M’s Gillick is ready to wheel and deal

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, December 8, 2001

By Kirby Arnold

Herald Writer

Pat Gillick is back at baseball’s winter meetings this week, just like he was 11 year ago when he had the guts to make a deal that helped turn the Toronto Blue Jays into champions.

On Dec. 5, 1990, Gillick boldly shipped out two of Toronto’s most popular athletes, Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez, trading them to the San Diego Padres for a couple of promising young players named Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar.

Within three years, everyone was calling Gillick a genius. Carter, Alomar and a talented cast of teammates assembled by Gillick won World Series titles in 1992 and 1993.

Can Gillick, who begins his third offseason as the Seattle Mariners’ general manager, pull off a repeat this week?

The goal is the same – to win a championship – but the method will have to be different as Gillick and the Mariners work to rebuild the team.

Gillick is ready to trade at the winter meetings, which begin Monday in Boston, and that could mean waving good-bye to a player or two who have captured the heart of the city the past two years.

Don’t sweat too much, Mariners fans, because guys like Mike Cameron and Ichiro Suzuki aren’t going anywhere. The Mariners are so thin on position players they couldn’t field a starting lineup now if they wanted to, so trading one would create only more problems.

As Gillick pursues his greatest needs – a left fielder, a third baseman and a second baseman – it’s likely to be pitchers the team will trade away. And, yes, it could be someone local fans have cheered with affection.

For the right deal – one that would bring a star-caliber player – Gillick says the starting rotation could take a hit.

“Freddy (Garcia) is not touchable, and in some ways because of his status (with the ability to veto a trade), Jamie Moyer is an untouchable,” Gillick said. “Other than that, we’re pretty open.”

With Garcia and Moyer off limits, only two remain who have considerable starting experience: veteran right-hander Paul Abbott, who may be at his peak in regard to tradable value after a 17-victory season, and left-hander John Halama, who has bounced in and out of the rotation with varied results.

Almost every team mentioned in trade rumors seems to covet 23-year-old right-hander Joel Pineiro, and the Mariners are stocked with promising young pitchers they could dangle, such as Brett Tomko, Denny Stark, Ryan Anderson, Ryan Franklin and Greg Wooten.

Of their front-line relievers, the Mariners are willing to part with Jose Paniagua for the right deal.

Why is Gillick only willing to trade pitching?

The retirement of outfielder Stan Javier, the expected retirement of Jay Buhner, and the chance that free agents David Bell and Bret Boone could sign elsewhere have left the Mariners with holes.

“Baseball is usually played with nine players,” Gillick said last week. “We only have six.”

That number increased to seven on Thursday when infielder-outfielder Mark McLemore re-signed. He can play any of those three positions, but the Mariners would prefer to fill those spots with other players and use McLemore’s versatility as they did last season.

“Our strength is pitching and we need to improve our position players,” Gillick said. “We’re going to try to spend our money on position players.”

Some of the names being mentioned are inviting.

The M’s still would like to bring back Boone, but talks have gone nowhere and neither side seems willing to bend after Boone rejected an offer from the M’s believed to be worth $23 million for three years.

The Mariners reportedly have spoken with the Colorado Rockies about third baseman Jeff Cirillo and the Phillies about third baseman Scott Rolen, and they’re keeping the door open for a return by Bell.

To fill the opening in left field, the Mariners have looked at Roger Cedeno of the Tigers, they’ve had Dmitri Young of the Reds on their radar for some time and they’d love to grab Brian Giles if the Pirates are willing to give him up.

“We hope to resolve some things in the next 10 days to two weeks, via trade or free agency,” Gillick said late last week. “We’ve got two or three combinations that we feel comfortable with, and whichever one works that’s the way we’ll go.”