Mariners notebook: Will we see a change in the starting rotation?

OAKLAND, Calif. – Chris Young is listed as the Mariners’ starter for Saturday’s game against Texas, but manager Lloyd McClendon doesn’t have that in ink on his schedule quite yet.

After watching Young fail to make it out of the first inning Monday and only going 3 2/3 innings in his previous outing, McClendon found it necessary to have a frank conversation with his No. 3 starter.

“He assured me that he feels healthy, I assured him that I would do what I thought was best for this club, so I am going to evaluate in the next day or two and make a decision,” McClendon said. “If I deem him 100 percent healthy then he will make that start.”

If not, Taijuan Walker will get the call in Arlington.

McClendon pointed out that it’s not unusual to see starters struggle for an outing or two this time of the year, listing recent performances by David Price, Max Scherzer and Corey Kluber as examples. Still, Young is a special case as he’s coming off a year where he threw just 37 innings.

“He’s in uncharted territories,” McClendon said. “I’ve got to watch him, I’ve got to evaluate, I’ve got to make a decision. He’s not a big velocity guy. What concerns me is command. When he starts to lose command a little bit, yeah, I am a little concerned about it.”

As for Walker, McClendon was pleased with what he saw Monday but he would like to see more.p>

“I saw his potential,” McClendon said. “Obviously, he pitched extremely well. He showed what he is capable of. We just have to get him to the point where he can be consistent every time with it.”

McClendon has been very candid in his comments about what he has seen from Walker and what he would like to see. He was asked if this was a case of “tough love” or higher expectations.

“What’s wrong with that?” McClendon answered. “For me, Walker is no different than any of my other players. I have had tough love and I have had a lot of tough conversations with a lot of them. They may not always like what I have got to say but they will respect what I have to say. It’s the same with him. I expect more out of him. I don’t expect him to act like a 22-year-old. I expect him to act like a 30-year-old and I expect him to perform like a veteran. I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. And if it is, I’m in the wrong business. I don’t know.”

I asked if the expectations were different for Walker because of his potential.

“Listen,” he answered, “we don’t have time … I said it in spring training – young is not an excuse for not being good. It’s not. What has young got to do with not performing at a high level? That’s not to say that you are not going to make mistakes from time to time. I am not going to argue for that type of limitation. Well, we are young, we will be okay in two or three years from now – that’s BS. Somebody else will be managing this team in two or three years if I take that attitude. I’ve been through that. We have got to play at a high level. It’s just the way it is.”

For Walker’s part, he told me that he understands where McClendon is coming from and that the comments have been motivation.

“It fires me up,” he said. “It makes me want to go out there and show them that I can do it, I can go out there and dominate. It’s happened to me growing up in Little League, even in basketball. My basketball coach got on me at halftime and the second half of that game I scored 32 points. Stuff like that really fires me up, gets me going to go out there and compete. Just show what I got.”

Lineup!

Austin Jackson, 8
Dustin Ackley, 7
Robinson Cano, 4
Kyle Seager, 5
Kendrys Morales, DH
Logan Morrison, 3
Endy Chavez, 9
Brad Miller, 6
Jesus Sucre, 2

James Paxton

Notes

• Brad Miller is in the lineup for a third straight day.

“He hit a home run. He made out the lineup!” McClendon said with a laugh.

• As for Kyle Seager at cleanup, McClendon said that he flipped him with Kendrys Morales to see if that would jump-start the offense a bit.

• Mike Zunino has seen a few extra days off of late. McClendon said he would be back in the lineup for the Wednesday day game to catch Felix Hernandez. As for his struggles at the plate, they are to be expected, according to the skipper.

“Mike Zunino is going to be an All-Star catcher in the very near future,” he said. “From an offensive standpoint we are dealing with a young man who in his second year in the big leagues, already has more at-bats in the big leagues than he has in the minor leagues. That should tell you where he is. Is he going to struggle a little bit? Yeah. Are there going to be growing pains? Absolutely. There are going to be times when you wonder if he is ever going to get another hit again, yeah. He’s also got more home runs than any catcher in the AL. He’s doing some things right.”

• A Vice Sports article that was critical of the Mariners’ handling of the Jesus Montero situation got quite a bit of attention on Twitter this morning. According to the article, the Mariners declined comment for the piece, including a question about what Montero was told to do in the offseason. The author questioned whether or not Montero was given an offseason conditioning program.

In my opinion, to blame the club for Montero showing up to camp 40 pounds overweight is absolutely ridiculous. That clubhouse was full of players that showed up in top shape, ready to compete. Players who obviously put a lot of focus on the upcoming season in their offseason. Montero was very much the exception.

As for the Mariners’ offseason conditioning programs, every player is given a plan. Montero left Seattle with a detailed daily workout program. The Mariners also went the extra yard with him and paid for him to have access to a workout facility. The expectations were clear and he was given the tools he needed to meet them.

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