Or at least, Today's Bit Of Not Bad News:
The Mariners lost to the Dodgers this afternoon. That's not what I care about. What I care about is that Ian Snell got the start and threw six more efficient innings against what's probably going to be LA's regular lineup.
Snell's up to 19 innings now so far in March, and in those 19 innings, he's walked two guys and struck out 13. I'll be the first person to tell you that spring training stats are pretty meaningless, but there's a difference between things like BA and ERA and things like strikeouts and walks. Getting strikeouts and avoiding walks against ML and near-ML hitters requires at least some semblance of skill. It's worth noting that the last time Snell showed good control in ST was 2007, when he had his breakthrough season.
This isn't great news, and it could very well mean nothing at all. But had you asked any Mariners fan, coach or executive last month if they'd rather see Snell have a good March or a bad March, they all obviously would've answered "good March," so on the scale from bad news to good news, Snell's performance so far is somewhere between the middle and the positive extreme. Which, hey, who could complain?
Having one or two guys behind Felix really step up in April would go a long way towards easing my roster concerns.