SEATTLE – It could become clear this weekend who will play center field next season for the Seattle Mariners.
Or who won’t play center.
Sunday is the last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to their free agents, and if the Mariners choose not to take that step with Mike Cameron, he’s gone.
Cameron is one of seven Mariners free agents – along with relief pitchers Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Armando Benitez and Arthur Rhodes, and backups Mark McLemore, John Mabry and Rey Sanchez – who the team must decide whether to offer arbitration.
If the Mariners choose not to offer arbitration to a player, they lose negotiating rights to him until May 1 next year.
Cameron has said he wants to return to Seattle and the Mariners seem just as interested in having him back, but the sides haven’t reached many agreements beyond that. The Mariners are believed to have no interest in paying Cameron the $7 million he made last season, and there has been no recent progress on striking a deal that would bring him back.
“Nothing,” Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said. “We’re just in discussions.”
Cameron hasn’t said whether he wants to make a quick decision or wait to see what the market will be for free agents this offseason. Neither Cameron nor his agent, Mike Nicotera, returned phone calls from The Herald on Tuesday.
The safe route for the Mariners is to offer arbitration to Cameron. It not only would give them more time to negotiate, but it also would guarantee the Mariners a compensation draft pick if he rejects arbitration and signs as a free agent with another club.
And, even if he rejects by the Dec. 19 deadline to do so, the Mariners can continue to negotiate until Jan. 8.
If Cameron accepts, he would be guaranteed at least one more year with the Mariners at a salary determined by an arbitrator in February, provided Cameron and the Mariners don’t reach an agreement before then.
Two years ago when the Mariners faced a similar situation with second baseman Bret Boone, they offered him arbitration and he accepted, then the sides worked out a longterm contract in January, 2002.
If the Mariners offer arbitration and Cameron accepts, it would make Randy Winn expendable. Raul Ibanez, signed as a free agent last month, will start in left field and the Mariners are expected to work out a new contract with right fielder Ichiro Suzuki.
Winn, who made $3.3 million this year, also is eligible for arbitration and, after batting .295 with 11 homers and 75 RBI, would expect a raise in 2004.
The Mariners have until Dec. 20 to offer arbitration Winn or not tender a contract, which would make him a free agent. If it’s apparent by then that Cameron won’t return, Winn would become a bona-fide option to replace him in center field.
Bavasi didn’t indicate if, or how, the contract situations involving Cameron and Winn will influence the Mariners’ decisions.
“We’ve just got to run on parallel tracks and see what happens,” Bavasi said.
Bavasi said the Mariners “have some possibilities” with their other free agents.
The closest to a new contract is believed to be Hasegawa, and Rhodes also is a priority because of the team’s need for left-handed relief pitching.
The Mariners offered Hasegawa a contract last month and his agent, Greg Clifton, was expected to make a counter proposal Tuesday. As of late Tuesday afternoon, Mariners assistant GM Lee Pelekoudas said the team hadn’t heard from Clifton.
The Mariners, without a left-handed reliever, also are interested in re-signing Rhodes plus at least one other lefty.
“Rhodes, Cameron and Shiggy, those are the three guys we’ve been having discussions with. Or trying to have discussions with,” Pelekoudas said.
Short list at shortstop: Besides their own Carlos Guillen, the Mariners seem serious about free agents Kazuo Matsui and Miguel Tejada at shortstop.
“We’re trying to develop options,” Bavasi said, acknowledging interest in Matsui and Tejada.
Matsui, who reportedly turned down offers in Japan worth about $27 million over three years, has batted at least .300 with 20 home runs and 30 steals the last four years.
Tejada, after struggling early in the season, finished with a .278 average, 27 home runs and 106 RBI with Oakland. He made $11.3 million in 2003.
Sports Illustrated magazine said last week that the Mariners are more interested in Tejada, although Bavasi wouldn’t comment.
Cirillo’s future: Bavasi said troubled third baseman Jeff Cirillo hasn’t asked to be traded – “Not to me,” Bavasi said – but it seems certain where Cirillo’s head is, or isn’t.
Cirillo told writer Larry LaRue of the Tacoma News Tribune that it would be best if he didn’t return to the Mariners.
“My whole family doesn’t want me playing for Seattle any more,” Cirillo said. “But then, they’re Mariners fans.”
At least Cirillo has retained his humor.
“I probably shouldn’t even kid about it,” said Cirillo, a .311 lifetime hitter when he came to Seattle before batting .249 in 2002 and .205 this year. “People are mad enough. For me to have a career in the majors, I have to leave Seattle.”
With a contract that will pay him about $14 million the next two years, it won’t be easy for the Mariners to grant that wish. Unless the Mariners can find another team willing to take Cirillo’s contract, they’ll be stuck with it even if they get rid of him.
“I still want to play, but not in Safeco Field,” Cirillo told the News Tribune. “If I’m traded, fine. If not, I’ll probably be released.”
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