Mariners
Youth movement changes focus for Seattle

By Bob Finnigan
Seattle Times staff reporter

Travis Blackley

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This will not be the first time in recent years Seattle has turned to youth at midseason.

At Lou Piniella's urging in 1999, outfielder Butch Huskey was traded to Boston for left-hander Rob Ramsay and first baseman David Segui was sent to Toronto for right-hander Tom Davey and lefty Steve Sinclair.

But even the moves that year, with the club very shy of pitching, will be nothing close to the changes this year — changes that already have begun.

The influx of young players, with callups potentially in double figures before the usual September roster expansion, may be so significant it will affect the desires of the club's veterans.

They instinctively look to return to winning, as Jamie Moyer demonstrated Sunday when he talked about setting a goal of getting back to .500 over the last 2-1/2 months of the season. Yet that may not be in the best long-term interests of the organization.

While winning would restore pride, Seattle has to focus on the future. That means using young players on a significant scale, which in turn means rebuilding and not returning to total competitiveness.

"While you'd like to get back on top, you have to find out who can come up and play," an American League general manager said of the road ahead for the Mariners. "If you get a few, that frees you from the need to pursue players in another direction."

Ideally, using young players and winning are not mutually exclusive. But even Texas, which has developed young talent in droves to fuel this season's success, suffered for years while the kids came up and learned.

As for timing, the integration of the Mariners' young players should come as soon as possible, so they can be tested against teams with 25-man rosters, teams playing to make the playoffs. Waiting until September when rosters are expanded, like early spring exhibition games, often produces false positives. When the organization gets an idea of what young players should be playing next year and which might be moved, it also will know what holes it might try to fill via trade.

Having young players, especially pitchers, fill needs might be a more productive route than signing free agents, since the top names available might be reluctant to join a rebuilding effort.

If Travis Blackley and Clint Nageotte are an indication, the Seattle organization may not be as strong or deep in power pitching prospects as the hype would suggest.

While Nageotte, Blackley and others may prove effective as sinker-slider types, the Texas bullpen may have more young power arms than the entire Seattle depth chart beyond phenom Felix Hernandez.

This would be far different if Ryan Anderson, Aaron Taylor, Jeff Heaverlo, Allen Simpson and Aaron Looper had not suffered their assorted arm problems.

But until Heaverlo, Taylor and Looper, at least, show they are healthy, Seattle might have to give another hard look at Gil Meche before dealing him.

Meche, a right-hander, throws 94-96 mph and has overpowered lineups two or three times around in games. Word is that Seattle regards Meche a premier prospect — even more, a prospect who has had some brilliant big-league performances — and will not settle for anything less than a premier prospect in return.

The same goes for Matt Thornton, who not only is a power arm but is left-handed. He was sent down to Class AAA Tacoma this week to make room for catcher Miguel Olivo, but is expected back soon.

	Clint Nageotte

But while Thornton, held back by extreme control troubles, can only be projected as major-league effective, Meche has shown he can dominate in the big leagues, and at age 25 is two years younger than Thornton.

Seattle CEO Howard Lincoln spoke recently about the team's rebuilding being a potentially quick turnaround, saying, "There is no five-year plan. The franchise is very strong financially. ... That is the one reason we see ourselves moving quickly to turn this around. If we do things right, it may not take that long to re-tool."

In Chicago a few days back, manager Bob Melvin also addressed the time to repair the team and estimated it might not take "a three-year plan. ... We owe it to our fans."

These could be well-intentioned efforts to put an upbeat spin on actions under way to correct this titanic collapse, for which the team is currently paying about $3 million per victory in payroll costs.

Yet while the Mariners' pride and marketing needs may dictate a need for speed, in baseball it may not be the most judicious way to go.

"If you're trying to do something about your situation and you go young," a National League scout said, "fans will cut you some slack and show some patience."

But as one American League club official put it, "You don't want to force it. You may have to take some lumps for a while."

How long is a while?

"Maybe a couple, three years," he said. "Kids usually take that long to get acclimated and then show if they're for real. And you have to always remember, sometimes after all that they don't work out, even if they get off to a good start. Sometimes, the slow starters are the ones that work out best."

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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