I didn't have an opportunity to mention this over the weekend, but per both Kirby Arnold and Shannon Drayer, the M's are going to be looking to stretch Shawn Kelley out a little bit through the rest of spring training. As has been the case with pretty much everything the Mariners have done all offseason, Wak says this is about adding more versatility. The people in charge of this team must take forever when they go appliance shopping.

This is one of those baseball decisions that's pretty easy to understand without having to dig below the surface. With David Aardsma, Mark Lowe, and Brandon League, the M's already have the back of their bullpen figured out. Those are the guys we'll see handed a lot of 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. Kelley, then, will fill a different role, and given the overwhelming likelihood that the M's go with a six-man bullpen, there's going to be a need for some arms who can handle multiple-inning appearances. Kelley's going to be the most talented of the bottom three guys, so it makes sense that the team would look to him to go longer. You always want to maximize the innings you give to your best pitchers.

Kelley is already no stranger to going more than one inning. He made twelve appearances lasting more than one inning a year ago, and averaged 1.3 innings per appearance in the minors. It's not like he has the track record of a specialist. But by the same token, he only threw more than 35 pitches one time in 2009, and the M's would probably like to see if he can get up to 40-50. If Kelley can do that, then suddenly you're talking about potential two- to three-inning appearances from a guy with a K/BB over 5. That's a valuable reliever who offers a good amount of flexibility.

What makes this story all the more interesting is that Kelley talked to Drayer about how he used to be a starter, and Wak admits that the team has discussed the possibility of trying him in the rotation. When you have a team with our current 3-4-5, it's tempting to let your mind wander and envision a guy with Kelley's numbers throwing five or six innings at a time. He started 16 games in college as recently as 2007, after all, and it's not like he's completely forgotten everything he used to know about preparation and pacing.

But as fun as it can be to think about that sort of scenario, I wouldn't count on it happening. The M's have a plan right now, and that plan involves Shawn Kelley throwing big innings in relief. They're not in position to start experimenting with one of their best bullpen arms. And besides, there's no guarantee that Kelley would work out as a starter. His fastball would drop into the low-90s, he'd almost certainly have to either learn or re-establish a changeup that last year he hardly ever used, and he'd need his body to stay together, which it didn't do in 2003, when he had Tommy John surgery. Among other things. Roles aren't random - Kelley was selected for bullpen work for a reason.

I'd be lying if I said I weren't intrigued. Kelley's fastball can probably afford to drop a tick or three, and his breaking ball has pseudo-curveball movement that makes it effective against righties and lefties alike. It's easy to see why the idea is appealing. Transitioning from the bullpen into the rotation, though, isn't a piece of cake, because if it were, you'd see a lot more effective relievers turning into starters. It's a gamble, and while it's one the team might be more willing to try out in a different situation, the 2009 Mariners are built to win, and Shawn Kelley's prepared to help them win in relief.

I like Shawn Kelley. Quite a bit, even. In a vacuum, I'm fond of the idea of seeing how far he can stretch. But things being what they are, I'm perfectly content to take him in shorter bursts. This isn't a Brandon Morrow situation. Kelley doesn't have electric, ace-quality stuff. His hypothetical upside as a starter is far more limited, and for that reason I can't bring myself to be the least bit upset that he is where he is. He's good there. Damn good.

Continued from part one...

There seems to be a lot of good pizza in Phoenix for some reason. I already knew of Pizzeria Bianco of recent Playboy fame, but the place we ended up at dinner, Cibo, was fantastic and some of the best pizza I've had in recent memory for a very fair price given the size, ingredients and quality. A quick scan through Urbanspoon's list of best rated Phoenix-area restaurants reveals a lot of pizza joints. Good Mexican? Naturally. Good southwest? Duh. Good pizza? In Phoenix? Who knew?

Saturday we ventured out to Goodyear to watch the Texas Rangers "visit" the Cleveland Indians. First, we stopped for breakfast at the wonderful Tj's in Avondale, a true southwestern diner dive. If you've spent any time in that region, you know what I mean. The sort of place that you sort of have to get either biscuits & gravy or chicken friend steak at and it sets you back about $7. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend it. Don't order a full serving of biscuits and gravy though unless you're splitting it with four people. Seriously. It might as well be an entire cake with sausage gravy in place of frosting.

Goodyear Ballpark has an interesting sculpture near the entrance resembling a baseball-shaped joint (see photo). I like weird public art like that; I think it gives places character. Also, it's easy revenue as they were selling replica statues of it in the gift shop. Another thing that Goodyear Ballpark has, and something that had been on my mind since Peoria, was margaritas. Yes! It's in the high 70s, it's brilliantly sunny and I'm back in the southwest, I wanted a margarita and Goodyear delivered with an affordable $8 version that was not overly watered down. Baseball, as it's meant to be watched.

