Mariners notebook: James Paxton gives thumbs up after minor-league assignment

The Mariners rotation should soon look more like, well, the Mariners rotation.

Starter James Paxton threw three innings in a minor-league rehab assignment Saturday night with the Rainiers and is ready to resume his regular routine to get ready for his next start with the Mariners – most likely Thursday in Chicago.

“He threw the ball well, threw all of his pitches, came in this morning and gave the thumbs up,” manager Scott Servais said Sunday morning. “He’ll throw a light bullpen and then we will slide him in the rotation.”

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Servais said that Cody Martin will start Monday’s game – his second start of the season – and that a starter for Tuesday remains TBD. Hisashi Iwakuma will take the mound for the homestand finale Wednesday and Paxton most likely slots in the following day. Paxton will be ready, with the pain, swelling and stiffness of the elbow bruise completely behind him.

“It felt really good (in the rehab start),” Paxton said. “No pain, no tightness. That was awesome. It was really good to go out there and get back to throwing the ball 100 percent.”

While a decision on when to bring Taijuan Walker back to the Majors is yet to be announced, that day appears to be close. On the “Sunday Magazine” show, general manager Jerry Dipoto said that it appears the Mariners have weathered the storm of injuries by utilizing a club record 28 pitchers.

“I think the group had done everything they can to come together one through 28 and give us an opportunity to get to this point in late August, and they have done a great job of it,” he said. “We do anticipate before this homestand is over being back to our normal element where we have Felix, we have Kuma, we have Paxton, we have Tai back; we do have Wade LeBlanc, we have Ariel Miranda.”

Notes:

• The M’s Olympics kicked off Saturday with a ceremony that was held pre-game on the field, and a number of events were run. The entire team, which has been broken into four squads, is participating and we already have controversy after Day 1.

“Nelson Cruz was disqualified from the M’s Games yesterday. He did not have the official M’s Games t-shirt on when he was competing in the second round of the tape toss,” Servais announced. “I have a formal appeal for him to be reinstated, which is going to be denied. He is out. He’s been disqualified, he tried to plead his case yesterday. I patted him on the back and said, ‘The good thing is, you are still batting fourth.'”

• How many callups will we see in September? Dipoto addressed this on Sunday Magazine, saying that a third catcher and pitching help would be added. He also seemed to indicate we could see an addition or two before September.

“We anticipate having (reliever) Tony Zych back. Tony is getting very close,” Dipoto said. “The velocity is back to the high 90s and we are starting to see him perform the way he did last year and in April. We do anticipate getting (relief pitcher) Evan Scribner back and adding him. We do anticipate in the not so distant future having (outfielder) Guillermo Heredia back. Beyond that, it’s going to be wait until we see what happens with the minor league seasons.”

Dipoto and farm director Andy McKay put a high value on learning to win and winning at the minor-league level and will look wherever possible to keep the teams together through the minor-league playoffs.

“We have left-handed matchup guys that might be able to help us sooner than later. We will see some of those prospect types later in the month but, right now, if the season were to end today all of our minor-league clubs are going to make their postseasons, and we don’t want to rob them of the chance to go play for a championship. That being said, if we feel someone can help us win a game here, we will take them and they will have to figure out a way to get through it,” Dipoto said with a laugh.

• There is a new addition to the clubhouse, which is getting a little crowded with all of the toys. There is now a foosball table at the far end near the catchers’ lockers. The table’s current placement is probably temporary, but necessary, as foosball is one of the M’s Olympic events. The favorite to win? Well, it could be pitcher Drew Storen.

“We got the table on Craig’s List,” Storen said. “I lobbied for that to be added in. That was the one event I felt confident in so I kind of did some insider trading to set myself up. So if I fail at it I am going to be very disappointed.”

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