SEATTLE — Halfway to their goal of adding two starting pitchers for the 2008 season, the Seattle Mariners have taken a hit only to their payroll.
The Mariners signed free-agent right-hander Carlos Silva on Thursday to a four-year, $48 million contract.
To get the next starter, the Mariners know it will take something that money alone can’t buy. They may have to part with their best young prospects, although general manager Bill Bavasi all but drew a line on who’s available and who isn’t.
Brandon Morrow, the hard-throwing right-hander who’s being groomed as a starter after an impressive rookie season in relief, isn’t likely to be traded.
“He’s highly, highly unlikely to go,” Bavasi said. “He fits too many roles. He can start for us, but if we trade for a starter, in return we get that starter and (with Morrow in relief) have a back-end-of-the-game bullpen piece. Either way, he’s real tough to move.”
Bavasi wouldn’t say Morrow is untouchable, but his reluctance to trade him makes it clear who’s more likely to be dealt: Adam Jones.
Erik Bedard, the star left-handed starter with the Baltimore Orioles, remains a big target of the Mariners. In order to get him, the cost could be significant, with Jones, catching prospect Jeff Clement and left-handed relief pitcher George Sherrill all mentioned as a possible package to the Orioles.
The key to such a deal, from both sides, could be Jones. He would give the Orioles a promising young player who’s considered one of baseball’s best prospects. It would be a significant loss to the Mariners, who will start Jones in right field next year if he isn’t traded.
“Taking anything out of your starting lineup is not easy to replace,” Bavasi said.
Still, there are outfielders available on the free agent market.
If the Mariners lose Jones, one who interests them is left-handed-hitting Brad Wilkerson, who batted .234 with 20 home runs and 62 RBI for the Texas Rangers.
The best outfield replacement within the Mariners’ organization is Wladimir Balentien, although Bavasi isn’t convinced he’s ready for the major leagues.
“Given the opportunity, he could be,” Bavasi said. “Are we really thrilled to test that? That would depend on what the rest of the club looks like, what the rest of the pitching looks like and what the tradeoff is.”
Silva became the first step toward fixing the pitching, and the Mariners showed how badly they wanted him with the $48 million contract. He gets a $5 million signing bonus and a $12 million mutual option for the 2012 season or a $2 million buyout.
“It’s good money, good for the future of my family,” he said. “But it’s not just about the money.”
Silva was 13-14 with a 4.19 ERA with the Minnesota Twins in 2007, but he used his new split-finger pitch more in the second half of the season and went 7-4, 3.72 in 15 starts after the All-Star break.
“I’m a sinkerball pitcher but I was using the sinker too much,” he said. “Left-handers were sitting on my pitch outside. I started throwing a four-seam fastball inside and using the splitter. That was big for me, especially the second half of the season.”
In four years with the Twins, Silva averaged 1931/3 innings and twice pitched more than 200 innings. That’s important to a Mariners team that produced only six complete games in 2007 and ranked 10th in the American League with an average of just over 52/3 innings per start.
“This means that every fifth day, you’re going to feel pretty comfortable knowing the guy’s going to be out there at least seven innings,” Mariners closer J.J. Putz said. “I like this a lot. It definitely takes a burden off the bullpen.”
Silva said he’s excited about becoming a much-needed piece of the rotation but cautions that it takes five to make an effective starting staff.
“One pitcher is not going to carry the team,” he said. “The whole rotation will carry the team.”
As of now, it’s still an incomplete rotation.
With Silva in hand, Bavasi said he will be aggressive even if it means trading away top young prospects.
“This makes us probably more aggressive and more willing to part with better pieces,” Bavasi said. “We would rather do it in this order — get the free agent, retain our players and then do our best to get that second piece. If it costs premium guys, it’s for a more significant reason.
“We feel we can go out and compete today. We think Anaheim is everybody’s favorite, but we think we can beat them. If there’s one more piece to get, it puts us a lot closer.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog at www.heraldnet.com.
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