Don't forget my weekly Talkin' Baseball segment on KJR AM 950's Mitch in the Morning show, coming up at 8:20 a.m. or thereabouts. Click right here to go to the KJR page for the live link.

One of the things we'll be talking about, I'm sure, is what to do with one of the starting pitchers come May 2, when Cliff Lee is eligible to make his first start. The guy whose spot he'd be starting in, if the rotation remains in order with a couple of off-days, would be Jason Vargas. The latter pitches tonight against Baltimore as the 7-7 M's continue on a stretch that now has them at 5-1 and with a chance to go over .500 for the first time since Opening Day.

See? It really was early on the won-lost front.

Now, there has been a lot of brain-twisting and scenario-building when it comes to which of the three starters -- Vargas, Doug Fister or Ian Snell -- will leave the rotation.

But before we even go down that road, there are some basics you all need to be aware of that will impact the decision.

First off, Snell does not have minor league options left, so if the plan to insert Lee in the rotation involves sending a starter to Class AAA, you can forget about Snell. I doubt the team would risk outrighting him to AAA and losing him on a waiver claim when Vargas and Fister still have options.

It's not as if Snell has been night and day worse than the other two guys.

Fister complicated matters on that front by taking a no-hitter into last night's seventh inning. He's had two very good outings in a row after a poor four-inning debut in Oakland. Both of those outings came at home.

Vargas had one tremendous Safeco Field outing, striking out six and walking none, last week versus Oakland. He had one decent season debut in Texas prior to that, pitching five good innings and then getting whacked by the Rangers in the sixth.

Snell had one good outing in Oakland, then a terrible one in Texas, followed by a much better effort in a losing cause on Sunday against a decent Tigers team.

So far, Snell has faced the tougher opponents and had two of three starts on the road.

And while plenty can still happen between now and May 2 -- like injuries and other stuff -- I don't know that it will be enough time for the team to risk cutting bait on Snell. After all, he did pitch under duress in Texas and was coming off a funeral his last time out.

So, knowing that, it's highly unlikely he gets sent to the minors.

That leaves Vargas and Fister.

For me, if this was straight-up based on performance, I might be leaning towards Vargas at the moment. He has shown the better strikeout ability and done so on the road as well as at home. Can be effective against left handed sluggers, which is why the team used him in Texas instead of Fister roughly 10 days ago. Very small sample size, but it is what it is. The team won't have all year to make this call.

Then again, this decision won't be straight-up, based on performance alone. Vargas is a left hander. Keep him in the rotation and you've got to start lefties back-to-back at some point.

Now, there is no science that I know of to back this up. But there is a strong feeling throughout major league baseball that using lefties back-to-back against the same team makes the second guy less effective. Especially if that second guy doesn't exactly throw all that hard.

The theory is that the left handed hitters, who've already had a day to adjust to the first guy, will have an edge against southpaw No. 2 because they will have gotten used to seeing the ball come out of a left handed pitcher's hand. Some of you may demand stats to back that up and I can't offer you any.

But it's a theory the Mariners obviously buy into, and have throughout the years, because they've taken the time to split the lefties up in the rotation.

The lefty-on-lefty advantage for pitchers has been more pronounced over the years than the righty-on-righty showdowns. This is because, the theory goes, right handed hitters get to face righty pitchers three quarters of the time. Not so for lefty hitters, who see southpaws only a quarter of the time.

So, when a lefty throws them a curveball and it looks like it's coming straight for them before dropping down into the zone for a called strike, that tends to put the hitter off-balance because he hasn't had enough of an adjustment in seeing it. When you see it three days in four -- or back-to-back -- there can be an adjustment, even if it's all psychological.

That's the theory, anyway. And teams do adhere to it when they can. Obviously, if you've got three dominant lefties, you can make exceptions. Or, you can try to get by if you think one lefty is good enough. If you think Vargas is a mediocre pitcher and will become a bad one as the second lefty in a row, then you don't put him in that spot. Same with Rowland-Smith.

If you think both are above average pitchers and can withstand hitters gaining a slight edge, then you go with it.

Plain and simple.

Well, not really.

Don't forget, when Erik Bedard returns, the team will have to use lefties back-to-back at some point. But will it want four lefties in the rotation? Sounds a bit excessive.

So, this won't be a simple call. Even if Vargas continues to produce good results tonight. Esepecially if he does.

Remember, though, when spring training began, the plan was for one of either Fister or Vargas to be the long reliever while the other became the fifth starter.

The truth is, you may not have to send either guy to the minors.

You could keep Fister as the fifth starter, something I could see the team doing and which I would also be looking to do if a decision was needed today, then use Vargas as the long guy and only lefty in the bullpen. Or, reverse the two, though I get the feeling the team sees Fister as more of a starter than a long man. Vargas has shown he can do both.

One advantage to keeping both guys in the majors is you could flip-flop them between rotation and bullpen depending on need. A start coming up in Texas? Go with Vargas. Something at Safeco? Use Fister. The guy not starting works in long relief. But over the long haul, you use Vargas as the bullpen lefty and spot starter and keep Fister as the second righty in the rotation -- especially for home games.

In this scenario, you'd still have to outright Jesus Colome to AAA and could lose him on a waiver claim. But you would also then have his roster spot to give to somebody else.

Or, you could keep Colome on the team as the long reliever and then option Vargas or Fister down to AAA to keep fresh as a starter when the need arises. You could still flip-flop the two of them depending on how the schedule shakes down with off-days and needs. If you know the team is going to Texas and that a fifth starter will have to pitch, then Vargas becomes your guy.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether some of these fifth starter candidates, including Vargas tonight, can keep producing the kind of results that will make this team have to stop and think just a little harder about whatever move is going to be made.