Indians ‘Dis’ Deals Made By Mariners

When the Cleveland Indians travel to Seattle this week to face the Mariners in a three-game series beginning tonight, it may get personal.

Not long after trading-deadline deals brought the Mariners pitchers Terry Mulholland and Jamie Moyer, Indians general manager John Hart was asked why he hadn’t traded for pitching - especially the left-handed pitching he’d acknowledged his team needed.

Hart said he’d been offered Mulholland and Moyer. And passed.

“We’ve got pitchers that good in Class AAA,” he said. “We were looking for arms that could improve this team.”

Ouch!

Closer to home, a number of trading-deadline moves had a familiar look in Seattle. Marc Newfield and Ron Villone, the can’t-miss prospects traded last year to San Diego for Andy Benes, were traded again - by the Padres to Milwaukee for outfielder Greg Vaughn.

John Cummings, once a Mariners prospect, was sent by the Dodgers to the Tigers, and Detroit immediately assigned him to Class AAA. First, Cummings had to clear waivers, meaning any major league team could have claimed him. None did.

As for the Seattle deals, the Mariners specialized in acquiring M’s - Jeff Manto, then Moyer, then Mulholland. The key to whether the team was improved may not be in the players the Mariners acquired, but in those they gave up.

Arquimedez Pozo wasn’t going to play second base for Seattle any time soon, and his defense, always a question mark, produced three errors in his first three games in Boston. However, his bat produced nine RBIs.

Desi Relaford wasn’t going to budge Alex Rodriguez - or Joey Cora - or move past Andy Sheets on the organizatonal depth chart.

And Darren Bragg was losing playing time to Rich Amaral, Brian Hunter, Doug Strange and even Manto in the outfield.

Bottom line? Seattle rolled the dice for the 1996 season and added a veteran hitter with power - inconsistent though it may be - and plugged in two experienced left-handed pitchers.

Whether Manto, Moyer and Mulholland have an impact on the race for another postseason in Seattle will be answered in the next two months. None, however, arrived with the pressure of having to carry this team.

If the Mariners get Randy Johnson back, what they will have for September is what they thought they had in April - one great pitcher and a handful of good ones and a dominant offense.

A year ago, that was enough. The M’s hope it will be again in 1996.