While the Hawaiian Winter Baseball League is rolling along with the unexciting names from the Mariners organization - Mike Wilson, Aaron Jensen, Josh Womack and Harold Williams - the Arizona Fall League and the Venezuelan Winter League are both underway, carrying several intriguing names from the system.

Jeff Clement, Matt Tuiasosopo and Yung Chi Chen are impressing scouts in the desert while numerous players from the organization are sprinkled up and down the roster of the Lara Cardenales.

The biggest and perhaps most important name on the Cards’ roster is right-hander Brandon Morrow. He’s expected to make at least a half-dozen starter-like appearances, beginning with a 20-pitch limit that’s stretched as high as 75-90, but the season is 10 days underway and Morrow has yet to pitch, leaving nothing to report to date.

The word is that there is nothing wrong with Morrow, they just wanted to get him a full month’s rest before heating his arm back up again.

Morrow recently told reporters that he’s there to work on his slider and change for the most part, but hopefully he’s also thinking more about his fastball command, which was a major issue in his rookie season.

Ryan Rowland-Smith is also in Vevenzuela to stretch his arm out a bit, and though the ballclub is not sure what his role will be in the future, they clearly want starting to be an option for the left-hander.

I recently spoke with one of the pitching coaches that has worked with Rowland-Smith in the past, and he believes this is a good idea.

“He only went to relief because he had success there and we needed him to experience success at some point. He never really struggled all that much as a starter, but we got the chance to get him in situations where his stuff could dominate to an extent, and using him for two or three innings instead of six was ideal for that.

“He wasn’t taken out of the rotation down here because he couldn’t start. His situation is very different from that of (Mark) Lowe and (Eric) O’Flaherty. Those two had separate factors that made their career paths much more stable by pitching in relief.”

Lowe concurred, and then some, when Prospect Insider spoke to the 24-year-old in Tacoma in September.

“I just couldn’t do it,” Lowe said. “I’d get through two or three innings and it was like I couldn’t make my pitches anymore. I love coming in out of the pen.”

O’Flaherty and Lowe both caught fire in a two-team stint in High-A Inland Empire and AA San Antonio in 2006, and Lowe remembers the conversation that helped both pitchers re-focus their efforts and get to the big leagues.

“O’Flaherty and I were soaking in the hot tub and we starting saying, ‘look who else is up there - that could be us. That should be us, we are better than some of those guys. We aren’t that far away, let’s do this.’ After that we kind of had an extra jolt of adrenaline and it got us where we are.”

O’Flaherty experienced back problems in Class A Wisconsin as a starter, and has pitched exclusively in relief ever since.

On the contrary, Rowland-Smith got to the big leagues and experienced success out of the bullpen during the season’s second half without being forced to the ‘pen due to ineffectiveness. He posted k/9 rates of 7.76 as a starter in the minors while his walk rate was almost identical in either role.

And even though I originally had reservations about him returning to the rotation, I see no reason why he can’t get a handful of starts in the VWL to prep him for a shot at the 5-slot in Spring Training. There’s no downside to it at all - he’s not a major injury risk and he can always return to his role in the bullpen if he doesn’t cut it as a starter, or if the club finds a better option elsewhere.

Rowland-Smith better equipped to make that transition right now than is Morrow, and though he does not want to start the year in the minors, GM Bill Bavasi even admits that Morrow really should have been there last year.

“Really, he should be at Double-A, Triple-A or maybe a late-season callup,” Bavasi told the Seattle Times and Baseball America.

Oddly enough, or maybe not so oddly, Rowland-Smith’s presence could save the Mariners from making a second mistake by rushing Morrow a second straight spring. If the Aussie left-hander can successfully re-enter the starting rotation - albeit this time at the big-league level - Brandon Morrow can remain in Triple-A Tacoma where he will have a legit chance to fully develop his slider and changeup.

While you can keep up with the numbers on your own, I’ll be sure and get a scout’s take on these two as the VWL schedule plays out.

Other M’s on the roster include pitchers Ivan Blanco, Jose Jimenez, Cibney Bello, Cesar Jimenez, Jose Escalona, Marwin Vega, Sean White and Brad Thomas, infielder Jose Lopez, Jesus Guzman, Oswaldo Navarro and Luis Valbuena, and outfielders Wladimir Balentien and Charleton Jimerson.

Former Mariners pitchers Rich Dorman, Renee Cortez, Giovanni Carrrara and catchers Wiki Gonzalez and Guillermo Quiroz are also on the roster, as are infielder Asdrubal Cabrera and utility player Luis Ugueto, the rule 5 kid himself.

Moises Hernandez, Felix’s older brother, is also back home playing winter ball.

Catcher Juan Beltran, 3B Leury Bonilla and outfielder Eddy Hernandez are playing in the Dominican League, though none of the three are prospects.

The Arizona Fall League

I was going to save this for the newsletter set go out next week — if you haven’t signed up for that, you’re going to want to. The vast majority of the offseason rumor mill is going to be a newsletter exclusive, beginning next Friday, November 3 — but I’ll go ahead and slot it in right here.

Jeff Clement, C

Clement is hitting the ball pretty well down in Arizona in the early going, and though it is against sub par pitching, as usual in the AFL, he’s squaring up balls and showing the same strong approach he did in the final few weeks during his September call-up. A handful of scouts have commented on his status as a big-leaguer, both at the plate, and behind it.

Scout 1 - “I’m not sure he’s going to hit for quite enough power to be an everyday first baseman, but if he can stick behind the plate, he’s a plus bat- and from the left side, that’s a pretty thing.”

Scout 2 - “He’s an average defender right now, which should be enough to ultimately get him a starting catcher’s role with Seattle. His bat is special - for a catcher. It’s merely average for a DH, but he might still have some development left there, as well as behind the plate.”

Scout 3 - Clement “is borderline at best behind the dish, but he has huge pull power and should be good for 25-plus homers a season for a team willing to put up with his defense.”

Yung Chi Chen, 2B

Scout 1 - “He’s a real solid baseball player showing some strong fundamental skills, and decent speed. I like his footwork around the bag at second compared to where he was two years ago in A ball, too. I think he can manage second base and his bat, while lacking pop, holds its own.”

Scout 2 - “He’s ideal for a utility spot, especially if he can learn to play some outfield. I don’t think he’ll hit enough to play everyday, but the physical tools are there for him to be average in most areas, and average across the board can make one a regular.”

Scout 3 - “Two words: Placido Polanco. Polanco bloomed late with many of the same physical skills and Chen could follow a similar path.”

Matt Tuiasosopo, 3B

Scout 1 -”Despite being somewhat raw, Tuiasosopo showed he can center the ball and drive it when he relies on his bat speed and upper-body strength rather than trying to loft the ball with his swing. Unlike a lot of tools guys who lack a feel for hitting, he showed he would take soft stuff away to the other side.”

Scout 2 - “He may have the most polished approach of any high school draftee down here. For a kid relying on athletic ability, he’s done a pretty good job turning things around since his bad year. He still has a chance to be a regular, but it will all be decided with his bat.”

Scout 3 - “Can I use the ‘two words’ thing again? Notta disappointment. That work?”

The Mariners sent pitchers Mumba Rivera, Joe Woerman and Ricky Orta, and while all three have above-average fastballs, the trio are all better suited for relief work, and thus are not prospects at this time.

Woerman has turned himself into a legit pitcher, however, and Orta has above-average stuff that the Mariners will ride out in the starter’s role.