Hargrove hands out compliments

PEORIA, Ariz. – Six weeks after spring training began, manager Mike Hargrove hasn’t seen anything to make him believe the Mariners won’t contend for the American League West title.

“This is the first time since I left Cleveland I’ve had a team I thought could contend,” said Hargrove, who begins his third season with the Mariners. “We have better leadership, we have better chemistry – a lot of little things that can make a difference. And we have the talent.”

It hasn’t translated into a sterling Cactus League record – 13-18 – although the Mariners have played well, especially on offense, when their regulars have been in the lineup.

Raul Ibanez ended the Arizona part of his exhibition season with a .408 average and five other starters – Ichiro Suzuki, Jose Vidro, Adrian Beltre, Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Guillen – each hit better than .300.

First baseman Richie Sexson hit .212, although he had three hits Wednesday, including his second home run, and has been hitting the ball hard in the past week.

The starting pitchers have pitched well overall, although the final outings for Miguel Batista and Horacio Ramirez were their least impressive.

The bullpen has been good and it has been scary.

Closer J.J. Putz appears on the way back to full strength by opening day, but he still has one more outing – tonight against the Chicago Cubs at Las Vegas – to prove that his once-sore left elbow is OK.

Left-handed setup man George Sherrill struggled most of the month and, while he typically has pitched poorly at spring training, this one has been stressful. Arthur Rhodes, the left-handed veteran who also will have a prominent role in setup relief, missed a week because of an elbow problem but threw a clean inning Sunday. He faced two hitters Wednesday before being kicked out of the game for arguing ball-strike calls, and he will get an inning tonight in Las Vegas.

Put it all together, and Hargrove is satisfied. He forms his opinion on what he sees and not the team’s record or the numbers the players have produced, good or bad.

“I’m not a spring numbers guy. I watch how a guy goes about his business,” he said. “Does he swing at bad pitches early in the count? Does he throw bad pitches and get away with it? Does he miss signs, does he miss the cutoff man?

“We’ve done what we wanted down here. We’ve established the groundwork and we’ve played good baseball, although the record didn’t reflect that. We got the at-bats and the innings to the guys we wanted to have get them.”

M’s option Huber

The Mariners have until noon Sunday to set their 25-man opening-day roster, and they nosed closer to it by optioning pitcher Jon Huber to Triple-A Tacoma.

Huber, who began spring training with a chance to make the team in middle relief, gave up three runs on five hits in three innings Thursday and finished with a 9.75 exhibition ERA in 13 innings.

The move leaves the Mariners with 32 players in camp and one difficult decision to make to complete the 12-man pitching staff.

With rookie Brandon Morrow expected to make the team, the final spot will be decided between left-hander Jake Woods and right-hander Sean White.

Roster roulette

With the possibility of four non-roster players – pitchers Rhodes and Morrow, and catcher Jamie Burke and Rey Ordonez – making the team, the Mariners will have some intense decisions to make in the next two days to create room on the 40-man roster.

They probably will open two spots by placing injured pitchers Mark Lowe and Cesar Jimenez on the 60-day disabled list. But with Burke and Ordonez still looking like they could make the team, the M’s would need to find two more 40-man spots for them.

That could work against White. Losing him because of Rule 5 draft regulations would create a roster opening. The final spot then would come down to the 36-year-old Ordonez or utility player Mike Morse.

Zito, Peavy stifle M’s

In his final spring training tuneup, Barry Zito gave up three hits in six innings during the San Francisco Giants’ 4-0 win over a Seattle Mariners’ split squad in San Francisco.

“Jake Peavy, the San Diego Padres’ opening-day starter, looked sharp as he threw three shutout innings in a 6-1 win against a Mariners split squad of mostly minor leaguers at Peoria.