A 116-victory season wasn’t enough to launch the Seattle Mariners into the World Series last year. This time around, 95 might not be enough even to make the playoffs.
Despite having the deepest American League team outside of New York in this era of Yankees domination, the Mariners find themselves in two tricky races–a battle with Anaheim and Oakland in the West and as the fallback fight with those teams as well as Boston, if not New York, for the wild-card spot. That’s five teams for three spots.
Entering the weekend those teams were projected to win 102 (New York), 98 (Seattle), 98 (Anaheim), 96 (Boston) and 94 games (Oakland), respectively.
Mariners manager Lou Piniella knows he’s in for a fight.
“What’s that they say about seeing the whites of their eyes?” he asked. “Well, we’re seeing them.”
Since the All-Star break, the West’s standings look like this: Anaheim 11-5; Oakland 9-5; Seattle 7-7 and Texas 3-12.
Yet the Mariners can’t count on much more help from ownership, which is unlikely to allow general manager Pat Gillick to add to a $90 million payroll.
“We probably could use a starting pitcher,” Gillick said. “But from the standpoint of budget, we are more than maxed out. If we get a pitcher, it would have to be something we can talk about on a case-by-case basis. . . . I don’t want to mislead fans. We are right up against our payroll. The door to a deal is more closed than open.”
While Seattle’s strong attendance and broadcast deals are the envy of just about every AL team except New York, the Mariners have spent more than they allocated for salaries and aren’t likely to bust the budget further.
“If you don’t operate as a business, all sorts of bad things happen,” Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln said. “People want us to do something exceptional, but what we want to do is have the discipline to stick with our plan. . . . We absolutely have to make money. No question, end of story.”
Lincoln said he’s not looking at the threat posed by Anaheim, Oakland and Boston as a crisis. Instead he wants his franchise to become like the Atlanta Braves, giving itself a chance to win every season.
Count on grumbling in the Mariners’ clubhouse if Ray Durham does anything for Oakland. Anaheim is almost certain to add some relief pitching or another veteran bat for the bench before Wednesday’s deadline for waiver-free trades.
The forecast: While most teams look to unload veterans and cut financial losses, the Yankees, Angels, Diamondbacks and Giants are the only teams that appear prepared to add any salaries. As teams try to read the tea leaves about a possible season-ending strike–bet against it, but not heavily–most shopping is being done at sales where teams are offering 50-percent off the clearance price.
“You have 16 teams trying to dump guys,” Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. “Not get anything in return. Just dump guys.”
Here’s a look at some of the most intriguing situations heading into the deadline.
– Phillies GM Ed Wade is cutting the price on Scott Rolen, but even then few teams are interested. The Giants and Reds seem the most likely to add the All-Star third baseman, with Philadelphia eyeing pitchers Curt Ainsworth or Scott Williamson.
The Reds reportedly were offering Williamson and minor-league infielder Brandon Larson, but wanted Philadelphia to pick up all of Rolen’s contract this season.
– Rangers left-hander Kenny Rogers, who turned down a deal with the Reds last week, still is being pursued by St. Louis, San Francisco, Arizona and Seattle. He’s pitching great but has a history of falling apart in the biggest games.
Cincinnati is better off with Brian Moehler, whom GM Jim Bowden nabbed on the rebound, than it would have been with Rogers.
– Jim Thome probably isn’t going anywhere. The Indians can save a lot of face with their fans by finding a way to sign him to an extension, especially since he continues to say he would veto trades.
– The Yankees are almost certainly to strike again, as Raul Mondesi has disappointed since moving from Toronto to New York. Brian Cashman reportedly is talking to Cleveland about Ellis Burks. He’s also among several GMs talking to Philadelphia about lefty reliever Dan Plesac.
– While Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty still would like to add another pitcher, his resources have been stretched by the $1.1 million he took on in the Chuck Finley trade. Yet St. Louis has scouted Rogers, among others.
– Crazy as this sounds, the White Sox might take Steve Parris or another prospective free-agent starter on a test drive, with an eye to 2003. They have been scouting the Blue Jays’ right-hander and might be able to add him with money saved by trading Durham.
– Scott Erickson’s domestic-abuse issues didn’t help the marketing efforts of Baltimore GM Syd Thrift. He has pitching to deal in Sidney Ponson and Erickson but doesn’t want to give them away. “My phone is heated at all times,” said the folksy Thrift. “But I haven’t heard anything that has tickled my eardrum yet.”
Prepared to pay: The financial problems of teams such as Tampa Bay, Detroit and Toronto that have been stretched simply to make payroll, raise a question about the viability of minimum payrolls. But Devil Rays managing general partner Vince Naimoli said he’s ready to “salute the flag and go up to the amount specified” if a new labor deal sets a payroll floor.
For the sake of competition, it certainly should. Tampa Bay, which is operating at a majors-low payroll of $34 million, had gone 1-17 against the Yankees and Red Sox before rallying from Tuesday’s 22-4 loss to win two in a row at Fenway Park.
The Rays have been outscored 137-54 by New York and Boston this season. Randy Newman had it right–it’s money that matters.
Gamblers only: Starting pitching is hardly the Cubs’ problem, but they must be at least a little tempted by the chance to acquire Mike Hampton, who two years ago rejected their six-year, $105 million offer to sign a bigger deal with Colorado.
While Hampton has been the biggest of flops, there are scouts who believe he would be fine if he got away from Coors Field, which remains a pitchers’ graveyard.
If the Rockies would consider a bad contract-for-bad contract deal including Todd Hundley or Moises Alou, and the Cubs were sure Hampton would return to his place among elite lefties, it could make sense. Those are big ifs.
Hampton seems likely to be somewhere other than Colorado by the start of next season, especially if the Rockies are willing to pay part of the freight. He has a no-trade clause but would waive it to go to one of the places he turned down two winters ago, with St. Louis, Atlanta and Chicago at the top of places he would like to go. Houston also is a possibility.
While Hampton made a big deal about moving his wife, children, parents and in-laws to a ranch outside of Denver, it turns out one Colorado winter was enough for the kid from rural Florida. He’s moving back to Houston this fall.
“It’s our long-term plan so we decided to move ahead,” Hampton said. “We have a lot of good friends there. It’s the place where we want to end up.”
Getting tough: Eric Karros gained respect from his teammates with his showing last weekend. A day after getting drilled in the jaw by a Felix Rodriguez fastball, he not only played against San Francisco but went 3-for-4.
Karros had needed 12 stitches inside his mouth.
“It’s not an eating contest out there or anything, so I can play,” Karros said. “It was scary. I was on the ground trying to feel my teeth, to make sure they weren’t floating around. Blood was coming out of my mouth. Nothing even remotely close to that has happened to me before. I’m lucky the pitch wasn’t higher. I’m as OK as you can be for getting hit in the face.”
The last word: “Kenny Rogers must not be much of a gambler after all. If he doesn’t want to be here, we don’t want him.”–Reds reliever Scott Sullivan after Rogers vetoed a trade, instead staying in Texas.
