Erik Bedard plays catch during pre-game workouts at the Peoria Sports Complex

The word out of camp today is that left-hander Erik Bedard is progressing so well from shoulder surgery that he is slated to throw a bullpen session on March 23.

“He is throwing real good,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “He will throw a light bullpen.”

Bedard had season-ending surgery last August 14 to repair a torn labrum and the free agent was expected to miss at least half of this season. But the Mariners were so encouraged by his progress that they offered him an incentive-laden contract with a $1.5 million base and he accepted it.

It appears now that he conceivably could return to the Mariners’ rotation sometime in May, though that has not been solidified. Regardless, if he comes back 100 percent healthy, it would be like making a trade without giving anyone up.

Slotting him into the rotation for the final four months of the season would definitely enhance the Mariners’ pennant hopes.

Bedard allowed two or fewer runs in 13 of his 15 starts last season — and three earned runs in the other two.

The second roster cut of camp occured this morning with four players being sent out.

Outfielder Greg Halman was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma while infielders Tommy Everidge, Brad Nelson and outfielder Mike Wilson were re-assigned to the Minor League camp.

That leaves 51 players in camp, including 13 non-roster invitees.

And now for today’s starting lineup against the Giants:

1. Ichiro, RF
2. Chone Figgins, 2B
3. Jose Lopez, 3B
4. Ken Griffey Jr., DH
5. Eric Byrnes, LF
6. Casey Kotchman, 1B
7. Franklin Gutierrez, CF
8. Adam Moore, C
9. Josh Wilson, SS
P Doug Fister

— Jim Street

The Mariners went into today’s Cactus League game against the Royals with three players still looking for the first hit.

It’s two down, one to go.

Designated hitter Ken Griffey Jr. ended an 0-for-5 start with a double to center field in the fourth inning and second baseman Chone Figgins lined a run-scoring triple past a diving Scott Podsednik in center field for his first hit in 12 at-bats, capping the Mariners’ four-run rally.

Griffey demonstrated his sense of humor, having the ball he hit taken out of play. Someone else (probably Mike Sweeney) tossed into the stands.

Catcher Josh Bard (0-for-8) has yet to get at least one hit. Interestingly, he flied out to center field (“8” in your scorebook) three times in today’s 6-6 nine-inning tie with the visiting Royals.

There must be something about Arizona that brings out the best in Matt Tuiasosopo.

The Woodinville High product had a .424 Cactus League batting average last season, going 25-for-59, and is 9-for-19 (.474) after drilling a double high off the wall in center field in the fifth inning and smacking a solo home run to left field in the fifth inning.

The groin injury to Jack Hannahan could help Tui’s chances of being on the 25-man Opening Day roster, but he probably would be better off playing every day at Triple-A Tacoma than now-and-then with the Mariners. Missing the first half of last season because of injury set him back a bit.

Right-handed closer David Aardsma returned to action following a seven-day respite to allow a strained right groin to heal. He pitched one inning, allowed an unearned run, and was pleased.

“I’m very happy with the way I feel,” he said. “I did exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to walk away healthy and feeling good, and I did that. And I made some good pitches along the way, a couple of good ground balls, strikeout and then the popup. Can’t be too down about it.”

An error by second baseman Chone Figgins led to the run.

“I actually thought my stuff was pretty good. Speed-wise it was pretty good and location-wise I was very happy,” Aardsma added. “You don’t want to be missing outings. I could have been a little sharper with a couple of pitches here and there, but I thought I made some good pitches when I needed to. I thought the ground balls were great pitches. It’s Spring Training, big deal that they got through. But I thought they were very good pitches in my spot and that’s all I can do. Where they hit it, I can’t control that.”

Starter Ryan Rowland-Smith, went the first two innings and it was a rocky outing — four hits, three runs.

“I was kind of rushing a little bit and I wasn’t staying back,” he said. “I felt when I stayed back the pitch was sharper, the pitch was down. As Spring Training goes on and you get more and more innings, sure enough you’ll get your head around it and you’ll do it every single pitch.

I got ahead in the count pretty good and all of a sudden I left the ball down the middle, and you’re going to get hit when you do that.”

The ending of today’s game had a peculiar ending. Usually when a game is tied after nine innings the teams play one extra inning. Not this time.

The Royals were out of pitchers so the game ended in a 6-all tie.

— Jim Street

The Mariners have lost jack-of-all-trades utility player Jack Hannahan for at least the next seven days to a strained right groin.

