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player ready...Randy Johnson won’t be satisfied just to do it again. He wants to do it better:
“If I was to go out there and do the same thing over and over, I would never get any better, would I?”
He’s already pretty good.
“There is always room for improvement,” said Seattle’s 6-foot-10-inch Cy Young Award winner, nicknamed “the Big Unit.” “I’m a competitor. All competitors always expect to do better.”
Still, facts are facts. His accomplishments last season were so exceptional he almost became the first American League pitcher in 50 years to win the league’s pitching triple crown.
He finished first in two of the three major departments, with a 2.48 earned-run average and 294 strikeouts. And he won 18 games, one short of a sweep in all three categories.
There was more. He led the Mariners to their first division title, was a near-unanimous choice Cy Young choice and set a record for the best one-season winning percentage for 20 or more decisions, going 18-2 (.900) during the regular season.
He has been around long enough to understand winning the AL West two years in a row is a difficult assignment. But until proven otherwise, the Mariners are the team to beat, even though Johnson concedes “everybody will be shooting for us.”
He also indicated there will be more pressure.
“Almost all of our players had great years and there will be higher expectations,” he said.
More than anyone, manager Lou Piniella is aware of the perils ahead.
“We have some very visible players,” Piniella acknowledged. “Junior (Ken Griffey Jr.) is the best all-around player in the game. Randy is coming off a Cy Young season and Edgar Martinez won the batting championship.”
But there is a definite downside.
“We have had a 40 percent turnover,” Piniella conceded. “Three-fourths of the infield is new. We have a new left-fielder, we could wind up with three new starting pitchers and we’re going to have some new people in the bullpen.”
The only infield holdover is second baseman Joey Cora. Russ Davis, who was with the Yankees last season, has replaced Mike Blowers at third base. Alex Rodriguez, who had only 142 at-bats last year, is now at short. And Paul Sorrento, who helped Cleveland win the pennant, has taken over at first base from Tino Martinez, who went to the Yankees in the Davis deal.
Two-thirds of the outfield is intact, with Griffey in center and Jay Buhner in right. Luis Polonia is the new left-fielder and will lead off. Polonia is a dependable hitter capable of a .300 season and 50 to 60 stolen bases.
“In some ways it’s the same club, but we have a lot of work to do,” Piniella acknowledged.
Johnson and injury-plagued Chris Bosio are the only holdover starters. Sterling Hitchcock, former Yankee left-hander, figures to the No. 2 starter behind Johnson. Among those competing for the other starting berths are Bob Wolcott–who went 3-2 last season but pitched well against the Indians in the playoffs–and rookies Matt Wagner, Paul Menhart and Makoto Suzuki.
Norm Charlton is the Mariners’ closer and among the league’s most effective finishers. The setup men will be Bobby Ayala and Mike Jackson, beginning his second stint in Seattle.
“The way relief pitching has evolved, one man in the bullpen is not enough,” Charlton said. “Today a club has to have two good setup men. You need them to get to the closer.”
Charlton was reminded of the 1990 season when he was a member of Cincinnati’s “Nasty Boys.” The Reds had two other flame-throwers in the bullpen: Randy Myers and Rob Dibble.
“Randy got all the saves,” Charlton recalled. “But it may have been the first time a club had three strong closers. It proved how important it was to have a deep bullpen.”
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The Mariners had a good offensive club last year and may be even stronger if only because Griffey appears to be recovered from injuries. He appeared in only 72 games last year and hit a career-low .258.
Buhner helped pick up the slack and responded with his best season–40 home runs and 121 runs batted in, third best in the league.
“It was a lot of home runs for me,” said Buhner, whose previous one-season high was 27. “Some people have said I can’t do it again. But for me to say that would be defeatist. It doesn’t have to be my peak year.”
Like Randy Johnson, Buhner is a competitor and competitors always expect to do better. But Buhner and his teammates are aware the California Angels will be stronger this season.
“In my opinion,” Buhner said, “it’s going to come down between them and us.”