There was some baseball played that afternoon as well and I'm sure it fascinated those in attendance who were prospect hounds. Carlos Carrasco, Justin Smoak, Max Ramirez, Michael Brantley, Julio Borbon, Carlos Santana and others all made appearances. Justin Masterson started for the Indians and mowed down six in three innings and change. Brandon McCarthy started for the Rangers and walked quite a few people. Somehow the Rangers won in a shutout, which was not at all how the game seemed to be going on an individual at bat level.

Nothing in particular stood out to me about the game, though I will toss in a few more random tangents. Between innings, I noticed a PA ad for a local auto dealer. Given how many tourists are in town to watch these games, and that this game featured teams from Texas and Ohio, how many locals were actually there? How many people was this ad actually reaching? Would it make more sense for some Texas or Ohio-based companies to advertise?

A lot of people did not seem to realize there was a giant scoreboard. I heard many people asking who was hitting. Even some that knew of the scoreboard's existence managed to be hilarious. At one point in the game, a lady behind us was talking to someone and the score of the game came up. They exchanged guesses as to the score and then she looked over to confirm that it was currently 5-0, but instead of just reading the big, bold runs column, she went inning by inning, counting up the runs. Just bizarre all around.

But not as bizarre as what happened toward the end of the game. During the last few innings, some of the starters who got pulled early felt the need to keep loose I suppose and began jogging around the warning track. I might mention that the game was still going on at this point and it continued along whilst Elvis Andrus and company got in some laps. Spring Training baseball! It matters!

After that, we drove to Tempe to visit ASU and catch a collegiate game between them and Auburn. I have to say that the Tempe area seems a lot nicer than the other area of Phoenix that I visited. It had a bit more architectural flair to it and seemed to have more of the landscape integrated into it rather than just paving over everything with asphalt. They also have the Chuckbox, a great and cheap burger joint staffed by a cook with a great ability to hold 10+ orders in his head without writing anything down.

The game itself was my first college baseball game I've attended and I'll say, they look pretty short. And by look short I mean were short because on average the players were noticeably below professional athletic builds. ASU had a second basemen, Zack MacPhee, who might be 5'4" and was fun to watch for his stat line coming in (seven triples in 12 games) and for his performance during the game at the plate with a 2B and a monster HR* and also in the field. At one point, MacPhee dove for a grounder up the middle that he had no prayer of reaching and literally as soon as the ball got past him, he pounded his fist into the ground. It was a display of instantaneous grittiness that made even the poster of Willie Bloomquist hanging on the stadium proud.**

*Aluminum bats are stupid. Great point by a FanGraphs writer: why don't MLB teams subsidize the NCAA to use wood bats? College teams won't switch to wood because of the cost, but MLB has oodles of cash and as it stands now, they all know the aluminum makes it harder to scout, and so they trip over themselves sending scouts to the few summer wood bat leagues. Why not just save money by cutting those out and pass that along directly to the NCAA to get them shift to wood bats? You'd get so much more good scouting information, not to mention the added safety bonus.

**Seriously.

Thoroughly baked (from the sun) and exhausted from nine hours of watching baseball over a 30-hour span after having not seen a baseball game in person in about six months, I came back to Seattle. Taking light rail back from the airport, I stepped out of the bus tunnel and was hit by a cool breeze coming in from the water of Elliot Bay. It was a bit cloudy, somewhere around 50 degrees but I could smell saltwater. Home.

As part of SBN's deal with the successful, attractive, and unusually tall executives at CBSSports.com, the bloggers are to provide a designated number of posts promoting the CBSSports.com Fantasy Baseball Commissioner League. I, of course, have already said my bit - which you can read here - but in case you missed that post or forgot it, and are incapable of clicking that link for some reason, allow me to copy and paste myself!

If you're interested in creating or joining a league, you can do so for half the normal cost by following this link. That's $90 off, which is rather substantial. Why CBSSports.com instead of Yahoo!? I don't know. I've only ever played Yahoo! before. But what I'm told is that (1) CBSSports.com is fully customizable, (2) it's won a bunch of awards, (3) you get live scoring, (4) you can run keeper leagues, (5) there's a 14-day free trial, (6) interaction and message board features are excellent, and (7) you get a lot of up-to-date information from the CBSSports.com staff.

Again, I can't offer any personal insight into their product. I've never used it. But I do know people who know people who swear by it, and that's good enough to earn the Jeff Sullivan Seal of Approval. And I don't attach my name to just anything. If Jeff Sullivan endorses something, Jeff Sullivan believes in it, and, dear reader, Jeff Sullivan has never steered you wrong. CBSSports.com Fantasy Baseball Commissioner League. I recommend it!

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More photos » Lenny Ignelzi - AP

Kansas City Royals catcher Vance Wilson, left, reaches to catch a foul tip for wait, Vance Wilson? Seriously? I guess Pat Borders wasn't available.

