By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE — The goals have never really changed.
Just like last year, Pat Gillick wants to pump up the offense, bolster the starting pitching and round out the bench.
But unlike last year, it’s the expectations that have created a greater sense of purpose for the Seattle Mariners and their general manager this offseason.
A year ago, after the Mariners lost Alex Rodriguez to free agency, just making the playoffs seemed like a noble target for a team that few expected to beat out Oakland in the American League West Division.
Even after the acquisitions of right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, second baseman Bret Boone and relief pitcher Jeff Nelson, the team wasn’t as complete as Gillick had wanted. He continued to say the Mariners needed pitching and a power hitter to become a World Series contender.
In the end, he was proven right.
Suzuki, Boone, Nelson and the rest of a well-rounded team that Gillick had assembled set the baseball world on its ear with 116 victories, but was out-pitched and out-hit in the playoffs, especially in losing to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
So here we are again, with Gillick looking essentially for many of the same pieces he failed to come up with last year.
The goals now are to add offense in left field, third base (in place of David Bell, a free agent who may not return) and second base (via the re-signing of Boone), and get a starting pitcher who is playoff-tough.
The price may be in players instead of cold cash. Gillick, who built much of the current team through free agency, believes it’ll take trades to fill his wish list this winter.
"I don’t see what’s out there (in free agency) that’s going to really fill our needs," Gillick said.
There’s a good-sized crop of players who are expected to file for free agency but, narrowed down to the Mariners’ price range and skill requirements, it gets small fairly quickly.
Juan Gonzalez (35 homers, 140 RBI) would be high on anyone’s list, but his $10 million salary this year undoubtedly will go up and probably off the Mariners’ radar screen. Barry Bonds also will be a free agent, but his pay level and ego would be poor fits in Seattle.
The Mariners’ payroll budget for next year is expected to increase 10-12 percent to $85-$90 million, but pay raises that will kick in for players already under contract, along with the re-signing Boone for up to $10 million, and may eat up most of the increase.
Thus, significant trade winds are blowing around the Mariners for the first time since the Ken Griffey Jr. deal almost two years ago.
The names being mentioned most prominently are:
Gillick, who has been reluctant to dip into the Mariners’ deep pitching talent, won’t be able to avoid it.
"If we have to make a deal," he said, "it’ll have to be with a pitcher. I should say plural. Pitchers."
The up side is that Gillick knows much more about his pitching than he did a year ago.
"Our pitching is a little more settled," he said. "In our bullpen with Nelson, (Kazuhiro) Sasaki, (Arthur) Rhodes and (Jose) Paniagua, it’s pretty stable. (Freddy) Garcia’s got a year of experience under his belt, and we know more about (Joel) Pineiro than we knew a year ago."
Who goes via trade and who is untouchable, Gillick wouldn’t say.
Pineiro, Brett Tomko and Ryan Franklin all have strong, lively arms but haven’t been able to crack the starting rotation, and left-handed finesse expert John Halama has been mentioned in trade rumors for two years.
A front-line left fielder or third baseman probably will cost a starter. Garcia and Jamie Moyer are the closest the Mariners have to blue-chip, No. 1-type starters who would seem untouchable. Aaron Sele is eligible for free agency and the Mariners don’t seem interested, as of now, in offering top-dollar and may let him go elsewhere.
That leaves Paul Abbott, Halama and the kids — Pineiro, Tomko, Franklin, Denny Stark, Gil Meche and Ryan Anderson — as trade bait. Gillick said Meche and Anderson, both of whom had surgery this season, won’t make the team in the spring, and that he doubts a front-line position player will be traded away.
Gillick would love to add a quality starting pitcher but says the chances are slim.
"Everybody would love to do that if they could," he said. "I don’t know if budget-wise we’re going to be able to do it."
Then there’s the future of Sele, a free agent who was 15-5 in the regular season but just 5-4 after the All-Star break and 0-3 in the postseason.
"Sele did a great job for us," Gillick said. "We love Sele. But I don’t know budgetary-wise how everything will fit right now."
The loss of switch-hitting outfielder Stan Javier, who retired, will have a deep impact on the Seattle bench and makes re-signing versatile Mark McLemore, a free agent, another high priority.
"We’re going to have to remake the bench," Gillick said. "We want to bring Mac back."
Nobody in the minor league system seems ready to assume a starting role, Gillick said. There are some — outfielder Scott Podsednik, outfielder Eugene Kingsale, catcher Blake Barthol — who could make the team as backups, he said.
Within days, the Mariners may know where they stand on the trade front.
Gillick, assistant GM Lee Pelekoudas and scouting director Roger Jongewaard will be in Phoenix this weekend at the World Series to talk with other teams. When the series ends, the Mariners may be ready to act, Gillick said.
Two obstacles could stand in their way.
Baseball’s uncertain labor situation could douse any player movement for a while, and the Mariners won’t know how they truly stand until Boone decides where he will play next season.
Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of the World Series and negotiations have not started between players and owners. Owners would have to start a lockout by the 16th day after the Series ends in order to stop free agents from signing.
"We’re just going to go ahead and proceed as if it’s a normal situation," Gillick said.
Boone has promised the Mariners they will have the final shot at signing him, but such a waiting game could leave the team missing out on players who might sign elsewhere in the meantime. That could be especially damaging if the M’s wait on Boone and he signs with another team anyway.
"I don’t see any alternative (than to wait)," Gillick said.
Top minor leaguers honored: Jamal Strong, who played with the Everett AquaSox in 2000 and split time between the Mariners’ Class A teams in Wisconsin and San Bernardino this season, has been named the organization’s minor league player of the year. Strong, a 23-year-old outfielder, led the organization with 82 stolen bases and batted .326.
Matt Thornton, the Mariners’ first-round pick in the 1998 draft, was named minor league pitcher of the year after going 14-7 with a 2.52 ERA at San Bernardino.
The Mariners also named Jose Lopez and Jorge Sosa as the AquaSox’s player and pitcher of the year, respectively.
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