From John Hickey:
Expect Paxton, Walker and Hultzen to start the season in the minor leagues. Ramirez, too. The starting staff for Triple-A Tacoma should be loaded.
...
"Publicity is one thing, and a lot of the time when people talk about our young pitching, they talk about Hultzen, Paxton and Walker," GM Jack Zduriencik said. "But when I talk about our young pitching, I always talk about Erasmo.
"I don’t see it as him flying under the radar, because we have always liked him. He has kind of shot through the system. And he has pitched at Triple-A, which the other three haven’t."
And later, about Hultzen:
The Mariners don’t want to talk about a timetable, although they don’t want to hold him back.
"There is no concrete timetable," Zduriencik said. "As an organization, we’re going to be realistic and cautious. We’re not expecting Mike Leake, but you never know, either."
Leake was taken by Cincinnati with the eighth pick in the 2009 draft, pitched in the AFL, then bypassed the minor leagues by making the Reds’ 2010 roster.
I agree with the overall assessment. I think our starting 5 in April works out as Felix / Vargas / Iwakuma / Millwood / Noesi. Furbush will be in the pen, Beavan will be down in AAA with Paxton, Erasmo AND Hultzen. And right now Hultzen seems like he's in pole position for the first promotion.
Which means: enjoy Vargas's last year with us, I'm thinkin'. And Iwakuma's gonna have to bring it. Noesi can just go back to the pen if we don't like him as a starter, but I expect to like him quite a bit.
Nobody better struggle early in the rotation, though: we'll have a lot of pressure to apply from the minors.
~G