SEATTLE – Rich Aurilia knows he probably won’t repeat the robust hitting statistics he produced in 2001, when he batted .324 and belted 37 home runs for the San Francisco Giants.
The guy, a career. 278 hitter, is a realist.
But get this: Aurilia firmly believes his new home at Safeco Field – the place where long fly balls go to die on the warning track – will help him power up.
“I can’t picture this being any worse than Pac-Bell,” Aurilia said Thursday after he became the Seattle Mariners’ starting shortstop in 2004.
Hey, he’s an optimist, too.
Aurilia, a free agent armed with the potential to hit for power and the confidence to do it at Safeco Field, will get a one-year contract that will pay him $3.15 million with an additional $350,000 in performance bonuses.
In a separate but entirely related move Thursday, the Mariners traded their starting shortstop the last five years, Carlos Guillen, to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for two switch-hitting shortstops who will increase the organization’s depth at the position.
The Mariners acquired 24-year-old Ramon Santiago, the Tigers’ starting shortstop much of the 2003 season, and 21-year-old minor leaguer Juan Gonzalez. Santiago likely will back up Aurilia and Gonzalez will play in the minors.
“The tandem (of moves) allows us to move Carlos to a club and to create a team that has a shortstop, a quality backup and brings more players into the system,” Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said. “Signing Rich was not a way of running Carlos out of here. We think we have a little bit better club when you look at the combination.”
Aurilia, who led all National League shortstops in home runs and RBI from 1999-2001, firmly believes he can hit for power at Safeco Field.
It’s a place where heavy air and ill winds knock down hard-hit fly balls, especially in the spring and fall. What Aurilia remembers, however, is one glorious warm-weather week in July, 2001, when he played in the All-Star Game at Safeco, then in a three-game interleague series against the Mariners, and the baseballs were flying.
He hit two home runs against the M’s, both no-doubt blasts that flew in the face of the stadium’s reputation.
“I got to spend six or seven days here,” he said. “It was a great experience and remembering how the city was and how the ballpark was played a big part in me wanting to come here.”
Even when Bavasi and assistant GM Lee Pelekoudas tried to caution Aurilia this week about the problems hitters have at Safeco, he wasn’t buying it.
“He was looking at me like I was nuts. Like it was not a big deal,” Bavasi said. “He didn’t see why it was tough. He just seems real comfortable here.”
Aurilia, considered a solid but not flashy defensive player, believes he can produce something between the .324 average of 2001 and the .277 of 2003.
“He is a guy who has been power productive and we have been after more production at shortstop,” Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. “We feel this is the guy.”
The Mariners also are confident Aurilia is beyond the medical problems that dropped his average to .257 and .277 the last two seasons. Elbow problems hurt him in 2002 and he missed time last year after his appendix was removed. The biggest blow to his average in 2003 was a vision problem when a clogged tear duct caused his contact lenses to dry out in the windy weather in San Francisco.
Aurilia had Lasik surgery a few months ago and his vision improved from 20/30 to 20/15.
“I haven’t seen this good since I was about 15 years old,” he said. “Those things are cleared up now and I look forward to going out and re-establishing myself as one of the top offensive shortstops in baseball.”
Aurilia also isn’t worried about playing in the American League after spending all nine of his major league seasons in the NL with the Giants.
“I don’t think switching leagues has entered this guy’s mind,” Bavasi said.
Thursday’s moves will force the Mariners to move one more player to get down to the 40-man major league roster limit. That is expected to happen today, although Bavasi wouldn’t touch one media report this week that said the Mariners may move once-promising pitcher Ryan Anderson from the roster.
“That’s speculation,” Bavasi said.
The Mariners would like to add a second left-handed pitcher in the bullpen and they continue to look for help off the bench.
“If you have some inadequacies, then you might make some moves later on,” Bavasi said. “Right now we don’t have a lot of roster flexibility except to add guys on minor league contracts with major league invites.”
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