Patchwork pen provides Mariners unexpected relief

On opening day, the Seattle Mariners were a team in transformation, and no aspect of the club was more a work in progress than the bullpen.

They had a closer, Brandon League, who’d never been one.

They had journeymen pitchers, such as non-roster invitee Jamey Wright, and rookies, including Tom Wilhelmsen, who’d never pitched above Class A. There were reclamation projects Chris Ray, David Pauley and Aaron Laffey.

“We had … questions,” manager Eric Wedge said, laughing. “And I had a lot of confidence in Carl Willis and Jaime Navarro.”

Willis is the Seattle pitching coach, Navarro is the bullpen coach.

The cast in that bullpen has changed in the months since Seattle started the 2011 season, but the consistency has not. That bullpen has forged a 3.77 earned run average.

League’s 30 saves are among the American League leaders – on a team that has only 53 wins – and Wright, Pauley and Jeff Gray have had marvelous seasons.

How? Start with Willis and Navarro.

“The first day I was here, Carl and Jaime sat down with me and asked what pitches I threw, and what situations I liked to throw them in,” Gray said. “They didn’t tell me what I was doing wrong, they talked about my stuff, about ways to use what you have a little differently against this kind of hitter or that.

“When we were done I felt like they believed I could do the job.”

Which is, as Willis sees it, most of his job.

“Guys have to be comfortable, because when they’re comfortable they can be more confident,” Willis said. “At this level, they’ve all done something right, so you start with learning what each guy does well. Every day in this league, you’re watching the best of the best in the world.

“Occasionally, you might try to add a pitch, tinker with one they’ve got. It’s more about suggesting different patterns, better locations.”

Willis and Navarro each had big-league careers. Navarro won 116 games and Willis, a reliever, made 265 appearances out of a big-league bullpen.

“Carl and I were both pitchers, and yeah, pitchers look for that in their coaches,” Navarro said. “We know you can’t over-coach, we’ve been through that, too.

“We’re not out there to make pitchers out of guys who can’t pitch. Take Tom Wilhelmsen. He has the tools, we have to help him polish them. Not everyone has a 97 mph fastball or a breaking ball that falls off the table.”

Willis is big on finding examples, pitchers he wants his staff to watch to reinforce what they’re doing.

“Jeff Gray watched Brandon League and saw things he did that were similar to his own stuff,” Willis said. “He doesn’t have League’s velocity, but he saw a few things he did that League couldn’t do.

“When Boston was here, I saw Daniel Bard pitch and thought of Dan Cortes. Bard threw his fastball for strikes so hitters had to look for it, then he’d throw his slider down – and it didn’t have to be a strike, they’d chase it.

“Cortes has more fastball than he needs, but I wanted him to watch that pattern. Throw strikes with your strength, you don’t have to be as fine with another pitch,” Willis said. “You can talk to them, but it helps if they see someone they relate to making it work.”

Sometimes small suggestions make a difference.

“In the bullpen, I tell guys the way you warm up is the way you’re going to be pitching,” Navarro said. “If you try to get hot too quickly, if you’re rushing your pitches out there to get ready, you take that tempo to the mound with you.

“It’s much easier to throw well in the (bullpen), then take that in, than hurry up in the bullpen and try to adjust on the mound with a hitter standing there.”

Before he was traded to Detroit, Pauley had a breakthrough season in which he went from long reliever to effective setup man.

“I probably was proudest this year of David Pauley, and I told him when he was traded, ‘You remind me of me,’ ” Willis said. “He’s a strike-thrower and he went right after hitters. He proved to himself he could get big-league hitters out with what he had, he figured it out.

“This league is good. Everyone has ability here. It’s a matter of can you compete, can you allow yourself to be your best. It’s like having a nice golf swing. It doesn’t matter how pretty it is – can you hit enough fairways to be competitive?”

“If you figure a way to make a pitcher understand what he can do, what he throws that will help him get outs, you help him succeed,” Navarro said. “Not everyone has the same tools – but they all have some.”

Around baseball, there were questions about League’s consistency when the season began, about whether he could close games. Willis remembers wondering the same thing as the pitching coach in Cleveland.

“When I was with the Indians and Brandon was in Toronto, we used to talk about whether he had enough strikes in him to close. The stuff was there, obviously,” Willis said.

“Well, here I’ve watched him work on his delivery virtually every day so that in the ninth inning he can repeat it without thinking about it. Do I take pride in helping? I’m proud for him. He did the work.”

Gray said both Willis and Navarro are endlessly positive, even in tough situations.

“I felt great the other day against Boston and I had Kevin Youkilis sitting fastball. (I) thought it was the perfect time for a change-up,” Gray said. “I threw it and he hit it out. We won, but he made it closer.

“After the game, Jaime told me, ‘That was the right pitch, it was just in the wrong location.’ And he was right. I left it up a bit and paid for it. But that’s reinforcing the positive – you were thinking well, you just need to execute better.”

Willis said he and Navarro know their job is building relationships with their staff, that trust is crucial.

“They have to know you’re here for them, not for yourself,” Willis said. “They’re the ones doing it, not me. Once the game starts, they belong to Jaime. He’s with them nine innings a night, talking baseball, talking pitching.

“We both love watching our guys succeed.”

larry.larue@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners

TODAY

Seattle (Felix Hernandez: 11-10, 3.38 ERA) at Tampa Bay (Wade Davis: 8-7, 4.60), 4:10 p.m., Root Sports, 710-AM