There are a few new faces but not many.
After all, the Seattle Mariners won an American League-record 116 games last season even though they failed to get past the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series.
To get them over the hump, management made a few tweaks in the roster, adding James Baldwin, Jeff Cirillo, Ben Davis, Brian Fitzgerald, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Desi Relaford, Luis Ugueto and Ruben Sierra.
“Every team has the attitude that it’s going to go out and win ballgames, but it’s a little different here,” said Baldwin, the former White Sox pitcher who signed as a free agent after a half-season in Los Angeles. “These guys are used to winning. The environment here is a good feeling. I saw it right away in spring training.”
The winning continued in the season’s first month as the Mariners concluded April with the best record in baseball, 18-8. They had won all 10 of their road games until an 8-4 loss to the White Sox on Tuesday night.
“Guys like me and Cirillo have been on teams that didn’t have that [winning] mentality all the time,” said Davis, a catcher who was part of a six-player off-season deal with San Diego. “It’s a nice change for us.”
Davis, 25, replaces Tom Lampkin, who went to the Padres with pitcher Brett Tomko in the deal. Davis will platoon with Barrington native Dan Wilson behind the plate. Up to now Davis’ claim to fame is an eighth-inning bunt to break up Curt Schilling’s perfect game last season.
“As an athlete our favorite thing to do is win,” Davis said. “We had our ups and down too long in San Diego. Now I’m on a team that wins a lot. It’s a lot more exciting to come to the field and have a chance to win.”
Seattle is used to winning, even though it lost superstars Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez between 1999 and 2001.
Cirillo played for Colorado the last two seasons after five years in Milwaukee. The 33-year-old third baseman was acquired from the Rockies to replace David Bell, who was sent to San Francisco for Relaford.
Joining Baldwin as free-agent signees are reliever Hasegawa and designated hitter/outfielder Sierra. Utility infielder Ugueto was a Rule 5 draft choice from Florida–he was in Class-A ball last April–while reliever Fitzgerald worked his way through the Seattle farm system.
Baldwin (2-1, 5.46 earned-run average) hopes to replace Aaron Sele’s 15 victories and 3.60 ERA from a year ago. Sele signed a free-agent contract with Anaheim in the off-season.
Hasegawa, a right-hander who pitched five years for the Angels, limited left-handed hitters to a .221 batting average last season. Through Tuesday, the Japanese-native is 3-0 and hasn’t allowed a run in 14 2/3 innings over nine appearances.
But the biggest story has been Sierra. The 12-year veteran has been a solid fill-in for the injured Edgar Martinez, who had surgery on a ruptured tendon behind his left knee April 13. Entering Wednesday night’s game, Sierra led the AL in batting at .382 and had hit successfully in 16 of 19 games.
After the Sox released him May 25, 1998, it took 28 months before the slugger made it back to the majors. Sierra played for the Mets’ Triple-A team, Atlantic City of the Independent League, Cancun of the Mexican League and Texas’ Triple-A club before his return with the Rangers on Sept. 5, 2000.
“This is a great team to play for,” said the 36-year-old Sierra, who was the AL Comeback Player of the Year last season after hitting .291 with 23 home runs and 67 runs batted in with Texas. “The guys come to the ballpark expecting to win. They’re used to it.”
