LAS VEGAS -- Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said Saturday that "everything is going good" with outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, and he indicated that there is a good chance the right fielder will join the team in Oakland on Friday.

Ichiro, who will begin his ninth Major League season on the 15-day disabled list, is in Arizona rebuilding strength he lost while battling the effects of a bleeding ulcer. He is eligible to come off the DL on April 15.

Wakamatsu gave Seattle-area media an update on Ichiro prior to Saturday afternoon's game against the Rockies.

"He's increasing his workload down there [in Arizona]," Wakamatsu said, "and if everything goes as planned and he keeps progressing, he'll probably meet us in Oakland."

The Mariners open the regular season Monday night in Minneapolis against the Twins, and they will play a four-game series before taking on the Athletics in a three-game series in Oakland next weekend.

Before being placed on the disabled list for the first time in his MLB career, Ichiro practically begged Wakamatsu and general manager Jack Zduriencik to allow him to be with the team for the season-opening series.

"He made that evident," Wakamatsu said. "I think it's important to him and his teammates to have him join us before we get to Seattle."

Another part of the plan is to have Ichiro play a simulated game in Peoria, Ariz., before his departure from the spring complex.

Monday will be a key day in Ichiro's recovery process.

Team physician Mitch Storey said the results will be ready then of a test that involved a fiber optic cable being threaded through Ichiro's throat and into his stomach to take scrapings and a biopsy to culture for bacteria.