting. In 14 at-bats, Gutierrez is batting .430, an unexpected bonus from the plus-defensive center fielder.

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