M’s begin making roster room

The light at the end of the tunnel is faint, but at least we know it’s not an oncoming train. Slowly, but surely, the Mariners are making the moves that fans had been clamoring for.

Richie Sexson has taken his strikeout circus to the Bronx, Jose Vidro is packing up his suburban home for Puerto Rico and Brandow Morrow is bombing down I-5 for Tacoma to relearn the art of starting pitching.

Vidro has cleared a locker so that 23-year-old minor league outfielder Wladimir Balentien can take another shot at big league pitching. Balentien has been hitting .266 with 18 home runs and 55 RBIs in 61 games for the Rainiers. His previous appearances in the bigs have been less productive, hitting just .200.

Morrow will finally get a crack at a starting role with the team. The Rainiers will be home for a while as he learns how to command his off speed pitches while stretching out his arm beyond a 35 pitch count.

The trading deadline was pretty uneventful, but the reality is the team had little to trade. So, the M’s will be forced to release players to make way for minor league tryouts.

One of those tryouts, Bryan LaHair, seems to be working out. The 25-year-old first baseman is hitting .289 with two home runs in 16 games.