Slow news day? No, not so much. Vidro gone, Morrow starting. Things should get interesting to say the least. On Vidro, I wish him well. He was an absolute godsend in a very difficult clubhouse when he arrived last year. Many of the players had taken to hanging out in the off limits areas and getting interviews was a challenge. Then along came Vidro, Guillen and Batista, all very willing to talk win, lose or draw and all puzzled at their teammate’s insistence on dodging the media on a regular basis. Vidro was always appreciated for his willingness to talk.

So Vidro is gone and Balentien is up, up to be seen. It will not be in any one place in particular however. For those of you hoping that Ibanez would move to DH and Wlad to left field, well that doesn’t seem to be the plan. Jim Riggleman said that Wlad would get his at bats in the outfield and at DH. In fact, Ibanez, Bloomquist, Wlad, Clement and Joh all could see some time at the newly vacated DH spot. Will have more on Ibanez further down the page.

As for Morrow, he will not be spending any time at DH, rather, he will be starting in Tacoma. Tomorrow in fact. The M’s finally ready to send him down to see if he can start. I asked Lee Pelekoudas about the timing of the move and he said it was very deliberate. The organization has been carefully monitoring his innings and as they still consider him to have a young arm. If he goes to Tacoma now he will have the appropriate time to build up innings there, then if all goes as expected, get a month of starts here in Seattle.

The conversion to starter is not an automatic however. Lee and the Mariners are anxious to see how he does. They drafted him intending to start him at some point, but there have always been questions surrounding his ability to start in the bigs. The good news is his secondary pitches are developing nicely. He has been working on throwing the slider to start hitters off and his confidence in his change up has been increasing in the recent month.

The questions that remain are, how much will he lose off the fastball in extended innings? The M’s do not expect him to throw 6 innings of 98 but they are hopeful he can hang out at 94-96. Another question. Endurance. The diabetes should not be a factor, it wasn’t in college and he has never shown signs of fatigue here. Pelekoudas said his off season conditioning will be very important. How will he respond to throwing every five days? It is different I am told, from pitcher to pitcher. For some it is less strain to throw 100 pitches every 5 days. For others, 15-25 pitches 3 out of every 5 days is more agreeable. You don’t know until you try and that is what the Mariners are doing right now.

Okay, the Raul stuff. He is a free agent at the end of this year and this is certainly one of the more interesting personnel decisions we will see this off season. This organization holds Raul in the highest esteem, both personally and professionally, yet unlike his last contract, there has been no extension. This is somewhat curious. I wonder if the organization tried. Does Raul want to be a free agent? This is a question he will not address but in my Beyond the Baselines interview (which can be found on the front page of myohmy.us) I was able to get an idea of what was important to him going forward. I asked at 36 just how long he wanted to play. I did not expect to get an exact timeline or plan, but that is exactly what he gave to me.

“I want to play as long as I can maintain this level of play,” said Ibanez. “I know that I can maintain this level of play, this level, for four more years. I have been training, preparing my body for this for ten years. I feel great physically. Mentally my passion is there, I want to win. I really want to win. I prepare myself every day to win, that’s what it is all about.”

“I will continue to play as long as my family is okay with it, my kids are great, my wife is great. I am not stopping any time soon.”

Interesting that he has put a mark on it. Interesting that he said everything he has been doing the past ten years was in preparation for this. Raul puts himself through a grueling, time consuming workout routine in Miami each off season. It is quite an investment considering ball players have so little free time to begin with. Think about it. The schedule is 162 games, but spring training begins mid-February. There are few off days (and fewer in Seattle with the travel) during the season. He is driven to continue playing and continue playing at this level.

His oldest son is six so the Ibanez’s are dealing with what many baseball families have to deal with. What to do when the kids are school age. The decision usually is either to have one home base and meet up with dad when school is out or to move the family permanently to where dad is. It is a tough decision and I think there is little chance Raul would be separated from his family. Home however, is Miami. He is not a full time resident of the Seattle area and never has been. This could be a big factor. Is there a club closer to home that would be interested?

He said winning was important, no surprise especially at this point of his career. While the Mariners do not look poised to be a playoff team next year (although I would love to be wrong on that one) could they convince him that they are two years away? Would he want assurances, input in manager choices (he, like many likes Riggleman). I am not saying he would want veto power over what the Mariners do this off season, but I think he would like to be asked for input, especially if he is staying. As I said this one will be interesting to watch. And I didn’t state it above, but I am hoping if he stayed, it would be as a DH. His numbers at that position are among the leagues elite. Now his willingness to accept the DH position, that is for another interview.