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The following events take place between 9am and 5pm on Friday, March 12th.

I have never before gone to Spring Training. My dad and I always talked about it, but for one reason or another never made the trip down and eventually I grew up enough as a baseball fan that my exposure to the mediazation of Spring Training put me off the idea. Baseball is boring enough as it is; I didn't need to travel for the express purposes of watching the meaningless version. At least, I wasn't going to pay to do that, so when I was offered a chance to fly south for free I jumped at the opportunity. I'll go pretty much anywhere when someone else picks up the tab so big thanks to David Appleman of FanGraphs.

My first memorable impression of the trip was landing in Phoenix and noticing just how many people were here to watch baseball. A healthy percentage of other travelers in the airport terminal were sporting baseball jerseys. Seeing hundreds of people wearing jerseys from a dozen or so different teams was a rather unique experence. I am not sure where else you can find that sort of gathering outside of perhaps a Hall of Fame induction ceremony. There were so many younger tourists there that it might have even dropped the median age of people in Phoenix below 65.

My second experence was in immediately forgetting that first impression and being stumped by where to eat breakfast because there were crowds everywhere. Why were so many people out at 11am on a Friday? I am beginning to think that drinking has had an adverse effect on my short-term memory. Anyways, my second experience was in immediately forgetting that first impression and being stumped by where to eat breakfast because there were crowds everywhere. We eventually found a chain place, The Good Egg, that was actually pretty decent and afforded us a chance to sit outside in the glorious sunlight. I stripped down as much as socially acceptable, which is quite far in Phoenix, attempting to soak up as much valuable vitamin D as I could muster.

After breakfast came the trip to Peoria for the Royals and Mariners. Absent caring about the individual results of at bats since it's Spring Training, I looked for humorous things and was obliged. Scott Podsednik made a diving attempt on a Chone Figgins looper and completely missed it, letting it roll past him for a triple, Figgins' first hit of the spring.

Dan Cortes pitched and got lit up. Juan Cruz pitched for the Royals and got lit up. Matt Tuiasosopo looked great at the plate with a home run and a 450 blast off the hitter's eye in dead center for a double. Griffey got on base twice and after the second time, upon being removed for James Jones to pinch run, decided against returning to the M's dugout. Instead, Griffey just kept jogging down the first base line and exited via a gate in right field. Being on the opposite side of the field from where I was, I have no idea what kind of vendors were over there, but they must have some damn good hot dogs or something.

Dustin Ackley played second base for a spell and looked impressively routine and even made a good play on one of those little bloopers to the outfield that required him to turn his back to the plate, run out and make an over the shoulder catch. Ackley also looks to be about two feet tall, for what it's worth. In between innings, Peoria played some Lady Gaga. That was just one example of how the PA guy was far more current in pop culture than normal Major League parks.

Chad Cordero pitched in one of the later innings and struck out a pair of hitters, including one for the third out. I imagine that's his best moment from the past two years. In that same time span, I have discovered the joys of falafel and saved money by switching to Geico. Compare your life to mine, Chad Cordero, and then kill yourself.

The game ended in a 6-6 tie, which was fine because I had my fill of watching what was now a lineup of Mariner scrubs and what I assume were Royals scrubs, but it was difficult to tell. It was now time to exit the stadium and head back toward air conditioning and civilization. Mapping software informed me that it was about 25 miles between the ballpark and my hotel. A little over an hour later, we got back. I understand Phoenix is full of old people and thus they prefer to build single story everything lest they invoke the possibility of climbing stairs at some point, but enough is enough with the sprawl, Phoenix.

Out of curiosity:

Garrett Olson is tied for the league lead in walks so far this spring, with eight. Jonathan Sanchez, who also has eight, has faced 14 more hitters, and struck out four times as many bats.

Players Olson has walked:

Andres Torres
Edgar Renteria
Travis Adair
Mark Kotsay
Aaron Cunningham
Chris Denorfia
Oscar Salazar
Will Venable

In November 2006, Baseball America looked at the Orioles and said Garrett Olson had the best curveball, the best changeup, and the best command of any pitcher in the system. Said BA:

If you're looking for the safest bet in this system to pitch in the big leagues, Olson is it.

Garrett Olson has pitched in the big leagues, 64 times. And to show for it, he has a 6.46 ERA.

I refuse to give up all hope on Olson. This is a guy who, in AAA, has struck out nearly a batter an inning. There's something in there that has worked fairly well against reasonably advanced competition. I just haven't the foggiest idea what it is, and since arriving in Seattle, he's been one of the worst pitchers I've ever seen.

Garrett Olson is 26 years old. Garrett Olson is 26 years old, and he's almost out of chances.

