Spring Sights: Trio has Mariners GM singing in the shower

Note:USA TODAY Sports' Paul White, via car, causeway, plane and rail, will reach every major league camp this spring.

Follow his exploits on Twitter -- @PBJWhite- as he makes his way through the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues before imparting all you didn't know about every team right here.

Today: Seattle Mariners

***

PEORIA, Ariz. – Some people sing in the shower.

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Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik found himself chanting one morning this spring.

"I was thinking about it in the shower," he says. "Hultzen, Paxton, Walker, when they were in Double-A; Hultzen, Paxton, Walker, they kept coming; Hultzen, Paxton, Walker, you hope it comes together."

They're Danny Hultzen, James Paxton and Taijuan Walker.

Mariners fans have been lathered up over those names for nearly four years now, when Hultzen was taken in the first round of the 2011 draft. The other two were drafted the previous season, Walker in the first round, Paxton in the fourth.

Maybe it really is like a song … "A one and a two, Hultzen, Paxton, Walker."

And right there is the beauty of what the Mariners could have on the day it comes true – very possibly this season.

That would be, "A one," as in perennial Cy Young candidate Felix Hernandez. "And a two," as in Hisashi Iwakuma. And then the trio in question as the 3-4-5 starters in the rotation.

Zduriencik knows the words to all the classics.

"There's been Zito, Mulder, Hudson," he says. "There's been Glavine, Smoltz and Maddux. And I'm not suggesting any of these guys are going to be that, but when you start with Felix and Iwakuma, then you look at these young kids and their upside, they have a chance to be real good."

Especially if they're being asked to start at the bottom of the rotation rather than carrying or transforming the team.

And Zduriencik certainly remembers working for Mets early in his career when the mantra was Isringhausen, Pulsipher and Wilson. So, the GM understands there are no guarantees.

But for a team that's grown rapidly on the offensive side with the additions the past two winters of Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz, then the emergence of All-Star third baseman Kyle Seager, if the promising pitching falls into place …

"It can complete us," Zduriencik says.

Hultzen was optioned to the minors leagues this week but that was expected since he missed all of last season recovering from a torn labrum, rotator cuff and anterior capsule – in layman's terms, that was one messed-up shoulder.

He got into one spring game with the Mariners as a confidence-building reward then was sent out for some seriously monitored work building up his strength and stamina in the minors.

Walker and Paxton, with veteran J.A. Happ, should start the season in the rotation behind Hernandez and Iwakuma.

Paxton had his own issues, a forearm strain from a fall during early-camp agility drills. But he's back on the mound, focusing on perfecting a second version his changeup that he envisions as a swing-and-miss pitch, and manager Lloyd McClendon has no concerns about him being ready for the regular season.

The lefty already is stingy enough – just 75 hits in 98 major league innings so far – without adding a pitch.

And Walker, the 22-year-old fireballer, has been dominant this spring, allowing four hits and walk in 12 scoreless innings.

"The key is health and maturation," Zduriencik says. "The pitchers have to develop. How quickly they develop is going to be a key."

He's been hearing it for awhile now on that subject.

Certainly from impatient and frustrated fans of the opinion 13 years out of the playoffs is more than enough time to wait. Zduriencik has been in charge the last six and he's also heard enough to stick to a plan based on a scouting and player development background that stretches more than three decades.

"Over the last several years," he says, "Opposing managers and other people that would watch our club would make comments like, 'Hey, hang in there. This is a good group of young kids. You have some power arms, some really good young pitching. If this all comes together, you have a chance to be pretty good.'"

Now, the Mariners have five of last year's American League All-Stars – Cano, Cruz, Seager, Hernandez and closer Fernando Rodney.

"We're closer," is as publicly confident as Zduriencik will get. "We've had 16, 17, 18 guys here making their major league debuts. Those days are over."

The supporting cast has to, Zduriencik says, "Take the next step."

He lists catcher Mike Zunino, outfielder Dustin Ackley and infielders Brad Miller and Chris Taylor.

And you know the rest of the words by now: Hultzen, Paxton, Walker.

***

MONTERO TURNS THE PAGE

They were big names when they were traded.

Then they were just big.

When the Yankees sent Jesus Montero to the Mariners for Michael Pineda in 2012, it was arguably as big a deal as there's ever been for guys with a combined 46 major league games. For the record, Hector Noesi and his 30 games of experience also went to the Mariners but this was about Montero – the slugging catcher who might not stay behind the plate but certainly wouldn't dominate at the plate based on his minor league numbers --and Pineda, the hulking pitcher who already was an All-Star and strikeout-an-inning rookie.

What could be bigger than this deal?

