M's fighting off injuries

OLYMPAN NEWS SERVICES

Originally published Friday, March 15, 2002

PEORIA, Ariz. -- The injury bug that snagged Edgar Martinez and Mike Cameron early this week also has claimed Mariners catcher Ben Davis.

Davis has a pulled muscle near his rib cage. He suffered a similar injury last year while with the San Diego Padres, trainer Rick Griffin said.

"He tweaked it the other day," Griffin said. "I don't think he can play for a couple of days. He didn't take batting practice today."

Griffin said Davis had a similar injury last year.

It's the second injury to the Mariners' catching this month. Blake Barthol, who played at Triple-A Tacoma last year, is out with a torn labrum in his shoulder and may need season-ending surgery.

Cameron didn't play Thursday for the second straight day because of back spasms and it's not certain when he will return. Martinez, who missed Wednesday's game because of a sore quad muscle, may play today. Griffin said he would have been ready Thursday, but the DH wasn't used in the game at Scottsdale.

"Edgar is a lot better, but we'll just have to wait and see on Cammy," trainer Rick Griffin said. "We'll see how he feels."

Griffin said Cameron hurt his back while banging into the outfield wall on Monday against the White Sox.

- CUT DAY: If you wore a Mariners uniform Thursday and John McLaren asked "Got a minute?" he wasn't there to make a dinner invitation. Thursday was the Mariners' first cut day of spring training, and it was McLaren's job to roam the clubhouse and, one by one, bring the unlucky 14 into manager Lou Piniella's office.

Gone from the major league camp are right-handed pitchers Jeff Heaverlo, Gil Meche and Aaron Taylor, left-handed pitcher Ryan Anderson and outfielder Kenny Kelly, all optioned to Triple-A Tacoma; right-handed pitchers J.J. Putz, Allan Simpson and Rafael Soriano and infielders Willie Bloomquist and Antonio Perez, all optioned to Double-A San Antonio; and right-handed pitcher Brian Falkenborg, catchers Blake Barthol and Ryan Christianson and outfielder Juan LeBron, all re-assigned to the minor league camp.

- EAGER TO COME BACK: Anderson, who learned Wednesday that he will need season-ending shoulder surgery, is confident he won't lose any of the velocity off his fastball when he returns next year.

"It's always in the back of your mind. We always joked when we were in rehab that we're going to come back and not be able to pitch hard," said Anderson, whose fastball said. "But if you get it done right and work hard, you should come back and be the same."

A magnetic resonance imaging exam on Wednesday showed a tear of the labrum in Anderson's left shoulder. He suffered a similar last year and had labrum surgery on March 6, 2001.

- PLAYERS WANT COMPLETE FREEDOM: Baseball's union would give up salary arbitration and a minimum salary if owners were willing to let all players be free agents each time their contracts run out.

"I'll make the deal with you today," Gene Orza, the union's No. 2 official, told management negotiator Rob Manfred during a panel discussion Thursday at the World Congress of Sports. "You'll never take that deal because the deal you have is better."

Since 1976, players have needed six years of major league service to become free agents. Since 1990, players with 3-to-6 years of service are eligible for arbitration, as are about a dozen players in the 2-to-3-year service group.

Some economists have said making all players free agents would flood the market and that while salaries of stars would increase, salaries of most major leaguers would fall.

Teams have never wanted increased free agency, fearing players would change clubs even more frequently and that it would increase the migration of stars to high-revenue teams.

- LITTLE MAKES CHANGES: New Red Sox manager Grady Little replaced pitching coach Ralph Treuel Thursday with longtime friend and former Yankees bullpen coach Tony Cloninger.

Treuel accepted a player development position with the Red Sox. He had been minor league pitching coordinator for three years before being promoted last season after Joe Kerrigan became manager.

Cloninger spent 15 years in the Yankees organization and was bullpen coach nine of the past 10 years. He was New York's pitching coach in 1993. He was a scout for the San Francisco Giants this season.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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