Mariners notes: Lloyd McClendon’s future still up in the air

A few Mariners notes on a rainy Wednesday:

• Last year at this time we were discussing the season wrap-up press conference held by general manager Jack Zduriencik and manager Lloyd McClendon. This year, three days after the season ended, it’s unclear whether or not there will be a similar sit-down with the media as the manager is a rather important part of that equation. On the final day of the season, McClendon said that talks were ongoing with new GM Jerry Dipoto and that he expected to know more about his future in a week to 10 days. No news is no news.

• There already have been changes in the organization with Pete Vuckovich and Joe McIlvaine – who were special assistants to Zduriencik – being told their contracts would not be renewed. Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com also reported that pro scouts Duane Shaffer and Joe Nigro would also not be renewed. Most organizational contracts run through Oct. 31.

• While what he calls “the engine room” is the first area Dipoto must tackle, player decisions won’t be far behind. A number of you have talked about what the Mariners might have available to spend in the offseason – and one note of caution before you start spending money that may or may not be there is that Dipoto has said numerous times that free agency is not his first choice to augment a roster – and often many of you do not take into account that 25 players are going to get paid and some are going to get raises. How much?

MLBtraderumors.com can help us out on that one. They appear to have cracked the arbitration code and their projections have been darn near spot-on in recent years. The Mariners have five arbitration-eligible players projected to receive the following salaries in 2016:

Logan Morrison: $4.1 million
Mark Trumbo: $9.1 million
Charlie Furbush: $1.7 million
Tom Wilhelmsen: $3 million
Logan Kensing: $1 million

No doubt all five will file for arbitration. At that point the player and the team can negotiate up until the scheduled hearing, which would take place right around the start of spring training. Most deals get worked out well before hearings, although Wilhelmsen did go to arbitration with the Mariners last year. The Angels did not have any arbitration cases heard while Dipoto was their GM.

There is, of course, the possibility we could see one or more of the above players non-tendered. The non-tender deadline this year is Dec. 2.

• The news from Tuesday that Ichiro had re-upped with the Marlins was not a huge surprise, but I was a little surprised that it happened so fast. Now that he has fulfilled his dream of pitching in a major-league game, Ichiro can get back to the task of accumulating his 3,000 hits. Right now he sits 65 hits away and I have to wonder if one year will be enough, although in my heart of hearts I know better than to doubt Ichiro here.

Heart aside, however, Ichiro had 438 plate appearances in 153 games this season, far more games than expected. Injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and other Marlins gave him the opportunity to step to the plate 53 more times than the previous year yet he hit just .229 with 11 fewer hits.

It took Ichiro 106 games and 288 plate appearances to get 65 hits this year. Will he have that many opportunities next year? Will there be further decline or can he find a last-push spark this offseason? We have seen Ichiro struggle as he has approached other milestones, and this will be the mother of all milestones with some pretty ridiculous media coverage from Japan I would imagine.

On the other hand, he could lay down more bunts. The Marlins could be out of it by July and decide to play him every day and go for the fanfare. It will be interesting to follow.

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