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Mariners camp report
PEORIA, Ariz. -- Five things to know about the Seattle Mariners:
1. One of the first things manager John McLaren did after the club acquired Erik Bedard from Baltimore was phone Brandon Morrow and inform him that he would remain in the bullpen rather than convert to the rotation. "I didn't want there to be any question," McLaren says of Morrow, 23, who was Seattle's first-round pick in the 2006 draft and developed into a dependable set-up man during his rookie season in '07. Seattle likes its acquisition of Bedard for reasons beyond his legitimate ace status. It bumps other starters down in the rotation to add layers of depth, and it allows them to keep Morrow as an eighth-inning guy before J.J. Putz closes in the ninth.
2. Fascinating backstory with Bedard: He's from Navan, Ontario, a small village east of Ottawa with a population of 1,450. He still lives in his parents' basement. He grew up speaking French. And he refined his pitching skills by throwing to his brother, Mark ... at a barn on his cousin's poultry farm.
3. Don't underestimate how exciting one other development, Non-Bedard Dept., is around here: The Mariners finally are out from under Richie Sexson's albatross of a contract at the end of this summer. Sexson, scheduled to earn $14 million, batted .205 with a .295 on-base percentage last season and only 63 RBI. If he goes south again this year, Raul Ibanez, Jose Vidro or even Mike Morse could play first. "I've never seen competition in 22 years at the major league level like we have now," McLaren says. "Morse, Norton, (Wladimir) Balentien, Jeremy Reed ... they're all making a strong case for themselves."
4. Hey Yuniesky Betancourt, don't be afraid to take a few pitches: Betancourt walked just 15 times in 150 games last season, covering 559 plate appearances. Maybe a few more would boost that .308 on-base percentage.
5. Seven consecutive 200-hit seasons down the road, leadoff man extraordinaire Ichiro Suzuki this season should surpass Julio Cruz's club record of 290 steals -- Ichiro is at 272. But he may be very tired while doing it: The Mariners will log 55,000 miles in the air this summer, most in the majors and 7,000 more than they did two seasons ago. Each of their first seven trips begins in the Eastern time zone. And remember all of those snow-outs in Cleveland last April that wreaked havoc on the rest of their schedule? The M's first trip this season begins on April 4 in Baltimore. They're only there once -- the weather had better hold.