PEORIA, Ariz. – Rickie Weeks’ role is getting clearer and clearer and it will be more prominent and anchored to one position than we originally thought.

“As we speak now, Rickie will play against the lefties, Ackley will play against the righties,” Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said Monday morning.

I do not believe finding a platoon partner for Dustin Ackley was part of the plan this offseason. It may have been back-burner or an option, but not a priority. The Mariners seemed to be comfortable going forward with Ackley in an everyday role. McClendon had talked about wearing him out in spring training, getting him every at-bat possible to try and get him past his slow starts. Ackley had made progress defensively and showed promise offensively.

Most importantly, the Mariners didn’t seem to have concerns about his swing. They thought he was in a good place mechanically and thought he had a good chance to get back to his second-half form – before he rolled his ankle in Texas – relatively quickly. Then they signed Weeks.

General manager Jack Zduriencik admitted that he was surprised that Weeks was still available in January. As I wrote at the time, he didn’t seem like an obvious fit. Bat off the bench? Limited infield backup? Then came the news that he would learn the outfield. Then the thought that he could perhaps take some at-bats from Ackley started to become more of a reality. In the last week it became apparent he would get a good number of at-bats. On Monday, McClendon all but confirmed the platoon, which, of course, he won’t call a platoon.

“If there is a favorable matchup, whether it’s left or right and the guy hits them real well, then you have got to put them in there. That’s why I am not crazy about the word platoon, because it puts you in a box,” he explained. “You want to be a little more dynamic than that with your managing skills and my players know there are chances where there are days they may play against a righty, they may play against a lefty.”

In Weeks, Zduriencik saw a way to improve his club. I have said time and again this offseason that there has been a huge shift in focus for this team in that it is no longer about getting the young players experience. It is about winning now and moves will be made accordingly.

Ackley – who hit .212/.255/.553 versus lefties last year – very well may have come out of the gates in April hitting like he did in July and August, but given the opportunity the Mariners will go with the more established player versus left-handers in Weeks (.256/.361/.865 in 2014) from the beginning.

Both players could be in the lineup at the same time as McClendon also said Monday morning that Weeks will be the primary backup at first base, ahead of Willie Bloomquist. If both players are swinging it well and Logan Morrison struggles, you could see Weeks get more at-bats at first. Ultimately the best hitters will find a way onto the field.

Deeper bench comes with tradeoff

The veteran platoon players give McClendon a more experienced bench than he had last year. He sees this as a very good thing.

“When you manage, when you get late in games you want to know what they have on the other side on the bench because that dictates what you do,” he said. “I’m sure when they looked at our bench they saw a lot of young kids without a lot of experience. That doesn’t strike a lot of fear. Now we are in a position where we have some guys with track records who are proven major leaguers who can do some damage, so the guy in the other dugout has to think about the moves they have to make.”

The tradeoff is he can’t go with an extra arm in the bullpen.

“I do like eight guys in the pen but you manage differently every year according to the team that you have,” McClendon pointed out. “I will have to manage differently this year because this is not the same personnel. There are some things that will be different.”

Note

• James Paxton is scheduled to throw from 120 feet Monday and should throw from the mound Tuesday. Despite Paxton missing the start of spring training with a forearm strain, McClendon believes he will be able to get back on track quickly because he had built up well with his offseason work.