M’s complete deal for Cirillo

Associated Press

The Seattle Mariners completed their trade for third baseman Jeff Cirillo early Saturday, getting him from the Colorado Rockies for reliever Jose Paniagua and two pitching prospects.

The AL West champion Mariners also sent Dennis Stark and Brian Fuentes to Colorado for the two-time All-Star.

There has been speculation the Rockies will now trade Paniagua to Detroit for all-purpose player Shane Halter.

Cirillo hit .312 with a career-high 17 home runs and 83 RBI last season. He led major league third baseman with a .982 fielding percentage.

“I had a feeling in August that I would be traded in the winter,” Cirillo said. “I was just hoping it would be the Mariners.”

Since 1991, Cirillo has lived during the offseason in Redmond, where his wife, Nancy, was born and raised.

“We are very pleased to finalize this deal, cementing Jeff as our third baseman for the next several seasons,” Seattle general manager Pat Gillick said. “One of our priorities this offseason was to fill our need at third. Jeff was our top choice.”

Cirillo, 32, will replace David Bell, who became a free agent after hitting .260 with 15 home runs and 64 RBI for Seattle.

“This team won 116 games last season. Hopefully, I can just come in and do my part,” Cirillo said.

Colorado and Seattle agreed Thursday on the four players in the trade during the winter meetings in Boston. The Mariners then got permission from the commissioner’s office for a 36-hour window to talk to Cirillo, hoping to restructure his contract.

Cirillo is guaranteed $27.6 million over the next four seasons, and there is a club option for a fifth year at $7.5 million with a $1.25 million buyout.

The Mariners were hoping to defer some of the early dollars, but wound up leaving intact the money portion of his deal. Allowed to talk to Cirillo until 3 a.m. PST Saturday, they reached agreement shortly after midnight.

Gillick said Cirillo gave up his right to demand a trade after the 2002 season. In return, Cirillo was given a no-trade clause in 2002 and a limited no-trade provision – he can list 10 teams – in the final three years of his contract.

Cirillo is a career .311 hitter since making his major league debut with Milwaukee in 1994.

A line-drive hitter, the Mariners hope he will not be hurt by leaving offense-oriented Coors Field. He batted .362 at home last season and .266 on the road; in 2000, he hit .403 at Coors and .239 on the road.

“I guess I do have something to prove,” he said, adding he wanted to show he could hit, “whether I’m playing in Safeco Field or on the moon.”

In Cirillo’s only trip to Safeco, he went 3-for-9 in an interleague series in 2000.

Cirillo finished this year with 85 straight errorless games, setting an NL record at third base. The major league mark for consecutive games without an error at third base is 99, set by John Wehner from 1992-2000.

The Mariners’ 116 victories set a league record and matched the major league mark. Seattle eventually lost in the ALCS to the New York Yankees.

Seattle is still trying to re-sign second baseman Bret Boone, who hit .331 with 37 home runs and 141 RBI. Cirillo was Boone’s college teammate for three years at Southern California.

Paniagua, 28, was part of a deep Mariners bullpen. The right-hander was 4-3 with three saves and a 4.36 ERA in 60 games.

Stark, 27, was 14-2 with a 2.37 ERA at Class AAA Tacoma. The right-hander was 1-1 in four games for Seattle.

Fuentes, a 26-year-old lefty, was 3-2 with six saves and a 2.94 ERA at Tacoma.