Busy offseason behind him, Wilson leads first spring camp

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Dan Wilson has found himself in familiar territory in recent days after descending on the desert and the Mariners’ Spring Training facility, but also in a realm vastly different from what he’s been accustomed to in these parts over the past three decades.

For the first time, Wilson is here as the team’s manager -- with admitted nerves and jitters.

“Oh, of course,” Wilson said. “I mean, that stuff never goes away. ... Even in this role, from this vantage point, everybody here has butterflies. But it's the good kind. It's the exciting kind, knowing the experience that lies ahead that we all know is going to be there.”

Wilson’s comments were among his first publicly since the Winter Meetings and marked the official start to Seattle’s Spring Training, which began on Wednesday with pitchers and catchers conducting physicals and going through their first workout. A handful of position players are here, too, but the first full-squad workout isn’t until Tuesday. Cactus League games begin next Friday.

In a way, this is like syllabus week, the short stretch where class is back in session but not yet in full swing. Yet for Wilson, who replaced Scott Servais after his stretch of nearly nine seasons as Mariners manager last Aug. 22 amid Seattle’s spiral in the American League West standings, this spring serves a hugely new endeavor.

“I keep telling people that the image of drinking through a fire hose is what it was like in September,” Wilson said. “There was a lot coming at you at a quick rate. But being able to take a step back, having a little bit more time in the offseason to prepare was super helpful. And I think now, as you kind of step into it, you start from square one and start moving forward.

“It does feel a lot better -- coming from this vantage point, as opposed to just jumping right into it at the end of the year.”

While the Mariners had one of MLB’s most quiet offseasons on the transactional front -- their only offensive additions to the 40-man roster that weren’t within the organization last year were infielders Donovan Solano, Miles Mastrobuoni and Austin Shenton -- Wilson had one of the busiest.

He spearheaded the hiring of a new coaching staff centered on a more old-school hitting approach, spent most weekdays at T-Mobile Park working and/or interacting with the front office to get up to speed on process, function and philosophy, and, when time allowed, he visited with players in their environments away from Seattle.

Those efforts were to facilitate his transition into a role that, despite a sample size of 34 games to end last season, is still very new.

He’s in the team’s Hall of Fame from his playing days as a catcher from 1994-2005, had worked in the front office for the past 11 seasons -- including the past six as a special assignment coordinator, mainly on the Minors side -- served as a part-time color analyst on the Mariners’ ROOT Sports telecasts and remained a fixture in the Seattle community, which the Midwest native has called home for more than 30 years.

In that context, Spring Training is nothing new. He’s typically here every year in some capacity, but now he finds himself at the top of the organizational ladder.

“It's going to be his team,” said catcher Cal Raleigh, “his philosophies, his way of thinking, his style of baseball, and you're going to see more of that this year -- more so than I think last year -- because, it’s hard [to establish that in 34] games. But I'm excited, I really am.”

Raleigh is as close with Wilson as any within Seattle’s clubhouse, dating back to his days in the Minors when Wilson was a roving mentor to those in the farm system. That bond continued when Wilson was promoted last August and through the offseason, when Raleigh made multiple visits to Seattle.

The Mariners went 21-13 in those final five weeks under Wilson, whose first order of business back then was hiring Edgar Martinez as interim hitting coach. Martinez, who was promoted this offseason to senior director of hitting strategy, was widely praised by players for finishing on an upward trajectory. Yet, the Mariners still fell short of the postseason.

Spring naturally brings a sense of renewal, especially for a team coming off a sour finish in consecutive seasons. And this year, it also brings a new -- but familiar -- presence.