Hannahan, the leading candidate to be the backup infielder, sustained the injury while making a play on March 4 in the Mariners’ charity game against the Padres.

“He had an MRI, which showed a mild strain,” manager Don Wakamatsu said this morning after meeting with team medical director Dr. Ed Kalfayan and head athletic trainer Rick Griffin. “We’re looking at seven to 10 (days) right now.”

Hannahan will have complete rest and treatment for the next three days and then gradually work his way back.

How quickly he recovers will determine his status for the 25-man Opening Day roster.

Hannahan, acquired from the Athletics last July 11, batted .230 (51-for-148) with three home runs and 11 RBIs.

And here is today’s starting lineup against the Royals.

1. Ichiro, RF
2. Chone Figgins, 2B
3. Milton Bradley, LF
4. Ken Griffey, Jr., DH
5. Ryan Garko, 1B
6. Franklin Gutierrez, CF
7. Matt Tuiasosopo, 3B
8. Josh Bard, C
9. Jack Wilson, SS

P. Ryan Rowland-Smith

— Jim Street

Former Mariners catcher Dan Wilson listens intently to coach James Horner

Another familiar face stopped by the big-league clubhouse this morning.

Former Mariners catcher Dan Wilson joined the Spring Training workouts and will spend the next four days primarily working with the Minor League catchers.

Wilson, who played 12 of his 14 big-league seasons with the Mariners and retired in 2005, is trim and looks more like someone in his late 20s than someone about to turn 41 — March 25.

“It looks like he can strap it on with the rest of them,” Minor League coach Roger Hansen said of Wilson.

That he does.

Wilson is one of two former Mariners working with the Minor Leaguers. Jay Buhner will spend about a week with the kids later this month.

“He’s going to block and throw on field 2 for old time’s sake. Then, we’ll see how he looks and go from there.”

Though he batted a respectable .262 with 88 home runs 519 RBIs during his MLB career, Wilson is regarded as the best defensive catcher in franchise history.

“He was solid with everytrhing and that’s what made him so good for so long.” Hansen said. “He was consistent. Extremely smart. The pitchers trusted him. They believed he would do the best thing for them and that’s what he did.”

Hansen said Wilson’s work ethic was second to none, starting in Spring Training.

“People don’t realize that when people came off the field, he would be on field 2 working on things,” Hansen said. “Everyone else was inside getting ready for the game. That was his style. That’s what he liked to do and he didn’t want a lot of people around. He just would Do his thing. We would even go to field 6, do things and he would come back and be ready to play.”

Willie, as he was known to his teammates, looked around the big-league clubhouse and said that this could be a special Mariners team this season.

“How is Bedard doing?” he asked.

Told that the left-hander seems to be progressing well and could be joining the rotation sometime in late May, at the earliest, he said, “That would be three horses in the rotation.”

In the meantime, he’ll be working on the back fields with the kids.

“It’s nice to have him around,” Hansen said.All the kids love him. He ois  very much a part of everything here.”

Today’s lineup:

Ichiro, RF
Chone Figgins, 2B
Casey Kotchman, 1B
Jose Lopez, 3B
Ryan Garko, DH
Eric Byrnes, LF
Ryan Langerhans, CF
Adam Moore, C
Josh Wilson, SS
Ian Snell, P

— Jim Street

Junior and J.J. wore different uniforms the last time they met  before a game

The black and white uniform J.J. Putz was wearing today looked odd.

Last time I saw him, he was in the Mariners’ colors and that was the final game of the 2008 season.

Putz, traded to the Mets in December 2008, struggled through an injury-plagued season in ’09 and is now with the White Sox. He has shed about 25 pounds and is competing for a spot in the Sox ‘pen. He pitched one inning against his former team today, surrendering a hit, walk but no runs.

“It was weird seeing Ichiro standing there,” said Putz, who eventually walked Ichiro. “He kept fouling pitches off, fouling pitches off and I tried to trick him and thyrow a slider up and in, but missed the plate.”

Asked how he ended up with the White Sox, J.J. quipped “They paid the most.” He laughed and said, “Not really. It just seemed like it was a good fit. Obviously (Matt) Thornton was talking to me a lot abvout them. I had szome other offers, but overall it wasa a good fit. Arizona spring training is something I was looking for. I didn’t want to go back to Florida, and there is a good opportunity to pitch late in the game here.”

Thornton played with Putz in the Mariners organization and have remained close. Both live in this area during the offseason.

