A chilly but fun Hot Stove League Show at Fanfest today where we had the opportunity to talk with several of the young Mariners prospects as well as Jack Zduriencik, Eric Wedge and Miguel Olivo.

In talking with Wedge you can see that he is absolutely itching to get to Peoria, get his team out on the field and resume the process of breaking in his young players. The process is to the point where he expects to see improvement on the offensive side of things.

"I feel like this will be the highest upside we will have in regard from one year to the next," he said. "I think these kids are ready to perform, not at the top level that they are going to perform at eventually, but significantly better."

His confidence that we will see a big jump this year is due in part to the fact that the offense didn't do much last year but also because of what he saw from his young players as they struggled to adapt to the big leagues.

"I really trust the kids that we have offensively," he said, "and I trust the work that we did last year. The foundation, albeit thin, is there."

We could also see improvement because Wedge will be able to put the lineups out on the field that he thinks will best score runs. Last year he often had to juggle lineups to give certain players looks and experience. He also wanted to see certain players in certain situations. It wasn't always the best lineup, rather it was a lineup that could give him information about what he had as well as give young players experience. This year it will be about scoring runs.

At the Winter Meetings in December Wedge said that he saw Franklin Gutierrez ideally hitting second. Today he said he saw Ichiro near the top of the order. He seems to favor hitting Ichiro second. Where does that leave Gutierrez?

"With Ackley and Ichiro up there, you kind of run out of spots," he said. "Then I saw how big Guti was, and right now he looks more middle of order after (Jesus) Montero and (Justin) Smoak. We will see."

Wedge said that there will be times when he looks to protect Montero a bit but overall he wants his bat in the lineup every day.

"With Jesus, we are slow playing with the catching but we want him to get everyday at bats," he said. "There will be days when we have to take care of him a little bit. Make no mistake, we feel strong about the young guy, we feel he will be a middle of the order guy for us."

I don't think we are going to see a lot of Montero behind the plate in games this year. The priority is to get his bat going at the major league level. Let him feel comfortable with his offense while working daily outside of games on the defense. One person who will help is Olivo. Wedge asked him to help out with the young catcher and he is more than happy to do so.

"He come to me and say, 'Wherever you go, anything you do, I am going to do,'" Olivo said of Montero. "I tell him, 'I am open, I am going to help you out. If you listen to me you are going to do it the good way.' I like to go early to the field (Olivo is always the first to get to the clubhouse in Peoria, arriving usually between 5 and 5:30). I told him my routine, he wants to do it. I am going to help him because he is a good hitter. He is young, he is the future for Seattle being the top catcher in baseball. I see him that way. He already has the bat, but he needs to get the defense."

There is a lot of work that goes into being a major league catcher and Olivo has learned from some of the best. Tony Pena, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Ivan Rodriguez were all guys that worked with Olivo when he was young and he wants to carry on the tradition regardless of the fact that he will be training the man who could take playing time away from him.

"He will help us win with his bat, maybe I can learn something from him," Olivo said.

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