Gillick May Be Answer For M’S
The knee-jerk preference was for a 40-something hotshot, an ambitious young genius from Small Market, USA, who had pieced together an overmatched contender with duct tape and a Dominican pipeline.
That’s what the Seattle Mariners needed in a general manager - a hard driver with imagination, a deal-maker and trigger-puller who wouldn’t be flash-frozen by the fear of not having a consensus among both his owners and underlings on every utility infielder.
Failing that, then any high-handicapper would do.
You know. The anti-Woody.
Who they hired Monday was Pat Gillick, 62, who twice has been so fed up with baseball and his bosses that he walked away from the game - and once walked away from the Mariners during this search before reconsidering.
It doesn’t look good.
But it could be great.
To be persuaded, you must take it on faith that there are more leisurely ways to rehearse for retirement than being on the business end of uber-agent Scott Boras’ shotgun.
Pat Gillick doesn’t need this, so he must really want it.
“I felt I still had a love and passion for the game,” said Gillick. “I probably wouldn’t have come back if I didn’t think things were pretty much in line and there wasn’t a solid situation - and that’s what we found in Seattle.”
Well, yes, finishing 11-1/2 and 16 games out of first place in the American League West these past two seasons could be considered solid.
Like rigor mortis.
On the other hand, the Mariners do have their glitzy new Safeco money mill, a fan base that has proved to be more hearty than discriminating, two of the game’s greatest superstars, some promising young pitchers and owners who have pledged to jack the payroll to the neighborhood of $70 million next year.
Solid? Hey, one man’s papier mache is another man’s prestressed concrete.
But what we have here is a respected, accomplished baseball executive who built the Toronto Blue Jays teams that twice won the World Series - and then threw Peter Angelos’ money around in just the right manner to fashion the Baltimore Orioles into playoff material.
That both outfits went into free-fall at roughly the occasion of his departure hardly sullies the achievements.
And, no, maybe at the age of 62 he will not re-up when this three-year contract has run its course.
Nobody cares. This is urgent.
Gillick spelled it out when he said his first priority is resolving the status of Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez, who in 2000 will be in the final year of their Mariners contracts.
“We want to do something about that this week,” Gillick said. “Howard Lincoln (the M’s new CEO), Chuck (Armstrong, the club president) and myself are going to fly to Florida and have meetings face-to-face with both Kenny and Alex.”
Nothing substantive will come of those meetings. Rodriguez has already said he plans to play out his contract no matter how much money is waved in his face. Griffey’s poker face is sheer granite.
But even Griffey’s agent, Brian Goldberg, admitted that Gillick’s hiring was a positive indicator of management’s commitment to winning.
“I don’t think Pat would want to take on a situation that he wouldn’t be able to win right away with,” Goldberg said, noting Gillick’s age.
That, of course, has been the Griffey-Rodriguez caveat - that they will not stay unless they are convinced the M’s are serious. A $70 million payroll sounds serious, but obviously it won’t be $70 mil unless these two gentlemen get new contracts.
And will $55 million or $60 million buy their respect? Probably not when the shopping list is this long:
“We need a leadoff hitter, left-handed hitting in the outfield and a left-handed hitting infielder,” Gillick said. “I think we have to upgrade first base. We could use another starter - a more veteran-type guy we could plug in as a No. 2 or 3 starter. And it’s very crucial these days to have a bullpen, and Lou (Piniella) didn’t have a left-hander he could go to in the bullpen.”
Anything else? A new towel boy or someone to caddy for Dave Niehaus?
But mostly, the M’s need Junior and A-Rod, who have their new GM in a most untenable position.
“You have to be creative,” Gillick said. “I think it (getting both re-signed) can be done. It’s not going to be a slam dunk, but creatively, I think we can do it.”
Creativity was a club Woody Woodward didn’t have in his bag - hence the fact he managed to work it so both A-Rod and Junior have their contracts expire in the same year. A fine mess you’ve gotten us into this time, Ollie.
But Woody was wise enough to realize he wasn’t the guy who could get the M’s out of it. And Gillick apparently relishes the challenge. His earlier withdrawal from consideration was in deference to his wife, who had started an art gallery in Toronto just 18 months ago. When she was able to modify her commitment there, she urged him to ask the M’s for a second chance.
And, like Griffey and Rodriguez, he was looking for a commitment.
“It’s a fact of life, unfortunately, that you have to generate enough revenue to retain your players,” Gillick said. “That’s what the Mariners are trying to do here.
“If I’d looked at the organization and seen a payroll of $55-$60 million with good, solid ownership, great fans and a new park, I’d have taken it. Now, when you’re going to $70 million, that allows you to sign these players and spend some money to make the rest of the club competitive.”
In its most critical office, the club finally is.