Heilman and Kawasaki signed, Guti and Smoak lookin' good

Here once, for about a minute, (he came in the Putz deal, then was shipped to Chicago for Ronnie Cedeno and Garrett Olson) Aaron Heilman is back - signed to a minor league deal for a shot at joining the 'pen.

Munenori Kawasaki also signed to a minor league deal and will compete for a back-up infielder role with the M's .  Kawasaki played all-star shortstop for the Softbank Hawks (who won the Japan Series last season) and played with Ichiro in the WBC and has apparently always wanted to play in the big leagues - but only on Ichiro's team.

I didn't get to hear all if it but, last night on the Hot Stove League Show, Eric Wedge had some glowing reports re: a couple M's he'd seen this week... apparently Guti has gained 19 pounds and Justin has trimmed down - the are strong and lean respectively and he's looking for great things from them both!

Guti coming back!

Just announced on the post game show....

Franklin is coming back!

Tom "the bartender" Wilhelmsen optioned to AA Jackson (to join the starting rotation)

It will be great to see Franklin patrolling centerfield once again.  Though Saunders has been doing an admirable job defensively in his stead - Michael needs a break at the plate.  Hopefully, this will be good for both our center fielders.


Welcome back, Guti!

Good Luck, Tom!

ST14 | vs. Halos

Mariners 2 | Angels 0

5TH STRAIGHT DAY OF DOUBLE-DIGIT HITS
only resulted in TWO runs, but thankfully, more STELLAR pitching made up for the lack of runs

JASON ADDS TO HIS GREAT SPRING TOTALS

Another FOUR scoreless innings, allowing only THREE hits and recording THREE strikeouts.  And, the rest of the staff combines to allow only ONE more hit, albeit FOUR walks

NEWS AND NOTES

• Felix's aspirations | YahooSports
• Good news on Guti's gut! | Seattle Times
• Saunders changes batting stance | News Tribune

baseball ... on the radio ... tomorrow!

Sure, it's only the annual charity game vs. the Padres ... 
but it's a real, live baseball game we can actually listen to!

And then, the realization sets in that a voice will be missing ...

from Shannon's blog

No lineup yet, but Erik Bedard will take the mound...
How's THAT for exciting?!?  Other pitchers slated to see action:  Luke French, Manny Delcarmen, Denny Bautista, Justin Miller, Cesar Jimenez, Yusmerio Petit and Chris Smith

Other news and notes...

• Jerry Brewer offers this piece on the M's new skipper - a sort of "the 5-R's" of Eric Wedge
• Geoff Baker catches up with M's top prospects Pineda and Ackley
• Kirby Arnold gives the latest report on Guti's gut

Tomorrow, there is a baseball game!!!

OK, it's only intra-squad, but it's still baseball!

with two 22-year-olds taking the mound...

Pineada vs. Beaven


And, several countdowns have commenced...

• Charity game w/ Padres = this Sunday
• First Spring Training game = Tuesday, March 1st
• My trip to Arizona = Wednesday, March 16th
• Opening Day @ Athletics = Friday, April 1st  
• Home Opener vs. Indians = Friday, April 8th 

Some news and notes from AZ...

• Zduriencik hoping M's don't repeat drama of '10 | Tim Booth
• Adam Moore: At a Mariners crossroads | Larry Larue
• Guti out with stomach issues again | Shannon Drayer
• M's manager has no problem with young club | Kirby Arnold

Charlie Riedel / AP

one old, one new ... Gloves of Gold

Congrats to Ichiro on his TENTH!


Congrats to Guti on his FIRST!

Herald.net

Amidst the abyss that was the 2010 season, there was a slight bit of joy - and these two were part of it.

On a scale of one to ten...

No team in Major League Baseball has had more Rawlings Gold Glove winners over the past two decades than the Seattle Mariners, and that trend continued Tuesday with the selection of outfielders Ichiro Suzuki and Franklin Gutierrez to the 2010 American League team.Ichiro won his 10th consecutive Gold Glove and Gutierrez earned his first such honor, as announced by Rawlings Sporting Goods Company and MLB.The Mariners have now had a least one Gold Glove winner for 24 straight seasons, easily the longest active streak in the Majors. The next-longest current streak is Minnesota with 10.

:::

Ichiro's run of 10 straight Gold Gloves from 2001-10 ties him for the Mariners' record set by Ken Griffey Jr. from 1990-99. Ichiro also won seven straight Gold Gloves in Japan for the Orix Blue Wave from 1994-2000.

Ichiro became just the 16th player in Major League history to win 10 Gold Gloves and the first to do so in his first 10 seasons.

Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays (12 each) are the only outfielders with more than 10.

Gutierrez is at the other end of the spectrum, winning his first Gold Glove after becoming the first Major League outfielder to post an error-less season with more than 400 total fielding chances.Gutierrez, 27, was perfect in 415 opportunities in center field -- 413 putouts and two assists -- to break the old mark of 396 errorless chances by Curt Flood in 1966.

He has now played 190 straight games and handled 542 consecutive plays without an error over two seasons.

Ichiro posted a .989 fielding percentage with just four errors in 365 chances in right field, where he led the league in putouts, total chances and innings played while finishing third in fielding percentage and fourth in assists.

g120 | The Luke and Tui Show

Mariners 4 | Orioles 0

Quality start by Luke...
only three hits and the first one not till one out in the 6th

All four runs driven in by Tui...
double in the 5th to score Adam Moore and homer in the 9th with Guti and Casey aboard.

Are we seeing the the beginnings of young talent coming to fruition?

't will be an interesting last few weeks...
Here's hoping we will get a chance to see what the youngsters can do so the needs can be properly assessed going into the winter.

g108 | rangers carry many big sticks

Mariners 6 | Rangers 11

Figures ...
Offense finally gets going a bit (works the count, steals bases, bunts, 2-out hits) and then the pitching implodes.  Doug was OK for four innings and then ... ka-plooey.  Except for Garrett (who gave up the granny) the rest of the pen (Brian, Chris, Sean and David P) did well.

Another double-digit hit night ...
Including three doubles (Figgy, Jack and Guti) and Adam's first home run since being recalled from AAA

Guti robs Vladdy ...
Awesome catch, bringing it back at the centerfield wall.  Unfortunately, the next AB was where the pitching started to go down hill.  Fast.