Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik remains optimistic

With lofty expectations comes the potential for acute disillusionment, and thus the Mariners have reached the backlash portion of their season.

In case you hadn't noticed, M's fans are a bit testy these days. Not since the gory days of 2008 have I seen such an outpouring of angst and frustration. The psychic cork was popped during the weekend sweep by Texas, which was as keenly maddening a series as I can recall in recent memory, the M's brilliant pitching surpassed and undone — only by their feeble hitting.

The fans are so put out right now because they can see the limitless potential of this team if only. As in, if only they could hit. The rotation, with the insertion of Cliff Lee and emergence of Doug Fister and Erik Bedard waiting in the wings is World Series caliber.

But unless and until the hitting rises, they will continue to lurch. The moves on Sunday, resulting in the arrival of Josh Wilson and Ryan Langerhans for Tuesday's opener of a three-game series against Tampa Bay, offer incremental improvement. But it's hardly the eureka moment that will turn this team around.

No, it's becoming increasingly apparent that, for the time being, that will have to come from within — from the current lineup collectively elevating its game.

Addressing the Associated Press Sports Editors Northwest regional meeting on Monday, general manager Jack Zduriencik remained upbeat. But he tempered that optimism with a realistic acknowledgment of the team's weaknesses.

Zduriencik said he continues to work the phones in an effort to jump-start the team offensively. He acknowledged that despite what he called "the great expectations" heading into the season, he felt from the start "there were still other things we needed on this club to be a real, real good ballclub."

And he made it clear he will keep trying to do what he can to get them. But the jolt is unlikely to come from the minors, where the most enticing prospects, like Dustin Ackley and the suddenly explosive Carlos Peguero, a 23-year-old, left-handed hitting, 6-foot-5, 247-pound outfielder who is absolutely tearing up the Class AA Southern League, are not yet major-league ready. And furthermore, "We don't have an aircraft carrier sitting in Triple A," Zduriencik said.

Will the team be able to add an offensive weapon via trade? Perhaps, but not in early May. Zduriencik said he subscribes to Billy Beane's theory that the first third of the season is to assess your team, the second third to address the needs, and the final third to letting the finished product play baseball.

Teams are still in the first phase, but that doesn't mean that Zduriencik isn't kicking tires.

"One thing I'd assure you, I've made an enormous amount of phone calls," he said. "Even during spring training, even up to this point in time, and I continue to make phone calls. I've made several phone calls over the last three or four days. But it's like hunting season. We're not in hunting season right now. What happens, no one is selling. Everyone wants to sit tight and see what their club looks like.

"I expect something to happen. I don't know when. It might not happen now, it might not happen for a month from now. I'm certainly aware of what our strengths and weaknesses on this club are."

One weakness so far has been the cumulative performance at designated hitter, with the future of struggling 40-year-old icon Ken Griffey Jr. becoming a growing issue. At the APSE event, Zduriencik was asked, point blank, how long the team would wait on Griffey to start producing.

"I think you kind of have to go to the alternative," he said. "You wait and see. The one thing Ken was very explicit about this winter, he wanted to be part of this ballclub. He wanted to be here and do whatever he could to help us.

"You hope he gets on track. It's early. It's early for anybody. Where do we end up with Ken? We'll see. We have to wait and see. We'll give it a chance, a little bit more of a chance to produce, like any other player, and see what happens. If it continues, then we'll have to have some discussions about it."

So, in the end, Zduriencik is waiting, like everyone else who follows the Mariners, for the hitters with track records to start matching the backs of their baseball cards. Until then, "We're a club that really kind of has to be perfect, as you saw this weekend. Any mistake is something that's going to be magnified."

And right now, the lack of hitting is being magnified to gigantic proportions, tending to obscure the fact that the Mariners are still well within range of first place, and still have 137 games to get there.

"I'm still upbeat about the club," Zduriencik said. "The thing you have to say to yourself, it (the offense) has to come back. It's going to balance out."

Until then, Zduriencik feels your pain. Perhaps even more intensely.

"The thing that's tough is sitting there every single night, when you've got so much invested, and watching these one-run ballgames," he said. "They drive you nuts. They'll make you lose your hair."

Zduriencik, of course, is already follicly challenged. His priority now is to keep the rest of the Mariners fan base from pulling out theirs.

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