Mariners notebook: Pitching plans and a Taijuan Walker surprise

ARLINGTON, Texas – Greetings from Texas, where the temperatures have been almost as hot as the baseball team that resides here. The Mariners could be heading into a buzzsaw with the Rangers coming off a four-game sweep of the no-longer-division-leading Astros and winners of five straight.

The pitching matchups are tough, with Yovani Gallardo on the hill Friday night to be followed by Cole Hamels and Derek Holland this weekend. But it should be a good test for this Mariners group – which has won 10 of the last 15 – both in quality of opponent and the atmosphere it could encounter with the Rangers clearly feeling some momentum right now.

In his pregame meeting with the media, manager Lloyd McClendon clarified some of the pitching plans going forward. Vidal Nuno and Felix Hernandez will pitch Games 2 and 3 here in Texas and then the plan is to throw Hisashi Iwakuma, Roenis Elias and James Paxton in Kansas City, followed by Felix next Friday in Anaheim and then Iwakuma on Sunday. Saturday is listed as TBA and all of the above is subject to change.

Will we see Taijuan Walker pitch again this season? With his innings count at a career-high 169 2/3, there is a very good chance he has been shut down for good. Despite this he is still playing catch and throwing light bullpen sessions. If needed, he can be ready.

“I’ve been staying busy, doing everything that I would if I was pitching,” Walker said.

He did take two days off from throwing, something that he said was nice to give his arm a little break.

“I don’t mind taking a couple of days off. It feels good,” he said, acknowledging that it was something he didn’t know he would appreciate until he actually did it. “I played catch and then took the day off and was like, ‘This feels kind of nice.’ Then we had yesterday off and it was, ‘Okay, it’s time to get back to doing stuff.'”

Walker is starting to look toward the offseason and what his routine will be. Last year the Mariners limited his weight work because they didn’t want him to get too big. That will be a factor again this offseason as Walker has somehow managed to put on weight during the season, something that rarely happens. At the beginning of the year he was 237 pounds. Last week he weighed in at 255.

“I don’t know, it just came,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve kept my normal routines. I’m still just growing, I guess.”

The weight is not a concern as his body-fat percentage has not gone up. He will continue to be careful in the offseason, however.

“I’m going to add yoga this offseason,” he said. “I have got to loosen up my hips a little more, make sure I stay loose in the upper body.”

He is also trying to stay loose in the clubhouse while he is not pitching.

“I’m not going crazy … yet,” he said of the layoff. “It’s all good.”

Lineup!

Ketel Marte, SS
Kyle Seager, 3B
Nelson Cruz, DH
Robinson Cano, 2B
Mark Trumbo, RF
Seth Smith, LF
Logan Morrison, 1B
Brad Miller, CF
Steve Baron, C

James Paxton, LHP

Notes

• Innings are very important for Paxton right now as the more he throws this year, the more he will be able to throw next year. McClendon is looking for improvement in this start, specifically for more pitches in the strike zone.

• Nelson Cruz is in at DH once again. The hope was he would be able to get into the field in the Rangers series, which would give Robinson Cano the opportunity to get off his feet a little bit and DH. But Cruz is not ready. He did some drills on the field Friday but is still having to be very careful with the quad and is at least a few days away from being ready to return to the outfield.

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