Mariners
Aurilia released; M's going with youth

By Bob Finnigan
Seattle Times staff reporter

ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES Rich Aurilia was released to make room for the return of Raul Ibanez from the DL.

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CHICAGO — From yesterday on, Mariners manager Bob Melvin will not pinch hit for Justin Leone as he did in the seventh inning Friday night.

And from the moment they released shortstop Rich Aurilia yesterday, making room for Raul Ibanez to come off the disabled list, the Mariners officially began the tryout process that is expected to run the rest of the 2004 season, if not longer.

"This is the start of a process we need to start," said Melvin, who will have Leone in the lineup most days, with more kids to come. "There's a black cloud over us we need to get out from under. We have to start looking at kids and at veterans with an idea of finding out who's going to be here next year."

Two weeks ago, discussing upcoming changes like Aurilia's release, Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln said he didn't anticipate a five-year plan to rebuild the club.

Before the Mariners' 3-2 loss yesterday, their eighth straight, Melvin put it this way: "We don't have to fall back on a three-year plan. With the resources this organization has, we can be competitive next year. We owe it to the people of Seattle. In the second half we may have a pennant race, but if not there will be the excitement of watching the kids once we start winning a few more games."

To that end, Melvin said he would no longer hit for the likes of Leone. One can add the names of Jose Lopez, Jamal Strong, Greg Dobbs, Jeremy Reed and possibly Bucky Jacobsen to that category — unless one hits for another.

"We were trying to win a ballgame, hitting Dave Hansen for Leone," Melvin said of the Friday move. "We're still going to win games, but we're going to see how the young players do in those situations.

Mariners update Today: Seattle at Chicago White Sox, 12:05 p.m., FSN/KOMO 1000 AM Starting pitchers: Mariners' Jamie Moyer (6-5, 4.24 ERA) vs. Freddy Garcia (5-8, 3.42) Notable: Garcia will face his former team for the first time.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see more changes. This does not mean we'll completely dismantle. The guys here are good players and we'll be looking at kids."

Changes can involve trades, and having made their biggest move, dealing Freddy Garcia, who starts today for the White Sox, Seattle officials are known to be talking with other clubs.

"I don't think you'll see more trades happen right away, but there may be some other kinds of moves," Melvin said. "I think we all recognize that cycles end and that the Mariners had come to the end of one. As painful as it is to make changes, sometimes there are things we need to do."

One of them, obvious to the entire organization and probably the entire league, was moving Aurilia, who showed professionalism and class to the end.

"When you play as badly as we did, and see how the team is going, you can see the writing on the wall," said Aurilia, who hit .241 with four home runs for the Mariners and suffered from fans' anger at Carlos Guillen's superb season after his trade to Detroit. "No player wants to hear words like 'designate' or 'release,' and ... I am sorry that I couldn't do more to prevent the club being in a place where they found this necessary."

Second baseman Bret Boone said the entire club had a hand in Aurilia's departure.

"This is not a result of Rich's play," Boone said. "He had a bad first half, as many of us have had, but this is a result of our team's play. This is a reflection of how we've played. He's not a scapegoat ... "

Aurilia made hard contact of late and hit .316 in interleague games in NL parks.

"I tried to blow it off at first, but I found it tough switching leagues," he said. "I think I hit the ball hard the last six weeks, but by that time the need for change was on us. Hopefully, that was me starting to get hot, and hopefully an NL team or two noticed. I'd like to be in a pennant race, where I got used to being the last seven years."

General manager Bill Bavasi said the move was tough for three reasons: "One, Rich is a good guy; two, he is an accomplished player; three, it was part of a gamble that didn't pay off."

That gamble was replacing Guillen, whose frequent injuries made him expendable, with the veteran Aurilia, who did not have anywhere near the All-Star season Guillen is having in Detroit (.327, 13 home runs).

"Both guys had limited range and limited production numbers and we decided to move one (Guillen) and improve our depth at short (getting Ramon Santiago in the trade with Detroit) and go with the guy (Aurilia) who had experience," Bavasi said. "Carlos has remained healthy and put up numbers, so you can say it didn't work out."

In the clubhouse, the atmosphere was far different than the heaviness after the Garcia trade.

While that trade signaled that Seattle had stopped contending for the pennant, this move had been hanging over the club and possibly affecting its play.

There seemed to be a feeling of sadness to see a good teammate go, but also relief.

"It could be part of the process, attention is divided, there is some looking over the shoulder," Melvin said. "In our situation with a lineup filled with veteran guys that are not doing well, you didn't see the energy out there you'd like. This does not mean they weren't trying or they weren't playing hard. We have had no problems that way."

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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