Prospect Insider - Spring Training Countdown: 3 days

Spring Training Countdown: 3 days

By Chris Crawford

By 02-09-2013

Three days is all that stands between the Mariners' pitchers and catchers reporting to the Peoria Sports Complex for spring training.

In today's edition, we'll talk about the Joe Saunders signing a little bit more signing and then some links to get you through the weekend.

Saunders
It was reported by Ken Rosenthal -- among others -- that the Mariners were closing in on signing Joe Saunders to a one year contract. It turns out that the contract is actually for $6.5 million with a chance to be $7.5, and there's a mutual option for 2014. Mutual options are almost universally declined, so it's probably safe to assume that this essentially is a one-year deal.

I've never been a huge fan of Saunders, but the signing makes sense. He's never missed bats and he never will, but he’s durable with good control and decent command and generally keeps the ball below the knees. Because he is a pitch-to-contact guy, there are going to be starts where he gets shelled, but he was probably the best guy left on the market and the cash is reasonable.

And now we have a little more clarity with the rotation as well. Three of the five spots -- Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma and now Saunders -- are now locked up, and I think Erasmo Ramirez would have to be pretty terrible in Peoria for him not to earn a spot. Prospect Insider's Jason Churchill reported Friday that the M's and veteran Jon Garland have agreed to a deal, so assuming they don't make another move -- which I suppose isn't out of the question -- it would appear that the battle for the fifth spot would be between Blake Beavan, Jeremy Bonderman, Danny Hultzen and assuming he passes his physical, Garland.

I would make Beavan the favorite, but I imagine that will be a wide open battle, and one of the more intriguing things to watch over the next two months.

Around the blogosphere
Mike Curto talks about a bunch of things in his latest blog post, and his look back at Mike Wilson's Rainiers career is definitely a great read. Wilson has been in the organization since approximately 1962, so it'll be weird seeing him in another uniform this year.

In his position preview, The News Tribune's Ryan Divish asks if this is finally the year that Justin Smoak breaks out.

Larry Stone gives a great rundown of everything that happened this offseason, and there's a poll on how the Mariner's did this offseason. The results may surprise you.

Dave Cameron has an excellent piece discussing how rebuilding is just as -- if not more -- risky than signing a player like Felix Hernandez to a large, long-term commitment.

spring-training-countdown:-3-days

Comments
The following 1 comment(s) for this article are shown below:

1. By: maqman on 02-10-2013 06:43:47
I can live with a starting roster of Felix, Kuma, Saunders, Mo Mo Ramirez and Beavan. Despite LF and C our defense and ballpark should help them all. We also have several possibilities that could push their way into the picture. Come on spring training!

You are not currently logged in. If you'd like to comment on this report, please log in.
Haven't created a Prospect Insider account yet? Sign up!