What are they gonna do?

As the fifth consecutive postseason without Seattle participation moves merrily along, the Mariners are plotting the offseason strategy designed to get them back into October play.

Here's some encouraging news: The team's ownership is said to be willing to take its 2007 payroll into the $95 million range — or possibly even higher, as long as the first number remains a nine.

With jobs throughout the organization on the line — the proverbial "hot seat" is now a veritable sectional sofa, with spots for CEO Howard Lincoln, GM Bill Bavasi and manager Mike Hargrove, among others — this is guaranteed to be a sizzling offseason.

The Mariners' obvious starting point this winter will be the pitching market, but one intriguing area of possibility in their parallel pursuit — a power bat — could occur on the trade front.

The free-agent market doesn't hold many options, with Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Lee the best names available. For a variety of reasons, neither seems likely to be ticketed for Seattle.

But any number of intriguing players could be available in trades this winter. It behooves the Mariners to be open to just about anything, and to be more creative — and daring — than they've shown in past winters.

The outfielders who could be offered up include Manny Ramirez, Vernon Wells, Carl Crawford, Pat Burrell, Geoff Jenkins, Andruw Jones, Adam Dunn and Miguel Cabrera. Other big-ticket players who could be moving are Todd Helton, Miguel Tejada and — after he and the Yankees flamed out in the playoffs — none other than Alex Rodriguez.

Most of those players are pure pipe dreams, of course. But this winter, the Mariners need to dream big.

Spotlight on Washington

The Athletics' playoff success will hopefully advance the managerial prospects of their highly regarded third-base coach, Ron Washington, who is more than qualified to run a team. Washington could get a long look from the Texas Rangers, who became the front-runner for the 2007 World Series title when they fired Buck Showalter. The Yankees and Diamondbacks both won it all the year after firing Showalter.

Speaking of managerial openings, former Mariners pitcher (and Longview native) Bud Black has emerged as a possible candidate to replace Felipe Alou in San Francisco. Black, the Angels' pitching coach, has long resisted managerial overtures because of family considerations, but with his kids older now, that's no longer an issue.

Bob Brenly, Ron Wotus and Lou Piniella are also said to be in the running with the Giants. Piniella has strong ties with San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean back to their days with the Yankees, but Piniella also figures to be a candidate to manage the Cubs and Nationals.

All the right words

With team president Andy MacPhail gone in Chicago, John McDonough is the latest man in charge of leading the Cubs to their ever-elusive title — now a 98-year pursuit. His background is in marketing, but McDonough said all the right things at his introductory news conference as interim president after MacPhail's resignation:

"My goal is singular. The purpose of what I've been asked to do is for the Cubs to win the World Series. Not win the wild card or win the division or win the pennant. It's time to win, it's time to win the World Series. It's time to reward these tens of millions of fans who have waited for a long time."

One immediate likelihood of the McDonough regime: He is much more closely tied to the Cubs' legacy than MacPhail, and is expected to give a more prominent role to the likes of Mark Grace, Rick Sutcliffe and Steve Stone.

Surprising Sanchez

The Pirates had no idea what kind of hitter they had in Freddy Sanchez, the longshot National League batting champion.

Sanchez ended last season on a 17-game hitting streak, and the Pirates were so impressed they went out and signed Joe Randa to a one-year, $4 million contract to be their third baseman.

It was only when Randa went on the disabled list in May with a foot injury that Sanchez took over the third-base job. He was sensational, hitting .344 to beat out Miguel Cabrera by five points for the first batting title by a Pirate since Bill Madlock in 1983.

Griffey still a "hero"

That was an interesting result in MLB's "Hometown Hero" promotion, in which fans of each team voted among five nominees to select the most outstanding player in franchise history.

The Mariners' nominees were Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, Ichiro and Jamie Moyer — interesting in itself, because Randy Johnson and A-Rod were conspicuously omitted. The Mariners had input in the nominees, but the final decision was made by MLB.

I thought that sentiment might sway the vote to Martinez, a career Mariner and beloved local figure, but Griffey was the right choice. Not only did he put the Mariners on the map, but Griffey (along with Barry Bonds) ruled baseball through most of the 1990s.

Griffey's agent, Brian Goldberg, said he was informed of his client's honor by Mariners president Chuck Armstrong.

"Chuck called me and gave me the news, and wanted to tell Junior himself," Goldberg said. "I thought that was a very classy thing by a very classy person. I have to say Chuck was very instrumental in keeping people's memories alive about Junior's career in Seattle."

Notes

• The Mariners quietly lost a major-league record this year. In 2003, they set the all-time mark for fielding percentage at .9887, rounded up to .989. This year, the Red Sox barely topped them with a .98909 fielding percentage, the highest in history.

• White Sox shortstop Juan Uribe had a dubious distinction in 2006 — he had more errors (14) than walks (13).

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com.