Mariners’ Pitching Rotation Will Be Set In Next Few Days Wells, Former Ccs Right-Hander, Likely To Become Fourth Starter

Seven days before they break camp, the Seattle Mariners are close to cutting their roster - and filling out their starting rotation.

The first three spots in that fiveman staff are the same as a year ago: Randy Johnson will start opening night against Detroit, followed by Chris Bosio and Dave Fleming.

As for the last two spots, each of five serious candidates will get one more spring appearance before a final decision is made, but it looks more and more like a surprise - right-hander Bob Wells - will be the No. 4 starter and left-hander Tim Davis will be the No. 5 man.

Yakima native Wells, 28, was claimed on waivers last July by Seattle, and the day after the strike began, Aug. 11, the former Community Colleges of Spokane player was scheduled to make his first start for the Mariners. He came to camp as a long reliever, but the M’s like his arm, his experience and his mound presence.

“He threw 17 pitches in two innings and 14 were strikes,” manager Lou Piniella said of Wells’ Saturday debut. “He threw a first-pitch strike to each of the six men he faced. He looked strong. He was ready.”

On Sunday, Wells was still ready - for anything.

“I’ve started and relieved,” Wells said, “and I’ve enjoyed both. I couldn’t tell you which I liked more.”

Davis looks solidly in the rotation, so Wells has to beat out Jim Converse, John Cummings and Roger Salkeld for the job. After one appearance, Cummings’ earned-run average is 13.50; Salkeld has pitched a scoreless inning but walked two batters and Converse, who started Sunday against Milwaukee, has allowed two runs, six hits and a pair of walks in four innings.

Wells, with a fastball clocked at 95 mph, has pitched professionally since 1989, but has made just seven big-league appearances - none of them starts. Elbow surgery in 1993 sidelined him, but he is healthy, something some Mariners coaches don’t believe of Salkeld.

If Wells makes the rotation, he’ll be sandwiched between the team’s two soft-tossing lefties, Fleming and Davis.

As for the remainder of the 28-man roster Seattle will carry into the season, Piniella said he will trim the numbers from 42 in camp to 32 after the Tuesday game. That means more than 10 players will be cut, because the team plans to recall pitchers Ron Villone and Lee Guetterman from Tacoma.

Alex Rodriguez, pushing to start the season at shortstop, has done nothing to show the Mariners he’s not ready - after three spring games, he was batting .333 and playing solid defense.

“If we’re going to play the final five, six games as if they were regular-season games, we’re not going to have at-bats or innings for kids who don’t figure to make the club,” Piniella said. “As of Wednesday, we’ll probably have three extras here and the roles will be pretty well-defined.”

Mariners fall

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his third home run of the spring in three games for the Mariners, but Milwaukee prevailed 9-5 in Peoria, Ariz.

Griffey, who led the American League in the strike-shortened 1994 season with 40 homers, hit a two-run, opposite-field shot 360 feet down the leftfield line off Ricky Bones in the third inning.

All three of his spring hits have been home runs, and he has six RBIs. His other two homers were 430-foot shots to center in Peoria Stadium.

Replacement umpire John Higgins threw out Mariners first-base coach Sam Mejias in the sixth for arguing his calls from first on checked swings. Piniella went out to first to get an explanation.

“The umpire said he’d heard enough,” Piniella said. “This guy didn’t do a very good job with checked swings. He told me that just because they were replacement umpires they weren’t going to be pushovers.

“I told him if he kept making calls like that he was going to be kicking a lot of guys out of games.”

Playing before 3,025 fans on a windy, cloudy day with a few sprinkles, the Brewers had 16 hits and six walks. Eight of Milwaukee’s hits were for extra bases.

Edgar Martinez added two-run homer for Seattle, and Joey Cora had a solo shot.

Notes

Jay Buhner was the designated hitter Sunday and will be again today as he recuperates from a mild muscle strain in his right thigh… . Marc Newfield showed up Sunday with a shaved head, presenting Seattle with a spring possibility: If the team plays Newfield, Craig Griffey and Buhner at the same time, the Mariners will have the first hairless outfield in franchise history. “I’m trying to talk Junior into the look but he’s not buying,” Craig Griffey said.

Starting Wednesday, Piniella will alternate catchers each game, asking Dan Wilson, then Chad Kreuter, to give him nine innings every other day… . There’s a doubleheader of sorts today in Tempe, where the Mariners play a 10 a.m. ‘B’ game, then a 1:05 p.m. exhibition game vs. California. Shawn Estes starts the first game, Randy Johnson the second… . The M’s have renewed the 1994 contracts of righthander Bill Risley and Davis. They also said righthanders Bobby Ayala, Jeff Nelson, Derek Lowe and Estes, infielder Giomar Guevara and outfielder Darren Bragg have agreed to terms. All of the players on the 40-man roster are now under contract.