Former Mariners assistant runs tight ship for Marlins

When Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 600th home run last week in Miami against the Florida Marlins, Larry Beinfest couldn't help but reflect on his formative years in Seattle.

"I saw Junior hit a lot of home runs in that Kingdome," said Beinfest, the Marlins' president of baseball operations.

Beinfest's major-league career began with the Mariners in 1989, just as Griffey's did.

Everyone predicted greatness for Junior, whose transcendent talent was apparent from his first professional swing. Before, actually.

In contrast, few outside his own family even noticed that Beinfest had joined the Seattle organization as an assistant in scouting and player development.

Beinfest got the job mainly because he had worked selling ads for a Los Angeles radio station owned by Jeff Smulyan, the new Mariners owner. It was a ground-level position that included typing up minor-league game reports, digging up bios of players that general manager Woody Woodward was researching, and making copies.

From that humble beginning, however, was forged a career that has brought Beinfest to the pinnacle of his profession.

When the Marlins come to Seattle tomorrow for their first-ever appearance at Safeco Field, Beinfest will arrive with a World Series ring from 2003, and industrywide acclaim for building competitive Marlins teams despite constant financial constraints.

Beinfest has often credited his Seattle roots for his success, citing the mentorship of Woodward, Lee Pelekoudas, Roger Jongewaard and, especially, Jim Beattie.

Beinfest eventually succeeded Beattie as the Mariners' director of player development before joining him in Montreal as Beattie's assistant GM in 1999.

Beattie resigned as GM at the end of the 2001 season, and Jeffrey Loria, then owner of the Expos, named Beinfest, still a virtual unknown in the profession, to replace him.

It appeared to be title without portfolio when the Expos were consigned to contraction by the commissioner's office. But that plan fizzled, and just before 2002 spring training opened, Major League Baseball executed a complicated game of musical franchises. Marlins owner John Henry headed a group that purchased the Red Sox, MLB took ownership of the Expos, and Loria replaced Henry as owner of the Marlins.

Loria retained Beinfest as his Marlins' GM, and suddenly he had a team to run, with absolutely no track record to draw from.

"I showed up as general manager of the Marlins three days before spring training," he recalled. "But I got through it, and learned from it."

Beinfest's first trade, sending pitcher Matt Clement to the Cubs for Julian Tavarez and three prospects, was widely panned in South Florida — until one of the prospects turned out to be Dontrelle Willis, who rapidly became a national sensation.

It was the first in a series of moves executed by Beinfest that helped the Marlins beat the Yankees in six games in the '03 World Series.

"I'm thankful every day for the experience the Mariners gave me and the opportunity that Mr. Loria gave me," Beinfest said, reflecting on his early days. "I was lucky enough to have Jim Beattie bring me to Montreal, which was a very tenuous situation. But it worked out.

"As good as my training was in Seattle, you don't get training wheels or re-dos. Either you do it, or you don't. We've had to deal with some tough things over the years, yet remained fairly competitive, which is a credit to the people up and down our organization."

This year's Marlins team is typical. Forced to trade its top two players — third baseman Miguel Cabrera and pitcher Willis — to Detroit over the winter to keep the payroll in check, the team has been in contention all year.

Although Beinfest frets about some pitching and defensive deficiencies, the Marlins have not let the NL East-leading Phillies get out of their sight. Only their Florida partner, the Tampa Bay Rays, have gotten anywhere close to as much bang for their bucks as the Marlins, who have a payroll of $21.8 million. As usual, that ranks 30th out of 30 teams, with the Rays 29th at $43.8 million.

"I can tell you it was no fun trading Miguel and Dontrelle," Beinfest said. "Obviously, a lot of it was financial, which is something that's been a challenge since I've been here. We have to do some things to keep the payroll at a reasonable level."

The most painful manifestation of that philosophy came in 2006, when Beinfest had to decimate the foundation of the World Series champion he had helped construct three years earlier.

That "gross makeover," as Beinfest calls it, resulted in a young team that became the first and only one in history to go from 20 games under .500 (11-31 on May 22) at any point in the season to move back over .500 (69-68 on Sept. 4) in that same season.

Yes, Mariners fans, it's possible, though Beinfest said, "It's not an easy thing to do. I would not invite anyone to try it."

That comeback was enough to keep Florida in the thick of wild-card contention through September '06, though the Marlins eventually faded to 78-84. Joe Girardi was fired despite being named National League Manager of the Year in his lone season at the helm, a victim of a reported dispute with ownership.

The '08 Marlins are led by budding superstar Hanley Ramirez, who arrived from Boston in the Josh Beckett trade, and second baseman Dan Uggla, snagged by Beinfest in the Rule 5 draft.

To replace Cabrera, Beinfest (aided by former Mariner scouts Jongewaard and Dan Jennings) signed free agent Jorge Cantu to a minor-league contract, and he's been a huge contributor. Other key winter additions include veterans Luis Gonzalez and Doug Waechter, while Mount Vernon's Mark Hendrickson leads the team with seven wins despite a high ERA.

The industry consensus is that the Marlins got the better of the Tigers trade, getting rid of Willis just in the nick of time. The keys to the deal for Florida were pitcher Andrew Miller, who is coming off his best start of the year Wednesday against Cole Hamels and the Phillies, and outfielder Cameron Maybin, who recently hit five homers in seven games at Class AA and could be called up soon.

The Marlins, meanwhile, believe they finally have nailed down funding for their long-desired new stadium, which would dramatically change the financial dynamics of the team. Although some snags remain, the Marlins hope to break ground later this year on a retractable-roof ballpark in Little Havana.

"You try to be as productive as possible with each dollar," Beinfest said. "But we're hopeful in the future that a new stadium would increase revenue, and some of that would be funneled into payroll. In the interim, we'll deal with what we have and try to be as productive as possible, like we always do."

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