More photos » Lenny Ignelzi - AP

Ichiro's visit to minor league camp

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• Mike Wilson - cut. Everyone remembers Wilson for leading the league in home runs last spring, and that's how everyone will continue to remember him until he retires.
• Tommy Everidge - cut. The first ball Everidge hit between the lines this spring went for a grand slam, which in retrospect may not have been the best idea.
• Brad Nelson - cut. Can't cut one fat oaf and keep the other.
• Greg Halman - cut. Intrasquad strikeout rates just plummeted through the floor.

By "cut," of course, the Mariners aren't actually letting these players go. They're all just being sent to minor league camp, where they'll prepare for the minor league season by working out with lower-level competitors instead of big leaguers like Garrett Olson. It's always disappointing to get cut, no matter who you are, but then one gets the feeling that our roster has pretty much been set in stone for weeks, with little in the way of open positions, so if Mike Wilson is disappointed about getting cut, maybe he should've tried not hitting .196 last year.

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Some good Erik Bedard news floating around. Turns out he's been throwing long-toss for ten days now without incident, and is tentatively scheduled to throw a bullpen on March 23rd. I don't think I need to caution anyone about the danger of claiming that Bedard is "ahead of schedule," since he could give at any time, but living in fear of bad news is better than living with actual bad news, so this is a positive. Maybe he's had so much of his body fixed that it's like resetting the meter. Erik Bedard: factory recertified!

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Doug Fister had another not-as-bad-as-it-looks-but-still-pretty-bad outing today. He's clearly behind Jason Vargas, here. However, as Wak mentions, the starters haven't really been stretched out yet, so while Vargas is out in front, he doesn't have a significant lead, and things could turn around in a hurry once guys start getting up there in innings. Based on nothing, nothing at all, it is imperative that you understand this isn't based on anything, but rather on the opposite of anything, I'd say we're looking at 60% odds for Vargas, 35% for Fister, 10% for Luke French, and -5% for Olson.

Michael Saunders went deep, which I believe is his first-ever home run in a Mariner uniform. Nice to get that monkey off his back. WIth the pressure relieved, Saunders should start hitting an automatic .400 in no time.

Finally, Chone Figgins made a pair of errors today, which I think gives him four in three games. Wak, though, isn't concerned. Wak's never concerned. It doesn't matter what these guys do. Play good defense? Great. Play bad defense? Great. It doesn't make sense. You can't put a positive spin on everything. Put a positive spin on everything and you cause atomic chaos.

Jose Lopez apparently made a really good play behind third base, for whatever that's worth. When I was a kid, if my brother was in a good mood, I'd be in a bad mood, and if my brother was in a bad mood, I'd be in a good mood. Interesting to see that Lopez and Figgins' gloves share a similar relationship. Before you know it one of the coaches will have to step in when Lopez's glove starts looking out of Figgins' glove's window in the car.

Kind of. In case you haven't heard yet, Jack Hannahan's got a small tear in his groin muscle, and for the next 7-10 days he's gonna be chillin, billin, you know, whatever. On the bench. Because he won't be playing. That's what that means.

It's not a major injury, and in the long run Hannahan should be no worse for wear. The significance, though, is that Hannahan came to camp looking to wow some people as a shortstop, and now his time to do that is limited. So the seeming stranglehold he had on the Opening Day utility man role has been loosened as Josh Wilson and even Matt Tuiasosopo...reach in with their hands...to strangle...too. This got dark. Guys, if you all strangle the utility position, it'll die, and none of you will get the job. Kids these days gotta think about the consequences of their behavior.

When Kenji Johjima went off to play in the WBC, Rob Johnson seized the opportunity provided by Johjima's absence and basically stole his teammate's gig. This isn't quite like that. For one thing, "utility guy" isn't as high-profile as "starting catcher," and for another, the window here isn't open as wide. If Josh Wilson wins out, for example, he won't last long, because he isn't good, and everyone knows it. The reason this is worth watching is that it gives Tui a slightly better shot. He'll play some more short while Hannahan heals, and even if he doesn't end up winning the job outright, he could plant some seeds in Wakamatsu's head. Wak knows that Tui has way more offensive upside than Hannahan or - *sigh* - Wilson. If Tui manages to impress in the field, or even just handle himself without screwing up, then suddenly he becomes a real consideration. The team wants to be able to play good defense everywhere, but it's not necessarily a requirement.

In short: while the likelihood remains that Hannahan recovers quickly and looks good enough to win the utility job as we've expected all along, there's now a greater opportunity for Josh Wilson and Matt Tuiasosopo. And even if Tui doesn't take it in April, if he looks good enough, he'll remain in the back of Wak's mind as an option if Hannahan doesn't perform.

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By the way, David Aardsma topped out at 93 today and threw most of his pitches around 91. This being his first Cactus League appearance of the spring after his groin injury, it's not surprising that he took it easy. Well, not easy. Easier.