Mariners expect pricey market

It’s an era of economic responsibility, time for organizations to look seriously at their overspending of the past and realize that enough is enough.

That may be the case where you work, but not in baseball.

Last off-season, players like Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt, Gil Meche and Jeff Weaver made millions as free agents and responded with mediocre results.

It may have been the surest sign yet that free agents aren’t worth the huge contracts they’ve been getting. But just when you think major league teams are taking a harder look at the hard line and will pare down their spending this off-season, think again.

After all, this is baseball.

Seattle Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi goes into the winter meetings, beginning Monday in Nashville, Tenn., knowing the big money may get bigger this off-season despite the deals that appeared to backfire last season.

“Believe it or not, I think clubs are as cautious as they can be, but they’ve got to stay in the market. Players will be signed,” said Bavasi, who hopes to add two starting pitchers, a setup reliever and some bench help before the 2008 season begins.

Bavasi predicts prices will be high again despite a free-agent market that’s thin on quality starting pitchers.

Uh, hello? Has everyone forgotten Zito, who signed a seven-year, $126 million contract with the Giants and went 11-13 with a 4.53 earned run average?

“I think Zito is going to be judged unfairly,” Bavasi said. “He didn’t have the year that people expected, but … it was a very long-term deal.”

At least in 2007, the Mariners won by losing out on Zito. They made him an offer close to what he took from the San Francisco Giants before he chose to stay close to home in the Bay Area. Same with Schmidt, who took the Los Angeles Dodgers’ offer to stay in the National League instead of a similar deal from the Mariners.

Bavasi said the Mariners go into the winter meetings with offers to free agents and trade proposals to other teams, although he refused to discuss them.

“The better players, there will be competition for them,” Bavasi said. “There is a supply and demand. It doesn’t mean teams are not being careful.”

Mariners fans learned that in 2007. Starting pitcher Jeff Weaver was one of the year’s free-agent busts, making $8.325 million and giving the M’s a 7-13 record and a 6.20 ERA in return. He won’t be back.

Bavasi did, however, pull off one of the better free-agent signings when he landed right-handed starter Miguel Batista for three years and $25 million. Batista made $5.5 million in 2007 and he pulled off a career-best 16-11 record with a 4.29 ERA.

While Zito seems to be the poster boy for free-agent deals gone bad, Bavasi said the Giants are being judged unfairly.

“No matter what Zito does and what the Giants paid, they did look into the thing and did their research the best they could,” Bavasi said.

The Mariners’ research has led them directly to Japanese right-handed starter Hiroki Kuroda. He doesn’t have the high profile of Daisuke Matsuzaka, who signed a six-year, $52 million contract with the Boston Red Sox last off-season (plus the Red Sox’ $53 million bid just to negotiate with him), but Kuroda already is one of the hot properties this winter because the free-agent field is so mediocre.

Bavasi and manager John McLaren met with Kuroda two weeks ago in Japan, and the Mariners’ offer is believed to be for four years and between $40 million and $45 million. The Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals also have said they want Kuroda.