Piniella Looking For M’S Rotation
Mariners
After Randy Johnson, Chris Bosio and Dave Fleming, who are the Nos. 4 and 5 starting pitchers for the Seattle Mariners?
Manager Lou Piniella doesn’t have the answer - and he doesn’t have a lot of time.
But he’s going to start finding out today when Spring Training II starts for the Mariners with their exhibition opener against San Diego.
“We’ve got 17 pitchers in camp and all 17 are going to pitch,” Piniella said Wednesday. “Are they ready? As ready as they’re going to be with five days of spring training behind them.”
Left-hander Tim Davis, lefthander John Cummings and right-hander Jim Converse, who have a combined record of 5-20 with the Mariners, are the top candidates to be the Mariners’ last two starters.
“The biggest question to me is what exactly we’re going to do with the fourth and fifth spots,” Piniella said. “The edge is very decidedly to Davis, Converse and Cummings because they’ve got experience.”
Davis, 24, spent most of last season as a rookie pitching out of the Mariners’ bullpen. He was 2-2 with a 4.01 ERA in 42 games, with one start.
Cummings, 25, and the 23-year-old Converse were major disappointments. In 13 games, eight as a starter, Converse was 0-5 with an 8.69 ERA. Cummings was 2-4 with a 5.63 ERA in 17 games, eight as a starter.
“I haven’t had too much success here with first-year pitchers,” Piniella said. “I mean pitchers with very little experience. I don’t know why. You tell me.”
In the first of 13 spring games, the Mariners will go with, in order, Johnson, Converse, Derek Lowe, Tim Harikkala and Bobby Ayala against the Padres.
Bosio will start Friday against the Chicago Cubs in an exhibition in Mesa and Fleming is set to start Saturday against Colorado in an exhibition here.
Piniella’s batting order for Thursday’s first game will be: Rookie Darren Bragg in left field, Joey Cora at second base, Ken Griffey Jr. in center, Jay Buhner in right, Edgar Martinez as the designated hitter, Tino Martinez at first, Mike Blowers at third, Dan Wilson at catcher and rookie Alex Rodriguez at shortstop.
Rodriguez is expected to start the season at Class AAA Tacoma, but shortstop Felix Fermin, who may have the Mariners’ starting shortstop’s job at the start of the season, arrived late to training camp this week from the Dominican Republic because of visa problems.
The Mariners will wind up spring training in Peoria with an exhibition against the Chicago Cubs April 24 before playing two exhibitions in St. Louis to prepare for their April 27 Kingdome opener against Detroit.
Seattle’s 40-man roster was completed when three players with visa problems arrived. They were shortstops Luis Sojo and Giomar Guevara, from Venezuela, and pitcher Mac Suzuki, from Japan.