No. 1 starter still M's No. 1 priority

Landing a top starting pitcher remains the primary goal for the Mariners with spring training just weeks away.

Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi on Thursday refuted speculation he had dropped out of the bidding for Baltimore Orioles starter Erik Bedard. While not actually mentioning Bedard by name, Bavasi insisted that securing a "top-of-the-rotation" arm was crucial to his team's near-term plans and surpasses the need to hold on to top young prospects.

"It's not as tough to go from where we were in 2004 to where we were last year as it's going to be to go from 88 wins to where we want to be," Bavasi told reporters at the team's annual spring-training luncheon.

And to get there, he said, a No. 1 starter still is key.

"We're at the point now where we have to do our best to make those moves for a top-of-the-rotation guy, so we can slot the rest of the rotation where it should be," he said. "For us right now, the most important thing is the top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. Not just a No. 2, 3 or 4 guy. A No. 1 guy."

Bavasi admitted he's shocked the market has taken this long to play out without a deal. Any deal will almost certainly involve Seattle trading young outfielder Adam Jones, but Bavasi — while again not naming anyone directly — knows a top starter will cost talented prospects that other teams have been reluctant to part with this winter.

"We're not one of those clubs," he said, adding that his best offer has been made and likely trumps any competing ones. "We're prepared to move ... as I'm sitting here today, I think we will [get a deal done]. I think there's a good chance of that."

Orioles president Andy MacPhail admitted this week that his "drop dead" date for finalizing a deal is more flexible than he'd let on. He'd previously insisted on moving Bedard by month's end, but now says he's open to stretching it until the Feb. 13 date when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

The Seattle rotation was a prime topic of discussion Thursday when it came to its impact on a bullpen that collapsed last August. Newly hired bullpen coach Norm Charlton, a minor-league coach for the team last season, suggested former manager Mike Hargrove might have inflamed the problem by overworking the relievers in April, May and June in order to pad his win total and save his job.

Current manager John McLaren, the bench coach last season before replacing Hargrove as manager on July 2, was asked whether there was any validity to what Charlton suspected.

"Yes," McLaren said.

But McLaren refused to speculate about how much damage Hargrove's early bullpen use cost the team. The bottom line, he said, is that the starters have to go deeper.

Charlton seconded that notion, as did closer J.J. Putz, who added that the largely inexperienced bullpen was already facing its own challenges apart from the early-departing rotation.

"I think the only problem was that they were young, and a lot of those guys, it was the first time they were pitching in September," Putz said. "And they didn't realize what kind of toll that takes on your body in the major leagues."

Bavasi has heard the flip side about dealing for Bedard — about how the Mariners will be sacrificing defense and a key part of the future if Jones is traded, along with others. He admits his father, longtime Dodgers GM Buzzie Bavasi, would never have traded an everyday, star position player for a top starting pitcher.

But that was a different time, different era.

"Today, there's no pitching," Bavasi said. "It's not out there."

That's why the Mariners have stuck it out this long. News reports now indicate the Reds and Cubs are out of the Bedard sweepstakes, while the Mets might be reluctant to trump Seattle's best offer.

And Bavasi insists his offer won't improve. He has let it be known he'll give up some of the farm — but not all of it.

"I don't think you can give a club its terms and its price," he said. "We can move a premier prospect and numbers [of players], but we're not going to move a number of premium prospects."

Hence, the current stalemate with Baltimore.

The Mariners have also been linked to trade discussions involving pitchers like Ian Snell of the Pirates and Joe Blanton of the Athletics. But neither of those two fits the top-of-the-rotation description.

Besides Bedard, the only projected No. 1 starter available via trade or free agency is Johan Santana of the Twins. But Santana has a no-trade clause and is reluctant to pitch on the West Coast, leaving Bedard as the only realistic hope for Bavasi at getting the "real, rare animal" type of arm he wants.

"Last year, we were able to compete, but at the wrong time stopped competing," he said of his team's division chances. "We feel we have to make a move — one more move."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com