THE FRONT ROW with BRUCE BOURQUIN, Jan. 16, 2015

In the 2013 season, Seattle Mariners right-handed relief pitcher Danny Farquhar finished his first full major league season with 16 saves.

Then Seattle signed Fernando Rodney to a two-year contract during that offseason. Rodney went on to save 48 games this past season, earned a trip to the All-Star Game in Minneapolis, which relegated the 27-year-old Farquhar to setup and middle relief duty.

Farquhar enjoyed another stellar season last year, posting a 2.66 earned-run average, striking out 81 over 71 innings, allowing just 58 hits and 22 walks.

One of the more relevant stats that stood out was the fact he had 13 holds, third on the team behind Yoervis Medina and Charlie Furbush. A hold is when a reliever enters the game in a save situation, records at least one out and leaves the game with the lead intact.

SINCE RODNEY will turn 38 on March 18 before the season begins, and could be cheating toward retirement fairly soon, Farquhar could have an opportunity to return to the closer's role and he'll have plenty of time, as he is signed with the Mariners until 2019. On Thursday, Farquhar was part of a Mariners Caravan that showed up at Dalton Elementary in Coeur d'Alene for the first time.

"Absolutely," Farquhar said, when asked if he'd like to be a closer in the major leagues. "Every guy would be lying to you if they said they didn't want to be the closer. That's the highest job in the bullpen. It's like saying, 'No, I don't want to be good, I want be average."

"Everybody strives to be the best, they want to be the closer on the team," Farquhar added. "But it's Rodney's gig and I'll wait my turn. I figured that out that once we signed him, he was going to be the closer. I knew I wanted to be part of the bullpen. As long as I was helping the team, I was happy. And any one of us can pitch in any spot. If one guy was called upon to throw three innings, any one of us could throw three innings. If one of us was called to close a game, we could. We're such a versatile bullpen."

Last season, the 5-foot-9 Farquhar was part of a bullpen that led the majors with a 2.59 ERA. The 'pen was one of the main reasons Seattle finished one game behind Oakland in the race for one of two American League wild-card spots with a 87-75 record. Included in that bullpen was Tom Wilhelmsen, who led the team with 24 saves in 2013, and Yoervis Medina, who led the team in holds last season with 21. In 2013, Seattle was 31st in the majors in bullpen ERA and the team finished fourth in the five-team AL West with a 71-91 record.

"It's actually pretty easy, because everyone did so well last year that you just wanted to keep up with them," Farquhar said. "You had expectations that everyone was going to do so well and you'd keep up with them, so you did. Rodney, Medina, Tom, everybody had unbelievable seasons."

This offseason, the biggest move was M's general manager Jack Zduriencik signing former Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz, who led the majors last season with 40 home runs. He is the right-handed power bat the team has been missing and combined with power hitters like All-Star second baseman and young third baseman Kyle Seager, Farquhar and the 'pen could be holding even more leads. A trade for left-handed starting pitcher J.A. Happ was another key move.

"I think Jack's been doing a great job with putting together the roster without giving up too many parts," Farquhar said. "We had to trade away (Michael) Saunders and (Brandon) Maurer, but we have good players for the guys. People have their questions, can he (Cruz) hit home runs in Safeco Field. If you guys watched the home run he hit off Felix (Hernandez) at Safeco Field, it was a rocket. I think he'll have no problems hitting them out of Safeco."

THE PITCHER whose fastball has been recorded in the mid-90s paid a brief visit to approximately 420 energized students at Dalton Elementary School in Dalton Gardens, along with several teachers and staff members in the school gym. Along with backup outfielder James Jones and of course, the Mariner Moose mascot, the group talked about setting goals and avoiding using illegal drugs. Later Thursday, the group drove from Dalton Gardens to its next Caravan stop in Walla Walla, Wash.

"This is the first time I've ever been to eastern Washington and Idaho," said Farquhar, who is from Pembroke Pines, Fla., and went to college at Louisiana-Lafayette University, home of the Ragin' Cajuns. "It's gorgeous. I did this last year, but we stayed on the western part of the states (of Washington and Oregon). The first time I've ever been out west was when I was in college, I played at Louisiana-Lafayette and we went to Arizona State. I'd never been up here until I played in Triple-A. I was with Sacramento and we came up and played at Tacoma."

Farquhar came to Seattle from the New York Yankees' organization, in a midseason trade in July of 2012, when Seattle dealt Ichiro Suzuki. A high school coach changed his arm angle to sidearm, and he spent the better part of four seasons going between sidearm and overhand motions, and he throws mostly overhand today with a fastball, cutter, curve and changeup. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 10th round of the 2008 MLB draft.

"I straightened myself out with Oakland (in their minor league organization)," Farquhar said. "I made myself that pitcher and I went to the Yankees and they talked with me a little bit and I just said, 'Leave me alone, this is what I want to do.' I threw well with them and I went to the Mariners and they never messed with me. Gil Patterson, he's the pitching coordinator with Oakland and I owe a lot of my thanks to him, for helping me figure it out."

DURING THE caravan's presentation, they encouraged the young students to D.R.E.A.M. It stood for staying drug-free, respect yourself and others, education, have a good attitude and stay motivated. Farquhar asked three students what they wanted to be when they grow up. One said he wanted to be a firefighter, another said he wanted to become a police officer and the third said she wanted to be a baby sitter. Farquhar said to the kids the most important part is motivation, because without it, nothing gets done.

"If I can make a difference in a couple kids' lives, the little things we say, just cheer them up, however their situation is, just to help out a little bit."

Dalton Elementary counselor Tami Frantzich was the one who contacted the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce to bring the group to the school. She wrote a letter last year, just a few days before Thanksgiving. The caravans have been going on for more than 20 years and have been coming to North Idaho for more than 16 years.

"We had a representative from the Chamber of Commerce stop by the school, Loretta Reed, and she asked us if we were interested in having them," Frantzich said. "She connected me to (them). I emailed them to let them know we'd really like to have them here. They tried to rotate schools and we were at the end of their rotation."

So Farquhar got to share the team's message and this season, he'll look to keep his performance up and the opponents' runs down as part of a stellar Mariners bullpen.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013 or via e-mail at [email protected]