Mariners Sign Cora, Lose Sheets, Wolcott In Draft

Joey Cora is a Seattle Mariner for at least one more season, Bob Wolcott and Andy Sheets were lost in the expansion draft Tuesday and Randy Johnson wasn’t traded - but still might be.

Second baseman Cora, one of the more popular Mariners over the past three seasons and coming off the best offensive season of his career, agreed to a deal worth about $1.8 million next season with a club option for the 1999 season.

“He had a great year for us, he’s an integral part of our team, on and off the field,” manager Lou Piniella said. “He’s a little guy who carries some weight in the clubhouse.”

One of a handful of Seattle free agents, Cora might well be the only one to return to the Mariners. Two young players who won’t be back are right-handed pitcher Wolcott, 24, and infielder Sheets, 25.

Sheets, a shortstop most of his minor league career, was left unprotected for the expansion draft and was taken by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with the 24th pick in the first of three rounds - and later traded to San Diego.

Wolcott’s career in Seattle - which included a marvelous playoff outing in 1995 but a spotty two seasons since - ended when the Arizona Diamondbacks took him with the 25th pick of the second round.

No Mariner player was taken in the draft’s third round, and the Seattle front office escaped expansion with less damage than most teams, which lost three players.

As for Johnson, he remained a Mariner on a day when a flurry of post-draft deals were announced, although the Yankees, Mets, Indians and Blue Jays all talked to general manager Woody Woodward on Tuesday.

“Those teams all talked to us, and I think those are the teams who are interested,” Woodward said. “By now, everyone knows our situation. We’re not close to anything at this point - I’d still love to keep Randy - but we will exchange some more ideas with each of those teams.”

Seattle had hoped to pull off a small trade Tuesday - trying to grab outfielder Quinton McCracken from Tampa - but when that fell through, Mariners executives retreated to their Phoenix hotel rooms to watch other teams deal.

“We signed Joey and now we’re going to focus on taking care of first base,” Woodward said. “What we do about pitching depends on what happens with Randy.”

The 32-year-old Cora, in Puerto Rico where he’ll be married on Saturday, batted .300 with a career best 11 home runs and 54 RBIs last season, numbers that helped the Mariners overlook occasional defensive shortcomings that included 17 errors.

“He’s an offensive second baseman,” Piniella said. “He doesn’t turn the double play well and everyone knows that from time to time he has some throwing problems, but he plays hard and he is a hitter.

“We batted him leadoff last year because we really didn’t have a true leadoff type, and Joey scored a lot of runs (105),” Piniella said. “But if we can get a leadoff hitter, Joey will bat ninth, maybe hit second against some pitchers. We really don’t have anyone in the organization who’s ready to replace Joey.”

“From a personal standpoint, I’m delighted we got Joey back,” shortstop Alex Rodriguez said. “He’s a good friend and a good player. He adds a lot to the club.”

As for the draft, the Mariners lost two players who didn’t figure heavily in their plans next season, although they lost depth in areas where they have precious little.