John Hunt of the Oregonian has a nice preview of the Mariners as they start spring training. And I'm going to be watching the progress of one player in particular:

The Mariners also will closely watch the progress of left-handed Independent League signee Bobby Madritsch as well as hard-throwing J.J. Putz (pronounced "Pootz"), Aaron Taylor and Allan Simpson, who has reached 99 mph on the radar gun and has been cleared for participation by a vascular surgeon despite suffering from lupus.

If my name was Putz, I'd make up another way to pronounce it, also.

Melvin seems to be making a project out of turning around Cirillo:

In handicapping the AL West race, one set of numbers jumps out: 30, 34 and 6.

Those are the home run totals of Anaheim third baseman Troy Glaus, Oakland third baseman Eric Chavez and Seattle third baseman Jeff Cirillo, respectively.

Cirillo struggled severely, hitting .249, although his career batting average is still above .300. His statistics were even dwarfed by David Bell (20 home runs for San Francisco), the man he replaced at third for the Mariners.

Melvin, who coached Cirillo in Milwaukee, threw to Cirillo two weeks ago in Arizona and still can't believe Cirillo's slide.

"I didn't see the struggles," Melvin said. "The guy is a lifetime .300 hitter and a great defensive player. I expect that just to be a bad year for him. I think it kind of snowballed on him a little bit."

Cirillo, who has family in Seattle, was clearly pressing last year and often clashed with manager Lou Piniella, who has since moved to Tampa Bay. Not only does Melvin have history with Cirillo, he also has a kinder disposition than Piniella. Melvin probably won't be seen throwing up his hands in the dugout, much less kicking dirt on the plate.

"I know I'm going to be very positive and upbeat, and I know I'm going to stick up for our players," Melvin said. "How upset I'm going to get and what I'm going to do is uncharted waters, so we'll take that one step at a time."

The problem, of course, is that Cirillo has two straight years of decline. And if you count his first year in Colorado where there was no improvement from Milwaukee, possibly three. What I find odd about Cirillo's decline is how his walks have fallen off. He's always had a good OBA, so unless he can turn that part of his game around, he's only going to be valuable for his defense.