Thornton is a key member of the Sox bullpen and Putz said the ‘pen id deep enough, “no one will get abused” adding that he wanted to return to the American League.

“The National League is a different game and hard to adjust to, especially if not the closer,” he said. “A setup man never really knows when he is going to pitch.”

Injuries pretty much wiped out his only season with the Mets, but he says he feels fine now.

As for the Mariners, he said, “I loved Seattle and if I was a (Mariners) fan, I would be very excited about what they did during the offseason. Having Ichiro and Figgins at the top of the lineup in no fun.”

— Jim Street

Dustin Ackley, a three-time All-American selection at the University of North Carolina, has been selected by Baseball America as the Player of the Decade. More than 150 college baseball coaches were polled for the award, which included all players that played college ball from 2000 to 2009. 

Ackley, the Mariners’ first-round Draft choice last June, holds the College World Series record for most hits (28) and is the only player selected to the All-CWS team three times.

An outfielder and first baseman for the Tar Heels, Ackley has been converted to second base by the Mariners.

The conversion has gone well and it appears that the left-handed hitter’s future is at that position.

— Jim Street

 

Steven Baron, Matt Tuiasosopo and Kane Texeira display their hula skills (just kidding)

There were lot of nervous young players inside the clubhouse this morning as they awaited the American Idol, Mariners style, competition.

With Mike Sweeney being the instigator, players with two or less Major League experience were teamed up for a variety show.

The contestents were:

The Confused Kickers: Garrett Olson, Luke French, Shawn Kelley.

Hawaiian Punch: Matt Tuiasosopo, Steven Baron, Kane Texeira.

Sexual Chocolate/Vanilla Cream: Greg Halman, Mike Wilson, Adam Moore.

Bonus Babies: Dustin Ackley, Josh Fields, Danny Cortes.

3Lefteeze:  Nick Hill, Ryan Feierabend, Chris Seddon.

Future Franchise:  Michael Saunders, Rob Johnson, Doug Fister.

The Seattle Newbies: LeVale Speigner, David Pauley, Steven Shell,  Anthony Valvaro.

Bad Bodies Swinging Big Bats:  Brad Nelson, Tommy Everidge, Mike Carp.

El Cantando Batteria de Venezuela:  Mauricio Robles,  Guillermo Quiroz, Luis Ontiveros.

The Caribbean Connection: Ezequiel Carrera, Edward Paredes, Ricky Orta.

The judges were: Ryan Rowland-Smith (Simon), Ken Griffey Jr. (Randy) and Eric Byrnes (Ellen). Ichiro was a guest judge.

And the winner was: “Hawaiian Punch” and each of them received $100 that had to be used to take their families out to dinner, according to Sweeney. Each also received a trophy — a glass slipper filled with an apple martini.

“If I was in Somoa, and paid 100 bucks for a luau and they came out to perform, the only thing missing was the big pig in the ground,” Sweeney said. “They were awesome. Tui had the tattoos, and Steven Baron was dressed up as a cute woman and he looked pretty good in the coconut bikini (top).”

The ‘Punch performed a “Haka Dance” and brought down the house.

“The two best singers in here are Quiroz and Josh Fields, by far. They are good. They could go out and make a record.”

The above is not actually the trio, but don’t tell them.

For the record, the Venezuelan group finished second by one vote and the Bad Bodies were third.

After each performance, the judges would give their opinions and other players would vote via text. Bullpen coach Jason Phillips tallied the votes.

“The panel was the most imjpressive thing,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “Ichiro had his own signs — ‘Brutal’, ‘Fantastic’. He was speaking in Japanese and Griffey was his translater. I think the translation broke down, but it was great.”

 

Meanwhile, club president Chuck Armstrong walked into the press room and serenaded (sort of) us with his rendition of the Purdue fight song and a couple of country and western songs. At lesat I think they were country and western. Old country and western, like Hank Williams and Willie Nelson.

We tried to talk Chuck into teaming up with CEO Howard Lincoln for an American Idol Mariners style duet. He declined. You should have seen reaction of GM Jack Z when he walked into the room. Priceless.

— Jim Street

Good news from the medical front today as closer David Aardsma said the “tightness” he felt in his right groin area while throwing his final pitch on Thursday is nothing serious.

“Honestly, other than a little tightness I wouldn’t have thought there was anything wrong,” he told reporters this morning. “It was a little tight while I was throwing, but we did all the tests today and everything is fine. There was never a pop or anything like that, never any pain.”

