PEORIA, Ariz. -- As we hit the halfway point of Spring Training with an off-day on Tuesday for the Mariners, what better time to dig into the Inbox and see what’s on your mind. Thanks as always for the questions.

How has Tom Murphy looked this spring now that he’s the starting catcher?
-- Dan H., Texarkana, Ark.

Murphy is having an excellent camp. He’s a good leader and connects well with the pitchers. For a guy who only has 156 games of Major League experience, he handles himself like a seasoned veteran, and this club certainly needs that. Perhaps more than anything, his work ethic and preparation set a tone, and he is a great example both for the young catchers in camp as well as the rest of the players.

Murphy’s biggest challenge will be facing more right-handed pitchers this year now that he’s not in a platoon situation with Omar Narváez. He had a .211/.252/.401 line last year against righties vs. .347/.408/.695 against lefties. So his offensive averages might dip a little as he moves into more of a full-time role.

But Austin Nola actually hits righties pretty well for a right-handed swinger, so he’ll likely draw some of those starts. And Murphy’s value isn’t limited to his bat. The Mariners love what both he and Nola bring to the club, which is why they were comfortable trading Narváez last offseason.

Name an off-the-radar prospect who has impressed you this spring.
-- Ben W., Helena, Mont.

There’s understandably a lot of focus on the top prospects, but one guy nobody has talked much about is hard-throwing reliever Gerson Bautista, who quietly is working his way into the bullpen conversation with a strong spring. Bautista isn’t even on the Mariners’ Top 30 Prospects list after an injury-plagued 2019, but he’s got electric stuff, an upper-90s fastball and a pretty decent slider.

The 24-year-old was the less-heralded part of the Robinson Canó/Edwin Díaz trade with the Mets that also brought Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn to Seattle. He was opening some eyes early last spring until he tore his right pectoral muscle and then missed a couple months.

Bautista didn’t perform well for either Triple-A Tacoma or in a couple brief stints in Seattle, but it’ll be interesting to see if he can turn things around now that he’s fully healthy. He actually reminds me a bit of a young Díaz with the thin build and live arm, though his results obviously haven’t come anywhere close yet.

Is Dunn still being considered to piggyback off of Taijuan Walker or Kendall Graveman? Or would the Mariners rather get him true starts in Triple-A to start the season?
-- Michael S., Seattle

There definitely is consideration for keeping Dunn on the Opening Day roster in essentially a long-relief role, where he’d follow Walker or Graveman in their starts if they were limited to 4-5 innings early in the year. It would be a way to ease Dunn’s transition from Double-A to the Majors, help control his innings over the long haul and also take any pressure off Walker, for example, as he works his way back after two years of injuries in Arizona.

Graveman seems to be ramping up well so far as he comes back from Tommy John surgery, but Walker is being brought along a little slower, and he has yet to make a Cactus League start. But the final bullpen composition will be one of the toughest decisions the club has to make this spring, so we’ll see how that plays out.

How much playing time do you expect Dee Gordon to get?
-- Jacob B., Portland, Ore.

Assuming Shed Long and J.P. Crawford stay healthy, Gordon still could get several starts each week as their backups at both second and shortstop in order to keep them fresh. And Gordon is certainly a weapon who could be used as a pinch-runner off the bench in any game, though ultimately he wants to play every day and the Mariners will surely move him if a trade opportunity arises.

Is Scott Servais the long-term manager?
-- Joe B., Bandon, Ore.

That’s kind of a trick question, because job security for MLB managers is about the same as it is for air-conditioning salesmen in Alaska. Servais already is one of the longest-tenured skippers in the Majors as he begins his fifth season on the job. The only current managers hired before him are Bob Melvin of the A’s, Terry Francona of the Indians, Kevin Cash of the Rays and Craig Counsell of the Brewers, and Servais is second behind Lou Piniella in terms of games as a Mariners manager.

So Servais is already a “long-term” manager by MLB standards. How much longer that run lasts almost certainly depends on how much progress is shown by the young core of players coming up. It won’t be fair to judge this season by wins and losses, given the extreme youth. But there will need to be growth and development of that young talent and reason to believe the rebuild is headed in the right direction over the next two years.