Miracle Worker

0 Comments | Insight on the News, July 23, 2001 | by Bob Cohn

General manager Pat Gillick has transformed the Seattle Mariners into a contender.

Pat Gillick has always enjoyed a challenge -- he used to memorize pages from the telephone book -- but this seemed extreme. Lured out of a comfortable retirement to become general manager (GM) of the Seattle Mariners in October 1999, Gillick joined the team just as superstars Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez split. Yet less than two years later, the Mariners are headed toward the All-Star break with the best record in baseball. "I wouldn't say it's a fluke," Gillick says. "But it's one of those things where everything seems to be falling into place."

There's lots of baseball left, of course, and the Mariners play in a weak division (Oakland, Anaheim and Texas are all .500 or below). Still, Gillick has helped construct a club seemingly set for the long haul. Nearly half of the Mariners' roster has turned over since 1999, with the key additions being outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, baseball's biggest buzz of the year, and bullpen ace Kazuhiro Sasaki, who managed 37 saves for the Mariners last year, a rookie record. Overall, Seattle has good pitching, a solid defense and timely hitting -- and a great deal of the credit goes to Gillick.

Gillick graduated from the University of Southern California with a business degree at the age of 20 and later pitched in the minors. Earl Weaver, who managed Gillick in the Baltimore Orioles' farm system, once said he was "too cerebral" to be successful. It's true; Gillick is smart. His memory and ability to recall names, faces and phone numbers is legendary. Veteran scout Gordon Lakey once said that Gillick "could find people the CIA couldn't."

But according to Mariners President Chuck Armstrong, Gillick's best asset is his instinct, not his intellect. "The difference between winners and losers is the guy with the good gut," Armstrong says. "When it comes down to making the final decisions, it's got to be visceral."

Instinct or intellect, Gillick has managed to put together a winning team while remaining within the $80 million payroll budget (neither penurious nor outlandish) that management dictated. "It's kind of corny," he says, "but the more you're around, the more you appreciate character and chemistry. You can have all the ability you want, but if you don't have the right people with the proper approach, you're not gonna get it done....

"Sometimes you have to sacrifice talent to get the type of character you want on your club. And I keep saying this: Injuries are such a big factor in determining winners and losers, so you've got to have people who are multiposition guys who can play different spots. You've got to have some parts that are interchangeable, regulars who can play other positions."

In his first GM job, Gillick constructed the 1992 and 1993 World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays. Then, after retiring for the first time in 1995, he molded the Orioles into contenders. But Gillick, a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and three-time American League executive of the year, wasn't thinking about his image when he came to Seattle. He had a plan -- to gather the right players with the proper approach.

"He has one of the superior minds of the game," says Toronto GM Gord Ash, a protege of Gillick's. "And he's a tireless worker. Those attributes make for a dangerous combination."