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'He's a genius' Gillick builds Mariners into baseball's best team
SEATTLE (AP) -- In the season after Ken Griffey Jr. left Seattle, the Mariners reached the AL championship series. In the season after Alex Rodriguez departed, the Mariners are 39 games over .500, have a 19-game lead in the AL West and placed a franchise-record eight players in Tuesday night's All-Star game at Safeco Field. General manager Pat Gillick came out of retirement to take the Seattle job after Woody Woodward left the Mariners' front office following the 1999 season. He seemingly can't do anything wrong in Seattle. "I knew he was a smart man," said All-Star reliever Jeff Nelson, one of three key free agents signed by Gillick after Rodriguez signed his record $252 million contract with Texas. "He's doing the same things in Seattle that he did in Toronto and Baltimore." All-Star center fielder Mike Cameron said Gillick, Seattle's All-Star architect, is more than smart. "Pat, he's a genius," said Cameron, who came to the Mariners from Cincinnati in February 2000 in the trade that sent Griffey to the Reds. "I guess I'd be a genius too if I could put a team together like this. I don't know how he did it." The Mariners wondered this spring if they would have enough offense to compete with defending champion Oakland in their division. They're not wondering any more. The Mariners haven't missed Rodriguez's offense because of the additions of free agents Bret Boone and Ichiro Suzuki, both All-Stars. Boone, a second baseman who was the AL All-Star team's cleanup hitter Tuesday night, was tied for the league's RBI lead with Boston's Manny Ramirez at 84. He was hitting .324 with 22 home runs. Boone had career highs of 24 homers and 95 RBIs with Cincinnati in 1998. Suzuki, a seven-time batting champion in Japan, was hitting .347, second in the AL to Roberto Alomar's .358 for Cleveland, with a major league-leading 134 hits at the All-Star break. "You've got to give him credit," ninth-year manager Lou Piniella said of Gillick. "He's done a heck of a job." Piniella was a good friend of Woodward, the team's former general manager, and there was speculation when Gillick arrived that Piniella couldn't co-exist with his new GM. Instead, the Mariners won a franchise-record 91 games last season, got within two games of the World Series in the ALCS against the New York Yankees and Piniella got a new three-year contract. "We talked quite a bit over the winter and I relay my needs," said Piniella, who managed Cincinnati to a World Series sweep of the Athletics in 1990. "We communicate probably more than any general manager I've ever been with. I probably talk to him two or three times a week." Gillick, 63, was out of baseball in 1999 after his three-year contract with Baltimore ran out. The Orioles made it to the ALCS in 1996 and 1997, but Gillick did not get along with the owner, Peter Angelos. With Gillick as general manager in Toronto in 1992 and 1993, the Blue Jays won the World Series. "How can you say anything bad about the job that he's done?" said All-Star first baseman John Olerud, who was signed by Gillick as a free agent away from the New York Mets after the 1999 season. Olerud was a member of the Blue Jays' World Series teams. Olerud, who won his first Gold Glove in Seattle last season, also marvels at Gillick's uncanny ability to sign productive free agents. "You make decisions on what you think is best for the ball club, what a person is capable of doing," Olerud said. "But it's kind of a crap shoot. You never know if a guy is going to get hurt or if he's going to have an off year." In addition to Olerud, Gillick brought in All-Star closer Kazuhiro Sasaki, Aaron Sele, Arthur Rhodes, Mark McLemore and Stan Javier last year. Gillick likes character. "A very important part is scouting, but the longer you're in the business, I think it's character," he said. "I think we have a lot of character. "The right fielder, Ichiro, has got good character," he said. "Certainly Nelson brings more character to the club. Boonie has basically matured quite a bit from the first time he was here. He likes to win." Familiarity breeds contempt during a long major league season, so it's nice to have a group of players that gets along, Gillick said. "I think with people having to be together for such a long period of time through spring training and the course of the championship season, I think you have to have guys who have good character and who get along with their teammates," he said. "So, in addition to the defense and the pitching, I think there's a pretty good feeling in the clubhouse."
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