Mariners
Delgado a fit with M's?

By Bob Finnigan
Seattle Times staff reporter

Carlos Delgado

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While it is fairly certain the Mariners have Carlos Delgado at the top of their winter wish list, the former Blue Jays first baseman seems to hold Seattle in similar regard.

Mariners officials met Friday with David Sloan, Delgado's Florida-based agent, near the end of the general-manager meetings in Key Biscayne, to express their interest, which is known to be considerable.

A source close to the first baseman said, "If the Mariners have a great deal of interest in Carlos, then I know from him that interest is reciprocated. He was comfortable in Toronto, and Seattle is very similar to Toronto."

The Seattle club is thought to rate Delgado highly on several fronts.

The most obvious is his production, averaging 36 homers and 113 runs batted in over his nine years as a regular for the Jays, along with a .282 average, .392 on base percentage and .556 slugging, all eye-opening.

All this comes from the left side, highly desirable at Safeco Field, and the sole reason the Mariners have Delgado ahead of Northwest native Richie Sexson on their list of position players.

In addition, the Mariners are seeking clubhouse leadership for a club that suffered badly from the lack of it in 2004.

It is expected Seattle will make an offer of three or four years to Delgado, who will take a significant cut from the $19.7 million he made last season.

Sloan declined to comment on the nature of the talks he had with Mariners GM Bill Bavasi and assistant GM Lee Pelekoudas in Florida, and the Mariners have a policy of not talking about negotiations.

The source said an article that ran in the Toronto Sun yesterday laid out a good rationale for Delgado's interest in the Mariners. The article handicapped the teams said to have an interest in Delgado and gave Seattle a slight edge (5-2) over Baltimore (3-1) and the New York Yankees (5-1).
 
The article also said the Mariners are chasing right-hander Carl Pavano, who was 18-8 with a 3.00 earned-run average for Florida in 2004, and third baseman Corey Koskie, who drove in 71 runs for Minnesota last season.

The Yankees could go after Delgado if they succeed in the pursuit of insurance money to cover the $70 million due Jason Giambi, who missed most of the 2004 season with a tumor.

The Angels could get interested if they fail in their pursuit of free agent Carlos Beltran to play center field, with the idea then of moving Darin Erstad from first to center and signing Delgado to play first.

Coaches hired

The Mariners announced that they have completed Mike Hargrove's coaching staff. They signed former catcher Jeff Newman as their third-base coach and catching instructor, and Carlos Garcia, as first-base coach and infield instructor. Seattle has retained Bryan Price as pitching coach, and signed Ron Hassey (bench coach), Don Baylor (hitting coach) and Jim Slaton (bullpen coach).

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