Notebook | Todd Cruz's death shocks ex-teammate

Julio Cruz was devastated to hear of the death this week of Todd Cruz, his friend and teammate in the Mariners' infield in the early 1980s.

"It's so sad," he said. "I just remember a guy who came to play. He celebrated the game."

They were called "the Cruz connection" — second baseman Julio, one of the early beacons of Seattle's expansion franchise; and shortstop Todd, who came to the Mariners before the 1982 season, along with Rod Allen and Jim Essian, in a deal that sent Tom Paciorek to the White Sox.

The Cruzes weren't related — Todd was from Detroit, Julio from Brooklyn — but they meshed in '82, another in a long line of bad Mariners seasons. Todd played 136 games at shortstop, Julio 154 at second, as the Mariners finished 76-86.

"He had one of the best arms — even today, I haven't seen an arm from a shortstop like he had," Julio Cruz said. "He was just neat to be around. I remember he used my bats — I didn't have many hits in them."

Their partnership was short-lived. Julio Cruz was traded to the White Sox on June 15, 1983; 15 days later, Todd Cruz was sold to the Orioles.

It was a fortuitous departure — Todd became Baltimore's third baseman, and landed a ring when the Orioles defeated Philadelphia in the World Series that year.

"He was proud of that ring," Julio Cruz said. "He showed me that ring left and right. He was also a very proud father. He talked about his kids all the time."

Julio Cruz lost touch with Todd Cruz over the years. The last time they saw each other, several years ago, was at a batting cage in Southern California, where Todd Cruz was teaching hitting.

Then, tragically, Todd Cruz hit the news again on Thursday with details of his death, at age 52, in Bullhead City, Ariz. The cause of death is unknown, pending an autopsy. Cruz was survived by two sons, Thaddeus and Dario.

Cruz is the second member of the 1982 Mariners to die. Outfielder Al Cowens was 50 in 2002 when he succumbed to complications from congestive heart failure.

Gillick guesswork

Pat Gillick's future has been subject to considerable scrutiny, including heavy speculation he might end up in the Mariners' organization after he "retires" from his job as Phillies GM after the season.

However, at least one well-connected baseball official believes that Gillick could indeed end up working for one of his former employees — Toronto, not Seattle.

"If I was a betting man, I'd bet on Toronto for Pat," said the official. "Follow the bread crumbs — Cito [Gaston] is back, and others from the old regime. It makes sense."

Of course, Gillick, 70, lives in Seattle. But when he worked for the Mariners, he lived in Toronto.

Notes and quotes

• I mocked Houston GM Ed Wade earlier this year for what I deemed a foolish decision to cling to the hope of contending this season. But he was right, I was wrong.

Wade's decision to get Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins at the trade deadline is looking pretty smart. Entering the weekend, Wolf was 3-1 with a 3.80 earned-run average in eight starts for Houston, and Hawkins has been brilliant (14 appearances, 11 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks, 17 strikeouts, no runs allowed).

Oh, and the Astros have almost climbed into contention, pulling within six games of Milwaukee in the wild-card race by winning eight straight. And they play 16 of their final 22 games against teams with losing records.

• The Orioles, in the midst of a six-game losing streak, picked up the 2009 option of manager Dave Trembley on Friday.

Trembley deserved it, because the Orioles are still playing hard and pointed in the right direction despite a second-half tumble.

But the organization hopes the announcement doesn't have the same effect as the one last Aug. 22 that they were dropping the interim tag from Trembley. He had replaced the fired Sam Perlozzo on June 18.

The Orioles went out and promptly lost nine straight games, one of which — 30-3 to Texas — occurred hours after the announcement, and was the worst in franchise history.

• Boy, it didn't take long to kill the baseball buzz in Chicago.

A week ago, the talk was of a Cubs-White Sox World Series. Now White Sox MVP candidate Carlos Quentin might be out for the season with a wrist injury, while the Cubs sweat out arm injuries to their two aces, Rich Harden and Carlos Zambrano.

Both teams still might make the postseason. But in that snakebit baseball city, it doesn't bode well.