Since their season is kicking off early in the Land of the Rising Sun, the Seattle Mariners are having their pitchers and catchers report a full week earlier than any other team. Their position players will follow a week after that, but with a February 11 report date for the batteries, this means that as of Saturday, baseball is once again underway. We couldn't be happier.
The following players are set to be heading to Peoria, Arizona on Saturday:
Pitchers:
Blake Beavan
Shawn Camp
Steve Delabar
Charlie Furbush
Felix Hernandez
Danny Hultzen
Hisashi Iwakuma
Cesar Jimenez
Shawn Kelley
Hong-Chih Kuo
Brandon League
Lucas Luetge
Yoervis Medina
Hector Noesi
Mauricio Robles
Chance Ruffin
George Sherrill
Jason Vargas
Tom WilhelmsenCatchers:
John Jaso
Jesus Montero
Adam Moore
Miguel OlivoNon-Roster Invitee Pitchers:
Matt Fox
Steve Garrison
Jarrett Grube
Aaron Heilman
Sean Henn
Josh Kinney
Jeff Marquez
Kevin Millwood
Scott Patterson
James Paxton
Oliver Perez
Stephen Pryor
Erasmo Ramirez
Forrest Snow
Philippe-Alexandre ValiquetteNon-Roster Invitee Catchers:
Ralph Henriquez
Guillermo Quiroz
Jesus Sucre
There are plenty of pitchers to keep your eye on during spring training. Of course, the biggest question mark on the active roster would be new acquisitions Hong-Chih Kuo and Shawn Camp. Of the non-roster invitees, the one name that immediately jumps out to me is Kevin Millwood, who spent time with three different major league teams in 2011 after signing minor league contracts. (He opted out of the first two.) Odds are that Millwood will wind up his career being this type of journeyman, but you can bet that every major league team will be looking for their own personal Ryan Vogelsong in spring training this year.
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