Mattingly A Mariner? Time Will Eventually Tell

The conference-call operator said to hang on the line, that Mr. Piniella would be available to speak as soon as he took care of some last-minute business.

Last-minute business? Hmmm. On a weekday afternoon in Florida, 60 days before pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to spring training, would the American League Manager of the Year be calculating his 18-hole score from the Shooting Breeze Country Club? Finishing a round of gin rummy at Easy Chair Estates? Taking a steam bath at Soft Slipper Lodge?

None of the above. Seems Mr. Piniella was on a conference call himself Thursday, discussing imminent roster moves with general manager Woody Woodward and other Mariners brass for two and a half hours. Not unlike a million sports fans in the Pacific Northwest, Piniella is spending the football season talking baseball.

“We talked about first base and pitching,” Piniella disclosed. “At length.”

It’s no secret the Mariners must supplement a pitching staff whose only projected starter with an ERA under 4.40 last year was Randy Johnson. More surprising is the team’s aggressive hunt to land a replacement for Tino Martinez at first, a job that figured to be put to a committee fronted by Greg Pirkl.

Piniella wouldn’t divulge the names on his “short list” of five players, but did offer an overview of a prototypical candidate: “A left-handed bat, somebody who does a decent job from the defensive side.”

The Mariners also want somebody who can fit inside their self-imposed salary cap - and whose attitude won’t rock a quietly professional clubhouse - with the experience to anchor an infield whose senior statesman is 29-year old Joey Cora.

Somebody such as … Don Mattingly?

This week’s Sports Illustrated reports that the Mariners are talking with Donnie Baseball, who ended his 12-year career with the Yankees and, at last word, was in a retiring mood back home in Indiana. The premise of this devoted family man living happily ever after made sense back in July, when Mattingly’s bat was as languid as a George Steinbrenner handshake.

But as the Yankees closed in on the wild-card berth, Mattingly rallied. He hit .288 for the season, and .417 in the AL Division Series. His first taste of playoff baseball apparently agreed with him.

Mattingly is 34. Once considered a certain Hall of Famer, his Cooperstown credentials are borderline, at best. He still hasn’t played in a World Series.

Early retirement is not a long-range solution to either of these quests.

As for the I-just-want-to-enjoy-my-family-now proclamation, I submit the case of Ryne Sandberg, another superior player who retired at the age of 34 and decided to come back - for a fraction of the salary he was making when he quit.

At any rate, Piniella denied the Sports Illustrated report.

“We’ve discussed Mattingly’s name,” he said, “but we haven’t talked to Don Mattingly …”

“Please, don’t overblow the situation. First of all, we don’t know whether he wants to play or not play. And secondly, as a (Type A free agent), it’d cost us a first-round draft pick.”

Then again, nobody ever said this was supposed to be easy. There are plenty of questions about Mattingly, not the least of which is his ailing back. First diagnosed in 1987, Mattingly’s back problems gradually reduced him from a 35-homer, 145-RBI slugger in 1985 to a spray hitter (eight homers and 48 RBI) in 1995.

If Mattingly would bring some tattered physical baggage to Seattle, though, he’d also bring a sharp mind and a big heart.

“I have the utmost respect for the guy,” Piniella said. “I managed him. I was his first hitting coach.”

So, now, Lou, about that pitching …