The Mariners have had some of the best infield defense in baseball the past few years, and infield coach Perry Hill has gotten a lot of credit for that, particularly with the development of shortstop J.P. Crawford, who won a Gold Glove in 2020.

SEATTLE – Want a number that will make you happy? Here’s one: 90. That’s how many games the Mariners won last year without Cy Young winner Robbie Ray and former All-Stars Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suárez and Adam Frazier. Those are the big names Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto added to the roster this offseason.

PEORIA, Ariz. – Scott Servais got his roster wish … for a month.

For Logan Gilbert and the Mariners, his slider, curveball and change-up, the focus of hours upon hours of offseason work, sure felt and looked that way in his first start of this shortened spring training.

Evan White’s return to the field and resumption of his development will be interrupted by surgery again.

The restrictions of COVID-19 eliminated my annual trip to spring training in Arizona last year, breaking a 35-year streak. And the MLB lockout this winter threatened to extend that new drought even longer.

PEORIA, Ariz. – He arrived at Mariners camp last year in a maelstrom of controversy not of his making.

PEORIA, Ariz. — Jerry Dipoto paced the concrete patio behind the Mariners spring training complex with intensity and purpose, ignoring the 80-degree sun beating down for a 90-degree feel. With his cell phone attached to his ear, and speaking in a voice that intentionally couldn’t be heard by anyone but the person on the other end, hours and days worth of conversations and discussions had reached its culmination.

PEORIA, Ariz. – Down 2-0 in the count, Matthew Festa didn’t hesitate to turn to his best pitch.

Before we were so rudely interrupted, the Mariners needed a bat — probably two — for their offense and really had use for one more veteran arm for their pitching rotation.

PEORIA, Ariz. – Jerry Dipoto won’t have much time to contact copyright lawyers while trying to take and make calls with agents and opposing teams in this delayed and condensed offseason.