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Bob Dutton must have gotten his over-medium eggs done tender but moist this morning.  Dr. D counted at least six discreet "yeah baby" Tweets before he rushed off to an Arizona travel site.  Hey, no cheering in the press box, babe.  We are Journalists here, not sportswriters.  Get with it behind the mixing board wouldja.

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Dut' Tweet:  Dipoto says #Mariners will have two lefty relievers. Furbush expected to be one. Other candidates: Nuno, Montgomery, Hultzen and Fry.

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SSI denizens expect Furbush NOT to be one, based on his medical issues.  However, the Mariners themselves are (1) advertising Furbush as the #1 lefty, and (2) acting as though Furbush will be the #1 lefty.  It's like a RNC candidate who says he cares about winning New Hampshire ... and then triples his ad money in the state.  Watch what they do, not what they say?  So if Danny Hultzen/comp is your #2 lefty, then They. Think. Furbush. will be Okay.

When last seen, Furbush was 11K's and 1+ walks.  It'd be nice.

Edit to add, Brent Stecker quoted DiPoto thusly:  "We need to get a little bit lucky with a couple of the guys in the bullpen and see a turnaround in the middle roles," he said, "but we do feel like that with Steve Cishek and Joaquin Benoit and Charlie Furbush, particularly those three guys give us legit back-end guys who've done this in this league, and there's no reason they shouldn't continue to do it."

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BTW, I had no idea Mike Montgomery could be considered for this position.  Similar to Elias being put there.  It is not a batter-by-batter mentality.  Hoo Rah.

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Dut' Tweets:   Dipoto says #Mariners are “as well suited as anybody to compete in the West.” ... "#Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto says “we did what we said we wanted to do” in the off-season."  LINK

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It is not enough to be a good player, noted Bobby Fischer.  You must also play good.  I love to hear athletes* come out of a game saying, "Yep, that was my A game; judge me on that."  Funny thing is that in baseball, it "breaks code" to admit you played your A game and lost.  When Jerry DiPoto threw a perfect fastball up the ladder 3" high, and executed the pitch precisely the way he planned to ... and then Mike Piazza dropped DiPoto's jaw by blasting the pitch anyway?   DiPoto was forbidden from telling the truth about it.  He was required to tell the press that it was a mistake.

One time Paul Spoljaric gave up a GWRBI to the Boston Red Sox and told the press afterward, "I can't believe he hit that pitch!"  The reporters sneered and Lou Piniella was appalled.  'twas the beginning of the end for Spoljaric.  That, gentlemen, is one of the media games that Dr. D loathes most.

What DiPoto just said was (1) the opposite of this, and (2) the opposite of Jack Zduriencik's non-committal "we think we have a nice little ballclub" evasions.  And who can forget the "now we do it my way" asterisks and their ilk?

If you plow through the actual moves this offseason ... well, except for one more legit bullpen arm, the moves WERE all the things DiPoto could have wanted.  Add one Hisashi Iwakuma chaser.  Not many GM's own their rosters like DiPoto just did.  For this statement -- not for the 2016 season, but for this statement -- give DiPoto a Standing O.

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Dut' Tweet:  Dipoto says #Mariners don’t want passive hitters; says they won’t be judged on ability to draw walks.

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Heh!  Does anybody here remember what the blogs said about Eric Wedge on this one?  I mean it literally.  Do you remember?  That's why you stick with the Think Tank, babe.  The truth is usually more nuanced than a four-variable algebraic formula.  Ask your 9-year-old.

Dustin Ackley wasn't going to increase his walks by going up to the plate with his bat glued to his shoulder.  And that ain't how Ketel Marte drew them last year, either.  He got his 66 walks* by threatening to zing EVERY pitch right back through the mound.  But hey.  Those who can't do, teach, preferably from our offices at home.   :: boom shaka laka ::

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Dut' Tweet:  Griffin says he’s “100 percent” confident in RHP Hisashi Iwakuma’s health. Said he doesn’t know what scared off the Dodgers.

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In the best case scenario, nothing scared off the Dodgers; they thought they could chisel WBC-san, but were shocked and horrified to see Jerry DiPoto swoop with such alacrity.  That's an early return on the shift from GM-by-ArmCommittee into GM-by-a-single-GM.  One man is considerably more agile than is a committee.

Seems to Dr. D that the old Committee approach may very well be toast in Seattle.  If so, what a huge win for you.  A mediocre GM would be far, farrrr better than a committee of lawyers, and Jerry DiPoto looks like he's un-mediocre.

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Dut' Tweet:  #Mariners trainer Rick Griffin says LHP James Paxton has lost 20 pounds and showing no lingering problems with his finger.

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There are some guys who pitch better carrying a little weight ... you AARP guys remember Mickey Lolich and maybe even back as far as Bartolo Colon.  CC Sabathia, Carlos Zambrano, quite a few guys who are worth their girth.

Am not sure that James Paxton is going to be one of them.  He gets a little bit of a vertigo effect as his pitching knuckles scrape the dirt on the windup, so personally I don't want him fighting his ballast as he tips the ship from aft to forward.  A lighter K-Pax may be a strike-throwing K-Pax.  That's one guy whose fitness may be a key watch point.

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Play Ball,

Jeff