If there’s been a concern raised over the trade today that brought Cliff Lee to the Mariners, it’s Lee’s short-term contract status. He’s signed for 2010 at $9 million and poised to make some heady money if he decides to become a free agent after the season.
Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said in a conference call that there was never a discussion over signing Lee to an extension, and that there might not be for some time. The risk of trading away three well-regarded minor leaguers for a possible one-and-done year of Lee is well worth it, Zduriencik said.
“From the moment I got this job, what we needed to do was increase the talent base in this organization,” Zduriencik said. “The goal is to make your big league club better. Oftentimes, there’s a price to pay for that. The reward is that you do have this player with you for a whole season paired up with Felix Hernandez. That gives you a formidable 1-2.
“When you have a player in-house and he’s playing for you, you’re not sure how he’s going to react. He may love Seattle. He may see the benefits of this defensive club and pitching in this ballpark. If at the end of the day this player decides that this is a one-year plan, you can still be involved in re-signing him. Worst-case is that he’ll be a Type A free agent and you’ll receive prospects back for him.”
Here’s more from the Q and A with Zduriencik:
Is this beyond what you could have expected to acquire at start of the winter?
Zduriencik: “We had talked about some different options at some point in time. We just weren’t willing to do some of the things that presented itself.
A left-handed pitcher in this ballpark with our defense, as well as a guy who’s accomplished what he’s accomplished, was exciting to acquire. You always have your expectations set high. This came to fruition and we’re very happy that it did.”
When did the Phillies and Blue Jays bring you into the discussions?
Zduriencik: “I had a lot of discussions with Toronto going way back to the trading deadline last July. Alex (Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos) and I talked on many occasions about a lot of different options, a lot of different ideas. When Ruben (Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr.) and I connected at the winter meetings, we had a short discussion about what he was trying to do. We knew he was after Halladay last July. He said, ‘If I’m able to do Halladay, would you be interested in talking about Cliff Lee?’ I said I would.”
Does this impact whether you go with 11 or 12 pitches?
Zduriencik: “It’s a nice luxury when considering the amount of innings the pitchers gave you last year and the amount of innings this pitcher gives you. There certainly are possibilities. But you play the game on the field. You don’t play it with your stats or the guy’s history. Sometimes you never know how that ends up.”
What impact is there with Felix Hernandez and Lee eligible for extensions?
Zduriencik: “It’s about getting better and it’s about trying to make your club better. A great place to start is with your starting pitching.”
How does this impact going after a big bat?
Zduriencik: “You always have interest in a big bat. I don’t think there’s ever a question that you don’t want to acquire someone who can jump into lineup and bat 3 or 4 for you. What you hope is that players are out there seeing what might be transpiring here, how they might interpret this, what they saw or heard this year about our manager and our coaching staff. There are a lot of messages sent. This is a message that we want to be very competitive. We would love for players to have a desire to play in this community. Seattle is a favorite place for players to visit.”
How much room to you have to make more moves?
Zduriencik: “The goal is to try to improve the ballclub. I think we’ll try to keep those options open. I don’t think we’re done yet. I’d like to certainly do a few more things. There are some things we need on this club to get where we’d like to get.”
Was there any talk with Lee about an extension?
Zduriencik: “None whatsoever. Our concern was to not upset the apple cart in any way, shape or form. We want to bring this man into the organization, let him get comfortable with the people here and let’s see what happens.”
Was there any fear that this might not get done given the number of teams and players involved?
Zduriencik: “Oh, yeah. But it’s not something you can control. All you can do is what you can do. We presented our best proposal and because of the other tentacles that were tied into this, I had no control over that. Nor did I have discussions over it getting any more elaborate.”
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