Byline: JOHN HICKEY P-I reporter
LAS VEGAS -- The Mariners knew they were going to need the winter to retool their offense.
The job increased in magnitude Sunday when left fielder Raul Ibanez declined the club's offer of salary arbitration.
Ibanez wants a multiyear contract in free agency. Had he accepted the arbitration offer, he would have been tied to the Mariners for just one season, though the sides could have continued to negotiate a longer deal.
Now, who knows?
'We will leave the door open,' Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said late Sunday. 'We might circle the wagons and decide to do something else (go to two or three years with Ibanez). We certainly would have liked to have had him for this season.
Thus began the winter meetings for the Mariners, taking place this year at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino.
The meetings officially begin Monday morning, and Zduriencik comes to Vegas with no particular urge to gamble on his team's future. He says he'd like the Mariners to be competitive in the AL West in 2009, but that's not what drives him.
'Right now, there is a larger picture,' Zduriencik said in looking forward to the meetings.
Specifically, he wants to move the Mariners in such a way that the club is competitive year after year, which is something former GM Bill Bavasi failed to do. The Mariners have had losing records in four of the past five seasons. They had perhaps their worst year ever in 2008, with 101 losses despite a $121 million payroll.
He will have to do it without Ibanez. And the left fielder doesn't figure to be the last key member of the 2008 team to exit. To add the run production the Mariners need, Zduriencik probably will have to trade pitching.
The Mariners did make one move Sunday, completing their coaching staff with the naming of Alan Cockrell as hitting coach. The Mariners spread out the hiring of manager Don Wakamatsu's staff over the past week, and now it's time to focus 100 percent on the roster.
Zduriencik wants to build for the short term, but needs to maneuver for the long term. Doing the latter may mean that 2009 will be another tough season, but Zduriencik is nothing if not optimistic.
'I want to be competitive in 2009,' he said. But, he pointed out, it's not all about signing big-ticket free agents and making a series of trades.
'The biggest thing we'd like to do would be to get this club healthy,' he said. 'Then it would be to get players to play to their potential. Then there are holes to fill. As we go to the (meetings) we'll have discussions (about moves) and whether they help the club short term or long term.
'This is a club that lost 101 games.'
Zduriencik and his staff have had conversations with most big league clubs, but the conversations by their very nature have cross-purposes. There isn't one of the other 29 general managers who wouldn't like to pick some of the prizes off the Seattle roster in a trade on the cheap.
Up to a half dozen teams have their eyes on closer J.J. Putz, for example, and wonder if Putz's injury-decimated 2008 has the Mariners ready to deal.
Moves like that are not on Zduriencik's agenda, however.
'I'm not looking to trade anybody,' he said. 'I'm going into the meetings open minded. I'm getting calls from other GMs wanting to talk about players. (But) I'm not in the mood to give anybody away. I'm in the mood to improve this ball club.
'If I can improve, I will entertain (trade offers).'
Right fielder Ichiro Suzuki is probably the only player on the roster who wouldn't get traded under any circumstances. Young starting pitchers Felix Hernandez and Brandon Morrow are close to untouchable.
Zduriencik probably can afford to trade starting pitching, however, because Morrow and lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith gave indications late in the season they were ready to step up as starters. Lefty Jarrod Washburn is entering the final year of his contract, and the club could move him to make room in a rotation that includes Carlos Silva - slimmed down after a 4-15 season - and Erik Bedard - healthy after missing about half of the 2008 season because of injuries.
'He feels great, and he looks great,' Zduriencik said of Bedard. 'I've heard that he was not 100 percent (healthy) last year. The fact that he is so upbeat now is very encouraging to me. He should roll into spring training ready to go.'
There will be some big names available in free agency, starting with outfielder Manny Ramirez, but expect Zduriencik to bypass the costliest free agents. Instead, the Mariners' needs are so great that he will need to focus, both in free agency and in the trade market, on adding a number of players of lesser cost to fill the gaps.
Toward that end, the Mariners are going into the winter meetings with only 36 players on their 40-man roster, meaning they have plenty of room to add players should the right deal come along.
P-I reporter John Hickey can be reached at 206-448-8004 or johnhickey@seattlepi.com.
