Heading into spring training, Mike Hargrove stated that he was more excited about the 2007 Mariners than he was about any team he has managed in the big leagues. Why? He pointed to the young players who took a step forward last year, and a team that played well together at the end, battling through the adversity of losing 11 straight on the road, without the carrot of the playoffs at the end.

Hargrove was hired in part because many believe one of his strong suits is dealing with younger players and bringing them up right. He also has displayed the skill in managing personalities in a clubhouse better than I think most could.

He has been handed probably the most diverse team in baseball with different ages, different cultures, a huge international superstar, a catching experiment and not to mention some of the more volatile personalities in the game. The end result last year, they came together as a team.

While his strong suits are things that are tough to be seen by fans and sometimes even reporters because more often than not are carried out behind closed doors rather than on the field for all to see, they are invaluable in building a team to last.

While a baseball loving public may lose patience in waiting for the rebuild and turn their discontent to management, the skipper is more concerned about the 25 men in his clubhouse.

He refused to throw his players under the bus last season even when we as fans or reporters would see play that we thought should be called out. In protecting his players, in his words he “takes a lot of heat from a bunch of different people publicly, but that’s okay. That’s part of the job. The important thing is that you’ve got to believe in what you believe in and stick with it.

The worst thing that can happen is that your players see you start trying to do fifteen thousand things differently when it is not time to do fifteen thousand things differently. You try to be patient, with a young club with young players, I would rather be over patient than impatient but I think in the long run it pays off.” With that said, it appears that patience will be in shorter supply this year because it is time.

Hargrove spoke at length this morning about how he brings up a team, and just where he thinks this team is right now.

Since it was such an interesting conversation, and I am not really a writer, I think I will just give you what he said. The following is what I transposed from the morning session in Hargrove’s words. So step inside his office.

He started by talking about how the goal is to win the AL West and how this year is different in that they are not coming to spring training to prepare for the season, they are coming to prepare to win. How does he get this idea across and how does it manifest itself out on the fields in Peoria? In his words…

It’s a more specific focus on what it is that you are doing, there is more of a specific importance put on it, because let’s face it, when you play 162 games it is real easy to excuse away things, not getting the runner over to second, leaving a guy on third three times in a game, we’ll do it tomorrow.

The difference heading into this year is a more specific focus, more importance put on that focus.

I think when your goal is more specific and that you feel like you have a chance to win then your demands and expectations have to be more specific, more focused and that’s where it is at spring training.

We’re less likely to be patient with non production than we have been in the past when we were really trying to get to the point where we felt like we had a chance to win.

Baltimore and here the first couple of years, you were trying to get teams to the point where you feel you have a legitimate chance to win and there are things that you will write off as he is a young player or he is learning the league, not to alibi it, but more to get past it while knowing we need to be better tomorrow or be better at the month’s end and the season’s end than we were when we started this to get to that point and once you reach a point to where you feel like you have a chance to win then now you are less likely to excuse things or gloss over things.

On why this can’t happen all at once

Everybody develops at a different stage and at the major league level the big separator between the good clubs and mediocre clubs and good players and mediocre players, is mental toughness and mental outlook.

Everyone at this level has some talent, some game to be here, but it’s just who stays at it more consistently with a tougher attitude, tougher approach, those are the individuals and the teams that succeed. When you start out with a young player if you are hammering a young player all the time all he can think about is where’s the hammer?

You don’t want players always looking for the hammer and you want them to develop that mental toughness and that consistency. It‘s going to take the time it is going to take to develop them. Is it one year, is it three years, is it five? It’s going to take the time it takes. I think we have reached the point here now, that we are close to the end of that process.

That we are in a position where our talent level is such that we legitimately feel that we can compete for our division. If the (pressure), the ante is up for that, then the ante is up for everything else along with it. Now you demand more out of guys because they are ready to give it to you.

How does he know it’s time?

It’s something you see, you can’t decide it’s time; it has to be something you see.

It takes the time it takes and it depends on the players you are able to acquire and all the intangibles they bring other than their pure physical ability.
You look at it and you see how the players carry themselves.

You see how they approach their jobs, you see how they demand and expect more out each other then you look at the talent level that is there on paper and you say we’ve got a shot. You see it is time.

This is why Mike Hargrove is excited to take this team into the season.

News and notes…

The team has not made an announcement but Mark Lowe told me that the MRI showed scar tissue that is limiting the mobility of his elbow. He does not see this as bad news. They will either clean it up arthroscopically or get more aggressive with the rehab in regards to range of motion. He is hoping for a June return…JJ Putz unleashed a sinker that had other ideas today coming in high and extremely outside to Richie Sexson. Rene Rivera the catcher didn’t even move. JJ and Richie were laughing so hard, both needed a minute before they were able to resume bp…Jose Lopez and Oswaldo Navarro will begin throwing this weekend…Fanfest is tomorrow at the stadium where players will take bp and sign autographs…