Mariners eschew intrasquad games for team-building drills

PEORIA, Ariz. – The best lunches are ones paid for by friends that you have vanquished in competition.

On Monday, Seattle Mariners position players wrapped up a two-day, situational hitting/baserunning competition. The team captained by Robinson Cano defeated the team led by Nelson Cruz 185-178 in a scoring system that was still not quite certain to everyone but bench coach Tim Bogar, who was running the drill.

Because Cruz’s team lost, it will be responsible for buying lunch.

“They have to buy lunch for the whole building,” Cano said.

That includes every person at the Mariners’ spring-training complex – all players and staffers on the major- and minor-league sides.

“Everyone in the whole building,” Cano reiterated.

Even the media?

“That would be nice, since you guys were there,” he said. “I’m going bring that up tomorrow. It’s supposed to be steak and stuff. We have guys that make a lot of money, so it’s time to spend some of that money.”

Cano’s team took an 85-73 lead on the first day and held on despite a late charge.

The competition was held at the end workouts Sunday and Monday, and they were a welcome break from the monotony of daily drills

“You don’t know how guys are going to react to a game like that,” manager Scott Servais said. “There are really two things: It’s really more of a baserunning drill than it actually is a situational drill handling the bat. You are getting both out of it. The nicest thing for me to see was the intensity and the effort level that guys gave. They are sliding. They are running hard. They are competitive. It went pretty well.”

The competition, which the Mariners are using instead of intrasquad games, had practical purposes.

“It’s controlled,” Servais said. “Intrasquad, you are facing your own guys from a pitcher’s standpoint. I don’t know how much you get out of it. You see velocity and get some competition. There are different ways of doing it. I like the concept of doing something like we did out there. You get the team building. We get to see a lot on the baserunning.

“And baserunning is really hard to practice. But putting a live defense out there and guys that can actually throw, you get a little bit feel of what guys can do on the bases.”

It was not a strength for the Mariners last season. In fact, it was an epic failure that included some notable Cano blunders. Servais has set expectations.

“I think we want to be very aggressive, but I’m also aware of the value of an out and giving it away,” he said. “We made a lot of outs on the bases last year from what I understand. So they’ve got to be smart. Aggressive, but smart and also knowing who you are. It’s been joked about in the clubhouse on some of the guys like Kyle Seager and the others – know who you are.

“As a base runner you are not invisible. They do see you. And they do see how slow you are. I think our lineup the way it’s structured, hopefully guys are more comfortable making smart decisions, because the next guy coming up, he can drive them in.”

Beyond the fundamentals pertaining to the game, Servais was using it as another aspect of team building for a group of players and coaches getting to know each other. There was cheering, jeering and trash talking. The competitive side came out in the players.

“You guys that have been here from Day 1, you can kind of see where I’m headed with this thing,” he said. “I’m trying to create more of a family atmosphere. Team is huge to me. The teams that win, they usually have good chemistry. We have so many new players here that I thought it was going to be the most important thing to get accomplished, especially early in camp. I think it’s going OK so far.”