How about Montero two years later – at 275 pounds so far overweight that Zduriencik's spring 2014 assessment was, "I have zero expectations for Jesus Montero. Any expectations I had are gone."

The only thing keeping the trade from a dud of Montero-like proportions was that Pineda hadn't yet thrown a pitch for the Yankees because of injuries.

Pineda finally did pitch for the Yankees in 2014 and will be part of their rotation this year. Montero, coming off a Biogenesis-related suspension in 2013, had his 2014 end with the Mariners suspending him for a confrontation with one of the team's scouts during a minor league game.

Shame on you if you changed the channel on this soap opera then because, like any long-running saga worth its salt, Montero is back – not all the way back, which in part is a good thing.

He stunned teammates when he showed up this spring back at his old 235-240 playing weight. The only reason Zduriencik wasn't stunned was, "Because we were prepared for how hard he was working. Everyone said he really, really got after it and committed himself like they hadn't seen anybody in a while."

Will he ever be the high-average, impact-power guy he once seemed certain to become? Too soon to tell – he's batting .200 without an extra-base hit this spring.

But a contrite Montero – the apologies have been both public and private – is determined not to be embarrassed. More important, he doesn't want his 10-month-old daughter Loren to someday hear the story of her father the baseball player and be embarrassed. Family, he says, has changed everything.

"I really turned a page," Montero says. "Not a page, a book. To take a look at myself and step out and see myself and repair that mistake."

For the first time as a professional, he didn't return to his native Venezuela for the off-season. Instead, he signed himself up for what became a personalized boot camp in Arizona with the Mariners staff.

"I put a lot more work in than ever before," he says. "I want to know this year that at least I've done my best to be in the best shape I can."

There are no boasts, just repeated assurances uttered in the soft tones of a humbled man, "I'm trying to be part of this team. I want to win. I want to get better. I want them to know they can get some help from me. It's a good feeling."

He's 25 now and ready for the necessary step of reviving his career at Class AAA this year.

"My confidence is really good," Montero says. "I want to be able to have fun and enjoy the game."

Zduriencik still isn't ready to announce any particular expectations but hope, at least, is back.

"I think he realizes that he has accomplished something this offseason that he probably never did in his career," Zduriencik. "Now he has to compete."

***

THANK GOODNESS FOR SPRING

Danny Farquhar is married so it should come as a shock to have it suggested he do a little yard work.

The Mariners reliever insists a little communication is good for any relationship but consider this little slap:

"I told him the other day he should just go home and help the grounds crew and just stay there until the season starts, because my life would be a lot happier."

That was his manager, Lloyd McClendon, trying to explain how he's come to understand Farquhar is a notoriously poor spring pitcher.

Farquhar laughs – and so does McClendon.

"I've always been a slow starter," says Farquhar, entering his third season with the Mariners. "I don't know what the deal is. I'm happy there's a spring training in baseball."

More important, he's glad his manager has come to know him.

"We've had some talks," Farquhar says, "and he's made some funny comments about how much I have not pitched well, to put it lightly."

McClendon admits familiarity changes spring training assessments.

"I've come to understand he's a slow starter and he does struggle in the spring," McClendon says of Farquhar. "It goes back to knowing the personnel. You know what he's capable of doing. With young players who don't have that track record, it's tough."

That's why McClendon says, "I don't too concerned with younger kids in spring and errors, physical errors. The one thing I know is that this is a very difficult game to play, especially at this level and with young kids who are trying to impress the staff, it can be a double whammy. You have to take all that into account."

The root of his patience, McClendon says, is simple.

"I was a horse---- player," he says. "I can say it. It's a hard game. (Manager Jim) Leyland used to tell me when we got on the plane, 'Get in the back, make sure the general manager doesn't know you're on this team.' "

The goal is development, not punishment.

"A perfect example is the kid (21-year-old shortstop prospect Ketel) Marte," McClendon says. "He made errors and he walked around, wasn't smiling, the camp was miserable for him. Then he pinch-hits and gets a triple that drives in the winning run, all of a sudden he has a big smile on his face.

"It can be an emotional roller coaster in the spring and it's our job to try to get them to relax and make sure this camp is a positive thing for them, a building block to the future," McClendon says. "You don't want kids leaving here feeling miserable about their performances and how we view them."

Even if they're going somewhere to help the grounds crew.

"I still take pride in what I do," Farquhar says. "It's competition, whether you're playing ping pong or out there competing for a job. Lloyd knows what I can do, so I guess it's a little easier track for me but I can't just roll out there and make the team."

But he can at least smile at his manager's motivational style.

"It's huge, especially the communication," Farquhar says. "That's the best part of the whole thing."