Mariners notebook: Could we see lineup changes soon?

HOUSTON – We haven’t heard it much this year, but “players make out the lineup” was a Lloydism we heard many times last year. Why haven’t we really seen that yet?

It takes time for a team to settle into a season. The assumption in baseball is with all things being equal players will play to the back of their baseball cards. This of course doesn’t happen overnight and players with track records are given the opportunity to get to the neighborhood of those numbers. How long does that take? McClendon is a big believer that it takes 55 games to get a good read on what his team is.

With multiple players in semi-platoon roles, the challenge for McClendon has been to get all of his players the proper amount of playing time. We have seen lefty/righty lineups, we have seen him go with matchups, and we have seen him weigh past history when deciding who will play. What we haven’t seen – and what we could see soon – is recent performance coming into play. If a guy is on a slide we are getting close, not there yet, to seeing that become a part of the equation in making out the lineup, as well.

“I think you have to take that into account,” said McClendon. “You have to be fair to the entire ballclub. I love all of my players but I can’t manage one player at a time, I have to manage 25 and if a guy is at a point where he can’t help us, I’ve got to sit him down.”

Again, he’s not there yet as tonight’s lineup would indicate, but I would suspect he is getting closer.

Lineup!

Smith 9
Jackson 8
Cano 4
Cruz DH
Seager 5
Morrison 3
Miller 6
Ackley 7
Sucre 2

Elias

Notes

• Tom Wilhelmsen (elbow) threw a 25-pitch bullpen session this afternoon that went well. He threw two- and four-seam fastballs and is scheduled to throw another pen on Sunday.

• Danny Hultzen is making his season debut tonight pitching for Double-A Jackson.

• Yesterday it was Carlos Quentin who left the organization, and today Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto tweets that LHP Joe Saunders has opted out of his contract.

• We are getting ever closer to seeing two Seagers in the big leagues. The Dodgers have promoted top prospect and Kyle’s little brother Corey Seager to Triple-A Oklahoma City. In 20 games in Double-A this year he hit .375/.407/.675/1.082.

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