Mariners gain some experience, back-end bullpen help with two signings

The Mariners not only added Taiwanese left-hander Kong-Chih Kuo to their midst, as expected, earlier today, but then tacked on veteran right hander Shawn Camp. Both have been given one-year major league deals by the Mariners, meaning they will very likely be on the squad that leaves spring training. For a team that had no real southpaws in the bullpen when the winter began -- other than long relief types -- the Mariners now have multiple. Between George Sherrill and Kuo, the team has lefties who can deal with both situational and set-up roles. I spoke to GM Jack Zduriencik about this today and he said Sherrill has always been seen as more of a lefty-on-lefty specialist. "You don't want to pigeon-hole him into that, but that's more of what he is,'' Zduriencik said. Kuo, meanwhile, is a guy who has demonstrated strikeout ability against both lefties and righties when he's right. In other words, he could make for an eighth-inning set-up type for closer Brandon...