3 storylines to watch heading into Mariners Spring Training

Today, February 28th, 2021, we have Mariners baseball. As Seattle gets ready to face the new-look San Diego Padres (Or you might be reading this during or after the first game) for the first time this season in the town that the two of them share every year for a month and change, Peoria, what are the major storylines to keep watch over during Mariners Spring Training?

There has been a lot of talk about storylines with the Mariners during the last few weeks, starting with the signing of James Paxton that we all thought was a big deal. However, the entire sports world has been talking about Seattle the last week after the fiasco that Kevin Mather caused and, oh yeah that quarterback who may or may not want to be traded.

Now with Mather gone, it’s time to leave that storyline in the past and focus on what to watch this spring starting today in Peoria, AZ. There is of course the storyline that everyone is talking about (Yes I know I just said we weren’t talking about it anymore) which is what will the Mariners do with top prospect Jarred Kelenic?

While it will be interesting to see, I don’t think Spring Training has anything to do with the front office’s decision. He will either be coming up as an improbable “Our bad” move to save face on Opening Day, or they will stick to their plan and keep Kelenic down to get him AA or AAA at-bats before bringing him up.

So with that out of the way,

What are the 3 biggest storylines to watch during Mariners Spring Training this year?

Multiple Mariners recovering from injuries

Seattle has three players who missed all of 2020 due to injury who are set to return in 2021: Mitch Haniger, Tom Murphy, and Andres Muñoz. While Muñoz is recovering from Tommy John Surgery and won’t pitch until at least June, he is still participating in bullpens. It will be interesting to see where he is in his recovery from his surgery last year throughout the Spring.

While there has not been much news about him so far, Tom Murphy is back and according to all of the questions that reporters have asked Scott Servais and Jerry Dipoto, he is 100%. Murphy suffered a broken foot during Summer Camp last July that kept him out all season. Now, Murphy is set to platoon with Luis Torrens behind the plate and his bat against left-handed pitching will be a welcome sight to see.

As for Mitch Haniger, just seeing him swinging the bat will be a welcome sight to see as he has not played in a game in close to two years. In 2018 he had a batting line of .285/.366/.493 with a .859 OPS and all of the reports are that he is looking like his 2018 self, so watching Haniger when he is up at the plate will be must-see TV for the next month.

The Bullpen competition

Right behind the sixth starter battle, the final spot in the bullpen is the second most interesting competition from Mariners Spring Training. There are six pitchers that I think are locks to make the bullpen: Joey Gerber, Kendall Graveman, Keynan Middleton, Anthony Misiewicz, Rafael Montero, and Yohan Ramirez.

Then, there’s a group of seven players that will fight for the final spot in the bullpen (Mariners will only have seven bullpen pitchers because there is a max of 13 and the Mariners have a 6 man rotation). That group is comprised of Brandon Brennan, Sam Delaplane, Aaron Fletcher, Casey Sadler, Erik Swanson, Domingo Tapia, Will Vest (Who will need to make the roster, and if he does not he will be sent back to the Tigers), and a slew of non-roster invites.

Some of the players that I included in the “locks” group may not be true locks, but that group of six seems to be unanimously in everyone’s pre-season roster prediction. Will Vest may be the most interesting to watch because of the Rule 5 Draft rules and as I just mentioned he has to make the roster for Seattle to keep him. So if he pitches poorly and does not look MLB ready he will be sent back to Detroit.

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