Mariners notebook: Hisashi Iwakuma close to return, leaving M’s with a tough decision

ANAHEIM, Calif. – We are getting closer to needing an answer to the question “What do the Mariners do with the rotation when Hisashi Iwakuma returns?”

Iwakuma made his second rehab start Thursday night in Tacoma and the reports were mixed.

“Kuma was okay,” said Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon on Friday. “He continues to improve and move forward. The first two innings were a little tough, mechanics were off. He seemed to settle down in the fourth inning a little bit, threw a little better, but he’s progressing.”

The most encouraging sign was the velocity. Prior to going on the DL, Iwakuma’s fastball velocity was down a tick. He needs that velocity to make his other pitches effective.

“He touched 91 a few times. He was 87 to 91, that’s encouraging,” said McClendon. “The plan is he will start Tuesday in Tacoma and we will go from there.”

So Iwakuma will make at least one more rehab start before returning, so we will see one more turn of the rotation before a decision must be made.

“It’s a nice problem to have,” McClendon said of having five starters pitching well with one set to return. “Right now we are we are still in process of figuring out what we will do when he comes back.”

Sending a player down to Tacoma to pitch every five days and be ready if needed is an option with Roenis Elias and Mike Montgomery. Moving a player to the bullpen is perhaps a least-likely option, although there was talk of putting Elias in the pen last year if the team had made the postseason. Performance will be a factor, as will innings, which are being monitored closely for the entire staff.

On that note, we are getting close to the point of the season where last year McClendon started giving guys extra days by manipulating the roster to get guys up for spot starts. I asked if we could we see something similar again this year.

“There certainly has been conversation about it,” said McClendon. “Our roster is constructed different now. I’m not sure where we go from here, we are still in the planning stages of moving toward the All-Star break.”

Going with a six man rotation for a short while is not out of the question but would be difficult with the current roster construction. McClendon pointed out that the bench is now completely composed of players who cannot be sent down and a backup catcher.

One thing is certain – there are a number of possibilities and directions the club could go in when Iwakuma is ready to return.

Close eye kept on Walker

Taijuan Walker is making his 15th start of the year and is at 78.1 innings. His innings are being watched carefully, and his stellar performances as of late are making it tough to get him breaks here and there. His innings management plays into the plans McClendon is trying to make for the rotation going forward.

“He’s a big, strong kid, but still you have got to be cautious with the innings, the number of pitches,” said McClendon. “Where we go from here, we still are trying to figure that out. We’ve got a lot of options, we have to figure out which option is best and manage that with winning games as well because he’s part of the solution, not the problem. He’s been throwing extremely well for us. There’s a lot of variables into it, we just have to figure it out.”

One thing that Walker has going for him is he actually threw a lot more innings last year than most people realize. Between Triple-A and the big leagues he threw 111 innings, but when you add in sim games and fall ball the number is closer to 145, according to McClendon.

Lineup!

Logan Morrison, 1B
Austin Jackson, CF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nelson Cruz, DH
Kyle Seager, 3B
Mark Trumbo, RF
Seth Smith, LF
Brad Miller, SS
Mike Zunino, C

Taijuan Walker, RHP

Note

• Mark Trumbo had a large contingent of local media waiting to talk to him on his first return to Anaheim since playing for the Angels. He said it was definitely a different experience going to the visitors side but was happy to be back in a park that he was very comfortable in. Trumbo was my guest on the radio pregame show, and in addition to a number of different topics, he talked about his recent struggles at the plate and his approach to getting back on track.

“It hasn’t been good. I haven’t had a lot of fun recently, to be honest with you, but it’s all part of the deal,” he said. “There hasn’t been a year that has been completely smooth sailing. You are going to have to fight through some stuff. Now is one of those periods where it hasn’t gone my way as much as I would like, but I know I have put in all the work that I can. I think I have the right mindset and you just have to trust that at some point you will start to get some of those hits to fall in and you can go on a nice tear and things will be right where you want them to be.”

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