2005 Mariners

STARTING ROTATION

LHP Jamie Moyer

He’s 42 and back to prove that age wasn’t the reason for his 7-13 record and 5.21 earned run average in 2004. By all accounts, Moyer hasn’t slowed down. He came to spring training in his typical phenomenal condition and pitched well. He showed the control that sometimes was wayward last year and the change in the shape and speed of his pitches that kept hitters off balance.

RHP Joel Pineiro

He was in line to be the opening-day starter before a sore shoulder early in spring training kept him off the mound about two weeks. Pineiro will start the season on the disabled list, but be available by April 15. He missed the final two months of last season because of a strained elbow, but rehabbed in the off-season and showed no indication of more problems.

RHP Gil Meche

Meche solved his control problems last year with a different approach – challenging hitters over the plate with his often unhittable stuff rather than nibbling the edges of the strike zone and often missing. He went 6-2 with a 3.95 ERA after the All-Star break, and picked up in spring training as one of the Mariners’ most effective starters.

LHP Bobby Madritsch

The highly touted, and tattooed, lefty jumped into the rotation for his first full season in the major leagues after going 6-3, 3.27 after being called up at mid-season in 2004. He’ll challenge anyone with his fastball and get them out with his changeup. The key for Madritsch is to get out American League hitters who aren’t seeing him for the first time like they were last year.

RHP Aaron Sele

This former Mariner, and North Kitsap High School star, became one of the pleasant surprises of spring training. He made the team after signing a minor league contract, then proving that his arm strength – and curveball – has returned after battling health problems the previous two years with the Angels. This is Sele’s second stint with the Mariners after he played here in 2000 and 2001, going a combined 32-15 and helping them reach the postseason both years.

RHP Ryan Franklin

There are two ways to look at Franklin, which may be why the Mariners waited so long in spring training to decide whether to keep him in the rotation or move him to the bullpen. He struggled to a 4-16, 4.90 season in 2004 when run support again was an issue, but, then, so was his penchant for giving up home runs. Franklin allowed 33, one year after he’d given up a league-leading 34. Still, he had the worst run support in the major leagues at 3.14 per nine innings, and he pitched more than 200 innings for the second straight season.

BULLPEN

LHP Eddie Guardado

Guardado begins this season like he did last, with questions about his health. He missed the final two months of last season because of a rotator cuff injury to his left shoulder, then spent most of spring training trying to overcome a strained right hamstring. When last healthy, the high-energy Guardado was one of the best closers in baseball with 86 saves in the 2002 and 2003 seasons with the Twins. He managed just 18 saves with the M’s last year before he was hurt.

RHP J.J. Putz

The Mariners love his powerful right arm in the right-handed late-inning setup role, but he’s the first alternate at closer in case Guardado can’t do it. Putz took over the closer duties after Guardado was hurt last year and recorded nine saves. Not only that, Putz went 9 for 9 in save opportunities after he blew his first four chances.

RHP Jeff Nelson

He’s back for his third stint with the Mariners, this time hoping to come back from elbow surgery that limited him to 29 games last year with the Texas Rangers. At spring training, Nelson appeared to have his velocity back, along with the deceptive slider that made him one of the American League’s top setup relievers since the mid-1990s.

RHP Shigetoshi Hasegawa

Like so many other Mariners who return, Hasegawa is back hoping to lay his 2004 season to rest. He finished with a 5.16 ERA, one year after he spectacularly saved 16 games and had a 1.48 ERA, plus a place on the All-Star team. He had a good spring training, keeping the ball low and getting hitters to hit it into the ground.

LHP Ron Villone

He was the Mariners’ pitcher of the year in 2004 after going 8-6, 4.08 and filling a variety of roles in the bullpen and starting rotation. He went 6-4 in 10 starts, and was 5-1 at Safeco Field. For the first time in Villone’s 11-year major league career, including two stints with the Mariners, he has job security. He signed a two-year contract with the M’s in the off-season, the first multi-year deal of his career.

LHP Matt Thornton

The Mariners, along with other major league teams, covet Thornton’s power left arm, a rarity that they hope to use in the late-inning left-handed specialist role in the bullpen. Thornton, however, has battled control problems much of his pro career, including the past month at spring training. He pitched well late in camp and made the team. It also helped that has no more minor league options and probably would be grabbed by another team if the Mariners tried to send him to the minors.

RHP Julio Mateo

He’s a veteran of two seasons in long and middle relief, but struggled through last season with a 4.68 ERA. Mateo spent six weeks on the disabled list because of tendinitis in his right elbow, but came back in mid-September and had a 1.50 ERA in five games. He pitched six games for Escogido of the Dominican Winter League, going 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA.

