June 2012 - Seattle Mariners Wiretap

Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish will make his major league debut against Ichiro Suzuki and the Mariners on April 9 at Rangers Ballpark. The Rangers announced the order of their rotation Thursday and decided not to break up left-handed pitchers Derek Holland and Matt Harrison, which means those two will follow Colby Lewis with Darvish slotted in the No. 4 spot and Neftali Feliz rounding out the five-man rotation.

Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes is starting to look at home with the Athletics. Cespedes hit his first major league home run on Thursday to power the Athletics to a 4-1 victory over the Mariners that earned a split in the two-game season-opening series at Tokyo Dome.

The Mariners topped the Athletics 3-1 in 11 innings on Wednesday morning in the first game of the 2012 season. Ichiro Suzuki had four hits as the two teams kicked things off in Tokyo, Japan. "It was very special to open in Japan," he said. "I wanted to have fun and give the fans something at this special time and wanted to share a special moment with them." Seattle's Dustin Ackley homered and singled in the go-ahead run.

Jesus Montero has a reputation as a young hitter with the potential to be great, but scouts have always knocked his catching skills. Acquired in a trade with the Yankees this past winter, the Mariners plan to use him behind the plate in roughly one-third of their games this season. "He's hungry to be back there," manager Eric Wedge said. "He's a good worker. We're always looking to get better. He's done a great job this spring. And we've got every reason to believe he's going to be an everyday catcher." If Montero develops into an elite-hitting catcher, Seattle will almost certainly win the trade that sent Michael Pineda to New York. "I just want to show the people I can catch," Montero said. "I try to block balls. I try to make good throws. I try to do the best for the pitchers every time."

The Mariners have released Hong-Chih Kuo less than two years after he made the National League All-Star team. Signed to a $500,000 contract last month, the left-handed reliever had a 17.55 ERA in six spring training appearances over 6 3/4 innings.

Mariners catcher Adam Moore has suffered a broken right wrist after blocking a ball in the dirt during a spring training game. Moore would be out an unspecified amount of time. He missed most of last season after suffering a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Felix Hernandez plans to play his entire career with the Mariners, according to a report. The right-hander told ESPN.com's Jim Bowden as much on Tuesday after his exhibition start against the Reds. Last season, Hernandez went 14-14 with a 3.47 ERA, including 222 strikeouts. He is signed with Seattle through 2014 on a five-year, $78 million contract.

Carlos Guillen has decided to retire after 14 Major League seasons. The infielder was in camp with the Mariners this spring. Guillen went to the World Series with the Tigers in 2006.

The Padres and Mariners have agreed to a 20-year lease extension with the city of Peoria, Ariz., that will keep both team's spring training camps there through 2034. The agreement calls for the city to invest $48 million in both training facilities and their shared stadium over the course of the lease.

Jesus Montero was injured his in spring debut with the Mariners on Friday as he took a pair of foul balls off his jaw. Eric Wedge said the rookie catcher was OK after Seattle finished off an 8-5 victory that included a two-run home run by Montero. "He's OK," the manager said. "He got hit in the jaw a couple times. I don't know if I've ever seen it happen two times in a row like that. The first one got him pretty good, but obviously the second one was right on top of that, so we got him out of there. But he should be fine. "I've been back there. You get hit like that. It's just unusual to have it happen two times in a row."