King Felix learning to adjust

FELIX HERNANDEZ threw a bullpen session Tuesday, his first since being scalded on the right forearm in a Feb. 26 spring game. He was not expected to expend anything except fastballs, but mixed in curves and changeups and said, “I’ll be ready [to start Opening Day]. I have done this before on purpose.”

The allusion there was to slow walking spring training by essentially going easy in the offseason, delaying the standard preparation process in spring and then turning it on in the last few exhibition outings. He would then start Opening Day, throw 200-plus innings and be magnificent.

That was a different Felix Hernandez. The last three years have seen a decline in innings pitched and effectiveness, down to 86 2/3 innings (4.36 ERA) last year as he battled shoulder ailments. Mariners manager Scott Servais said they removed “Felix’s Program” and asked him to prepare like the other starters this year and that the shame of missing two weeks is that Hernandez was in such excellent physical and mental shape.

Still, a transition is needed — including likely not trying to rush just to make a 10th straight Opening Day start. Hernandez averaged 90.5 mph with his fastball the past two years, down significantly from his prime. It is a comparable story to CC Sabathia. In fact, through their age-31 season the duo have remarkable similarities, including being within 62 innings of each other, Cy Young winners and having an ERA-plus of 125.

Sabathia’s age-31 season was 2012 and it took him three more seasons before fully giving in to a more crafty way to pitch — always easier as a lefty. Will the righty Hernandez accept his reality sooner?

“He has five different pitches,” Robinson Cano said of Hernandez. “I think he is a lot like CC and I think as long as he is healthy he will make the change this year.”