Aardsma pitched the third inning of Thursday afternoon’s Cactus League game against the Padres, faced three batters, walking one of them, and walked off the field into the dugout and then to the trainer’s room at the Peoria Sports Complex.

He will miss his next outing, but should be ready to go sometime next week.

Aardsma admitted that the tightness “scared” him because a groin pull two years ago when he was with the Red Sox put him on the 15-day disabled list twice.

In other tidbits this fine, sunny A.M. in the desert, Ken Griffey Jr. was in a good mood — as usual. His family arrived from Florida and oldest son, Trey, was in uniform. He is bigger, and faster, than his dad.

Griffey was carrying around a Mariners practice jersey with the number “1” on it, headed for manager Don Wakamatsu’s office.

“Girardi is wearing No. 28 this year, which would be (the Yankees’ 28th World Series championship), so we’re giving skip No. 1,” he said.

No dice. Wak is sticking with No. 22.

We’re waiting for the simulated game on Field 3, featuring ace right-hander Felix Hernandez (one inning) and left-hander Cliff Lee (two innings).

With any luck, there will be a non-simulated story coming out of it.

— Jim Street

Manager Don Wakamatsu has the early lead in first-to-arrive contest with the Old Bats

It’s early, but the Old Bats are trailing.

For the second straight spring, there is a group of slightly-over middle-age women (section 342 at Safeco Field) who make the pilgrimage to Spring Training and leave their mark.

On any given day, they are the first people to show up for the workouts.

And they are a hoot.

“I met these ladies last year,” manager Don Wakamatsu said, “and they asked me, ‘what time do you get to the ballpark?’ I told them I got there early, so they were not going to beat me here.

“Sometimes, I would literally get there at 5 o’clock in the morning and they had been there for almost an hour,” he said. “On top of that, they kept score and put it right in front of my parking spot.”

As of today, Wak leads, 5-1.

The lineups for today’s charity game against the Padres has been posted and you won’t find many regulars in it. Actually, you won’t find any.

1. Michael Saunders, CF; 2. Eric Byrnes, LF; Ryan Garko, 1B; Mike Sweeney, DH; Jack Hannahan, SS; Ryan Langerhans, RF; Josh Bard, C; Matt Tuiasosopo, 2B; Chris Woodward, 3B; Jason Vargas, P.

— Jim Street 

 

Doug Fister delivers first pitch of the Cactus League season — a strike to Aaron Rowand

Ah, Opening Day at the ballpark.

OK, it’s only Opening Day at Spring Training, but why quibble? Some real live baseball again and the weather could not be better. Sunny and warm, which is the way it should be.

Access to the players was limited this morning as a team of representatives from the Players Association — including former Mariners Phil Bradley, Stan Javier and Mike Myers — had their annual meeting, this year led by Michael Weiner, the new Executive Director.

It was always a treat chatting with former union leader Donald Fehr. A couple of springs ago, he mentioned that his kids kidded him about his “real” age. As it turned out, the Wikepedia folks had it wrong by one year. After a short story appeared on the Mariners web site, Fehr’s birthdate was corrected.

Javier looked about the same as he did nine years ago, when he contributed key hits and catches for that 116-win team. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to chat with him, but I’m sure he still thinks about that improbable season a lot.

In other news, left-hander Luke French, acquired in the trade that sent Jarrod Washburn to the Tigers, signed a one-year contract this morning, meaning all 40 players on the 40-man roster are signed.

The final player payroll should come in slightly lower than last year’s $98 million figure.

— A Padres foursome, lead by right-hander Jon Garland, won Tuesday’s golf tournament with a 12-under-60. The Mariners team Jason Vargas, Mark Lowe, Shawn Kelley and Sean White finished second, one shot behind, while the team of Howard Lincoln, Rick Griffin, Rob Nodine and Ron Spellecy, finished third with a 10-under-62 at the Raven Club at Verrado.

The Mariners swept the two long drive contests (Mark Lowe had the longest, a 384-yard rocket) and James Clifford knocked one a foot short of an ace.

For those of us expecting a “media” foursome — not a chance. For the 12th consecutive year, our invitations were lost in the mail, apparently. Maybe next year. Oh yes, there won’t be a next year. Never mind.

Undaunted, three of us — Kirby Arnold, Bob Sherwin and your’s truly — had a splendid round at the Arrowhead Country Club, where the hospitality was out of this world. Kirby won, but he’s good. I was second, but only because Bob has this left-to-right technique that is hard to describe.

— Jim Street