OUTFIELD

CF Jeremy Reed

He’s a rookie who, in 18 games last September and at spring training last month, proved he can handle a couple of pressure spots at the major league level. Not only will Reed play center field in spacious Safeco Field, he will spend much of his time hitting second in the batting order. In that role, he’ll be required to help Ichiro Suzuki advance on the bases when he gets on, plus reach base himself to set up the RBI producers who hit behind him. Reed batted .397 after being called up to the M’s in the final month last year, and he continued it this spring with an average that remained in the high .300s.

RF Ichiro Suzuki

What more can Suzuki do after getting 262 hits in one season to break an 80-year-old record? How about batting .400, or taking a run at Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak? Both would seem difficult, but Suzuki appeared at spring training ready to take on those marks right away. His batting average hovered above .500 most of the month as he aimed for a hot start to the regular season, something that didn’t happen last year when he batted just .255 in April.

LF Randy Winn

Winn, who looked uncomfortable many times in center field last year, returns to left field, a position he played well his first year with the Mariners in 2003. Winn, despite constant trade talk, has been a consistent hitter with the Mariners, batting .295 and .286 in his two seasons, with career highs of 14 home runs and 81 RBI last season. In addition, he’s a consistent base-stealing threat after having swiped 21 last year.

LF Raul Ibanez

After a year of solid offensive numbers (career-high .304 average) but a nagging hamstring injury, Ibanez returns to fill the DH role previously occupied by his idol, Edgar Martinez. Ibanez could benefit immensely from the presence of sluggers Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson, who will take the pressure off him to supply the power-hitting chores. Ibanez led the American League in RBI in spring training.

INFIELD

3B Adrian Beltre

The Mariners loosened their grip on the payroll and paid $64 million over the next five years for Beltre. In return, they’re getting one of the major leagues’ best young hitters and a Gold Glove-caliber third baseman. Beltre led the majors with 48 homers, and he batted .334 with 121 RBI last year for the Dodgers. The M’s believe he’s capable of similar numbers, although the best he’d hit previously was .290 for the Dodgers in 2000. His biggest struggle may be the adjustment to American League pitchers, who he’s never faced after seven years with the Dodgers.

2B Bret Boone

Boone returns for what he – and the Mariners – hopes will be a bounce-back season. He batted .251 last year, matching his worst average ever in the majors, and supplied sub-par power with 24 home runs and 83 RBI. With Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson in the same lineup, Boone may not feel the pressure to carry the offense like he did the past two years. His solid glove at second base will help the M’s form a solid double-play combination with new shortstop Pokey Reese.

SS Pokey Reese

The Mariners signed him strictly to shore up one of their biggest defensive deficiencies in 2004. Reese has good range at shortstop and a tremendous glove, which earned him Gold Glove awards in 1999 and 2000. He won’t add much to the offense – he’s a career .248 hitter – and the Mariners will be wary of his injury history. Reese already missed time twice at spring training because of minor injuries, a sprained ankle and a sore shoulder. Reese will start the season on the 15-day disabled list.

1B Richie Sexson

The Vancouver, Wash., native returns to his home state with a lot on his big shoulders. The Mariners need him to provide consistent power to an offense that had little in 2004. When he’s been healthy, Sexson has done that, hitting 45 home runs twice in a three-year period with the Brewers. Last year though he played just 23 games after wrecking his shoulder on a checked swing while in his first month with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He underwent season-ending surgery, rehabbed the rest of the year and signed a four-year, $50 million contract with the Mariners.

C Miguel Olivo

The energetic and hard-working Olivo showed marked improvement behind the plate at spring training, where he cut down on the passed balls and fundamental flaws that left him and the team frustrated in 2004. Olivo has perhaps the strongest arm of any catcher in the major leagues and, if he can avoid sliding backward defensively, will start about 110 games this season.

C Dan Wilson

The 36-year-old veteran begins what might be his final season in a backup role. He is a defensive master who, despite a throwing arm that looks weak compared with Olivo, expertly handles a pitching staff and makes few mistakes. This will be Wilson’s 12th season with the Mariners.

BENCH

Willie Bloomquist

He went into spring training needing to impress manager Mike Hargrove in order to win a bench role, and it took only a few days for the manager to realize what kind of player Bloomquist is. He can play everywhere on the field, even behind the plate after the team decided to make him the emergency third catcher. Bloomquist is most valuable on the infield and in the outfield, and he’s a valuable late-inning replacement either defensively or as a pinch runner.

Greg Dobbs

The 26-year-old, who hit his first major league home run in his first at-bat last September, hit well throughout the spring and won a job on the opening-day roster. Dobbs gives the Mariners a left-handed hitter with power off the bench, and he can play the corner positions on both the infield and outfield.

Scott Spiezio

Last year’s starting third baseman has slipped into a bench role after he batted just .215 for the M’s in 2004. He’s a switch hitter who can play first, second and third base, plus left and right field.