By Larry LaRue
The News Tribune
BOSTON – They came to the winter meetings looking for a second baseman, third baseman and starting pitcher – and the Seattle Mariners were close to nailing all three Wednesday.
Instead, they settled for smaller headlines on a quiet news day at baseball’s winter meetings.
Close to completing a deal with Colorado for third baseman Jeff Cirillo, close to getting a contract signed with free agent Bret Boone and very much in the hunt for free agent right-hander Jason Schmidt, the Mariners didn’t get any of that done.
Instead, they re-signed left-handed reliever Norm Charlton – and saw general manager Pat Gillick named the major league baseball executive of the year by The Sporting News.
“We won 116 games, and that may never happen again,” Gillick said after accepting the award. “It won’t happen in my lifetime.
“The thing is, in 20 years people will look back at this roster and say, ‘How the hell did they do it?’
“We had a very focused, very special group of guys. “How do we follow that up? Easy – win 117 games.”
Toward that end, Gillick and the Mariners waded through hours of meetings, massaging offers, considering counter-proposals and waiting patiently for others to make a decision.
One free agent – outfielder Rondell White – weighed a Mariners offer overnight and then agreed to a two-year, $10 million contract with the New York Yankees.
“Our offer was very competitive, Rondell just decided to go somewhere else,” manager Lou Piniella said.
Charlton, the 38-year-old pitcher who came out of retirement to have a strong year as the bullpen’s second left-hander – going 4-2 with a save and a 3.02 earned run average – agreed to a one-year contract.
“Am I happy with what I got?” Charlton said by telephone. “I’ll tell you the truth, I don’t know what I got. There were two other teams interested, but I told my agent unless it was an extraordinary difference in money, I wanted to go back to Seattle.
“I haven’t heard what I signed for, but I’m glad to be back with this team. I love the players, the manager, the front office. It’s just a good fit for me.”
Gillick, meanwhile, had offers on the table to both Boone and Schmidt, a 29-year-old right-hander who won 13 games splitting time last season between Pittsburgh and San Francisco.
Neither player signed Wednesday – but neither turned down offers, either.
“We do have a budget and we’re trying to fit the right pieces in,” Gillick said. “If we get Boone back, we may not need as much power in the outfield.
If we don’t, Mark McLemore could play second base but we’d need power at third base or left field.
“We have a handful of scenarios, and it’s a matter of calling audibles at the line of scrimmage.”
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Seattle met with the Reds to discuss a trade for infielder Pokey Reese.
“We’re getting closer,” Reds general manager Jim Bowden told the paper.
“We’re working on a couple deals.”
The Mariners would want Reese only if Boone signs elsewhere. And one of the rumors making the rounds at the meetings was that the Reds were in the market for Boone.
“Yeah, and we want (Moises) Alou, too,” said Reds manager Bob Boone, Bret’s father. “But it’s not going to happen.”
At one point Wednesday, the Mariners thought they might hit the trifecta before dusk, landing Boone, Schmidt and completing the long-rumored deal with the Rockies for Cirillo – without having to part company with pitcher Joel Pieiro.
“We’ve made progress, we’re close on a few things,” Gillick said. “But in this game, until it’s done, it’s not something you talk about. We’d love to have gotten more done today, but there’s no real time constraint.
“We signed Arthur Rhodes late in the off-season two years ago. We signed (Aaron) Sele late two years ago. We signed Boone late last year. The challenge is to get it done, not to get it done by Friday.”
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