Tyler Johnson looking for a spot as M's situational left-hander

PEORIA, Ariz. — An example of how strongly Tyler Johnson believes in himself comes when he discusses his darkest baseball hour.

It happened last winter when, five months removed from shoulder surgery and forced to audition for teams in a high-school gym, the Mariners' new left-handed bullpen candidate contemplated the unthinkable. Johnson pondered life after baseball and what he would do if, only two years after helping the St. Louis Cardinals win a World Series his rookie season, his career truly was over at age 27.

Conventional day jobs didn't exactly spring to mind.

"I think I would have become a golfer," he said. "I just took it up about six or seven months ago and I really enjoy it. I don't want to tell you I would have become one of the greats or anything, but I've always been very athletic and I pick up any sport pretty fast."

He then paused.

"Maybe I'd try a music career," he said. "I'm really into guitar. I take it with me just about everywhere. Love playing it. Guitar and piano. I took piano lessons when I was younger. But guitar would be the thing I'd go with."

For now, he won't have to put such challenges to the test.

The self-assured sounding Johnson is instead singing a different tune these days, having gotten back into baseball after signing a minor-league deal with the Mariners. Johnson missed two months of the 2007 season with shoulder stiffness, then all of 2008 after undergoing rotator cuff surgery last May.

But the Mariners believe in Johnson almost as much as he does and are hoping he'll become their bullpen's situational left-hander, a role left largely vacant since Arthur Rhodes was traded to the Florida Marlins last July.

Injuries this spring to Cesar Jimenez — who tossed an inning of one-hit ball against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday in his first spring action — and Ryan Feierabend have left the job wide open for the more experienced Johnson. That's especially true since the Mariners also might not have lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith for bullpen help early on, given that he could be ticketed for the starting rotation because of additional injuries there.

"I think we're behind," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said of finding a situational lefty. "I think with Jimenez trying to pitch and Johnson feeling better, we'll see how we progress."

On Monday, Johnson took another step toward that goal by throwing his third bullpen session since being sidelined early in camp by tendinitis caused by the added exertion of his winter tryouts. Johnson will wait a couple of days, throw a simulated game, then be ready for Cactus League games.

Johnson left little doubt after Monday's session that he's ready to claim the short-lefty role.

"If I'm healthy, I think I'm going to be there," he said. "I think it's just a matter of my health. I don't really look at that. I've been in eight big-league spring trainings. It's not like it's my first, second or even third one. I know what to expect, and I know if I'm healthy, I'm going to be in the big leagues. That I'm pretty sure of."

That may sound like a case of supreme confidence. But Johnson has endured his share of humility these past few months.

This past winter, after five months of rehabilitating his shoulder from the surgery, he began throwing twice a week for two months at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, Calif. Each time he'd throw, scouts from four or five teams would come to watch.

"It definitely humbles you a little bit," he said. "At one point, I thought I might be done playing baseball."

But once his arm began responding, he said, he felt confident somebody would pick him up.

Johnson snapped off some sliders in his first bullpen session last week, a clear sign, he says, that his arm is finally back to normal.

"I'm going to be pain free for the first time in my career," he said. "Before, I was fighting through it, even though I was putting up some good numbers. This is the best I've ever felt. I know what I'm capable of doing now. I just needed somebody else to see it, too."