Mariners meltdown

In an impromptu half-hour media session after yet another devastating Mariners loss, general manager Bill Bavasi tried to express the depths of the organization's frustration.

This was just a few minutes after one tangible display of that frustration, a brief but forceful outburst by manager John McLaren in his own news conference after the Mariners' 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at Safeco Field.

"That's a good representation of all of us," Bavasi said of McLaren. "This is a completely demoralizing position we're in right now based on the legitimate expectations."

Bavasi agreed with one reporter's assessment that it was a "perfect storm" of malfunction by the Mariners.

"We went into spring training thinking, we can win. We can win our division, and then we'll go from there," Bavasi said. "Those goals have radically changed. Because now we have to just look at today's game, and work on tomorrow's."

Bavasi, however, was adamant that the Mariners, despite being 18 games under .500 and 15 ½ games out of first place, are not prepared to give up on the season and look toward 2009.

"That's going to be a long time," he said. "That's going to be quite a while. Because we're not giving in. It's going to be real tough for us to give in. If we give in, it will be at the last minute, I'll tell you that."

Responding to a question about history being against the Mariners mounting a comeback, Bavasi reiterated an earlier point about this being a barren time around baseball for trades. Other teams, he had said, are not inclined to deal this far from the trade deadline.

"I can't make a deal anyway that can be worth a damn," he said. "I suppose I can go home and sulk. We're here to get this thing to work and turn it around."

Referring to the Mariners' comeback in 1995 from 13 ½ games down to the Angels — whose GM that year was Bavasi — he added, "You probably had the same question to Lou and those guys in August of '95, and it turned out to be a stupid question. They went on and did something crazy."

Leaning against a wall outside McLaren's office, Bavasi held court on a variety of issues facing the Mariners.

He said, as he had during his last extended interview session in late May while the Mariners were in New York, that "this is not a field managerial issue ... He's not at the plate with men on first and second, and leaving them there three times."

That was a veiled reference to the third inning, when Jose Lopez and Raul Ibanez reached base with no outs, and didn't move. But Bavasi indicated there is enough blame to go around.

"This is a problem that includes the general manager and his office, the manager and his staff, and the players to a great degree," he said, adding wryly: "Right now, the medical guys are doing a great job, and the clubhouse guys are tremendous."

Asked if the season could be turned around with the personnel on hand, Bavasi replied, "Can it? It can. A lot of things can happen. Yes, it can happen. I don't know that it will.

"I think the pieces are there and they can do it. I'm not sure we're going to give them a chance to ... we're not going to try to just sit with this.

"We're in a tough time to make deals, to do anything besides take your own kids. If we think [Jeff] Clement is ready to come back and contribute, or insert whatever name you want, yeah, we'd make those changes. Making a deal is not easy right now."

Asked about releasing players as a possible course of action, Bavasi said, "It's not like every move like that is addition by subtraction. You're making that assumption."

Bavasi once again called on the players to police themselves from within.

"I go back to what I said in New York: They need to push each other. Nobody has an effect on a player like a peer."

Other topics covered by Bavasi:

• On the reaction of ownership through the slump: "They've been supportive. From my point of view, what's going on here has to do with that room [pointing toward the clubhouse], and my office, for putting them in there."

• On whether he considered Erik Bedard a disappointment: "Not yet. I still think that would be making a premature judgment right now. I just see, for some reason, he cannot seem to get his feet on the ground in Seattle. He cannot get his arms around it yet. You see a brilliant outing, and then you see an awful outing. Right now, I wish his wheels didn't come off so easily."

• On whether players should be afraid of losing their jobs: "I'm not here to threaten anybody. I don't think they should be afraid of losing [their job] at all. Those are the guys that don't perform very well, the guys that are afraid of losing their jobs."

• When asked if the team was "stuck" with the players on hand now: "Yeah, that's the right way to say it. I'm hoping in a month we'll be saying the same thing, but we'll be saying, we get to have them, because they've turned the corner, and they've gotten hot, and they have sustained a streak that has gotten them back to the pack."

• On what he would do if McLaren told him he couldn't manage a particular player and he's got to go: "If he's signed for five more years, no. We'd probably try to make that work. But if we've got a guy that this is his last year on the contract, and to release him you eat some money, consider it eaten."

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