SEATTLE -- The Mariners think they know something the New
York Mets didn't believe: Rickey Henderson is still good enough to
help a team win a ring.
|  | | Rickey Henderson figures to fill the leadoff and left-field slots for the Mariners. |
Badly in need of help in their bid for the AL West title in the
season following the departure of Ken Griffey Jr., the Mariners
brought the future Hall of Famer to Seattle.
Henderson, 41, who agreed to terms on a contract for the
remainder of the season, is expected to join the Mariners on Saturday
or Sunday at Safeco Field against Tampa Bay.
"We just feel he has something left," general manager Pat
Gillick said Wednesday night during Seattle's 4-0 victory over
Minnesota that gave the division-leading Mariners a 13-5 record at
home.
"I'm happy to see him coming over here," manager Lou Piniella
said. "He's had a great career."
Said Mariners star shortstop Alex Rodriguez: "He will give us a
little swagger that we maybe didn't have."
Henderson owns two World Series rings and has played in seven
postseasons, including last year with the Mets when he hit .315,
scored 89 runs and had 37 stolen bases. The Mets released him last
Saturday after he got off to a .219 start with two RBI.
It's a gamble by the Mariners, but not a fiscal one. The Mets
will be responsible for most of his $1.9 million salary this season
with the Mariners getting Henderson's services for a prorated
percentage of the major league minimum of $200,000, about $150,000.
The Mets will be responsible for the rest.
The Mariners have a $59 million payroll and team CEO Howard
Lincoln has said the team will spend between $65 million to $70
million to try to get back to the playoffs for the first time since
1997.
In New York, Henderson was booed at Shea Stadium this season and
wasn't a favorite of manager Bobby Valentine, a fact acknowledged
by Gillick, who was Henderson's general manager in Toronto in 1993.
"We know he and Bobby Valentine didn't see eye to eye,"
Gillick said.
No problem, said Piniella, who managed Henderson in New York
with the Yankees from 1986-88.
"When I managed him before, he was very good with his
teammates," Piniella said.
For the Mariners, their only question about Henderson is his
future: Does he have one?
"That's the big question," said former Mets teammate John
Olerud, who left New York to become Seattle's first baseman in
December. "But if he plays like he did last year, he'll definitely
help us out."
When Henderson arrives in Seattle, he will be immediately
inserted in the lineup by Piniella as the Mariners' leadoff hitter,
a role that has been filled by Mike Cameron and Mark McLemore this
season. Piniella will use him as much as he can use a veteran of
his age as Seattle's left fielder. Stan Javier and McLemore have
played that position most of the season for the Mariners.
"I guess this means that I'll be batting ninth all the time
now, huh?" said Cameron, who came to the Cincinnati Reds in the
Griffey trade and now has replaced Griffey in center.
The fleet Cameron will play in the outfield next to Henderson. A
year ago, they were National League opponents.
"Bring him on, man," said Cameron, who heartily endorsed
Gillick's decision to sign Henderson. "I have an opportunity to
learn from a guy who leads baseball in stolen bases. He's been
around long enough to know every pitcher."
Henderson, a 10-time All-Star, comes to Seattle, his seventh
major league team, with 2,837 career hits and 1,339 career stolen
bases.
"His credentials are amazing," Rodriguez said.
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Lou Piniella is happy to be reunited with Rickey Henderson.
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