Over the past week, Seattle has re-signed three potential free agents. The Mariners declined Edgar Martinez's $10M option on Thursday morning, entitling him to a buyout reported to be worth either one or two million dollars. However by the end of the day, the two parties had worked out a one-year $4M contract to keep Martinez in Seattle for what will likely be his final season prior to retirement.

Seattle signed Martinez, a native of New York, as a nondrafted free agent out of Puerto Rico's Interamerican University in 1982. He spent close to five seasons working his way through their minor league system and made his debut with the Mariners on September 12, 1987. Martinez is one of the few players of this era to remain with a single team for his entire career, and it would have been disappointing if he'd finished his career in another uniform.

However the 39-year-old's age began to show a bit this season, particularly with his injury. Consequently, the Mariners would have behaved highly irresponsibly had they picked up his option. I find it likely that Seattle could have acquired similar production to that Edgar will provide in 2003 for a much lower cost than the $4M he'll receive. Nonetheless, there are times when it's acceptable to pay for history. I think the clubhouse loss and the fan irritation that would have occurred if they had not brought Edgar back could have easily derailed their attempts to compete now.

In a far less noticed move, the Mariners also re-signed Shigetoshi Hasegawa on Thursday. Seattle had a $2M option on Hasegawa, but they were able to re-negotiate so that they'll only pay him $1.8M for 2003. Unfortunately, that salary is still too high. The only season in which Hasegawa has posted good skills was 2001, when he had the least innings of any year of his career due to injury. At 34, I don't expect him to rebound. Seattle almost certainly could have found a better reliever at minimum wage.

On Friday, Seattle chose to bring back catcher Dan Wilson, who has been with the team for the past nine seasons. He signed a two-year contract worth $7M. with which I'm also unhappy. The 33-year-old was healthy in 2002, but at that age catchers start to break down. Wilson displayed a second wind this past season, hitting .295 with a .326 OBP and .396 SLG on 106 H, 16 2B, 1 3B, and 6 HR with an 18:81 BB:K and 1/1 SB% in 359 AB. However, such career years for catchers rarely repeat. He should fall back to his previous level this season and may continue to drop off in the final year of the contract.

Seattle isn't fond of Ben Davis, but he's capable of matching the production they'll probably receive from Wilson over the next couple years. The Mariners also likely would have received nice compensation had they allowed Wilson to head elsewhere as a free agent, though he might have accepted arbitration had it been offered.

Despite their reputation for letting free agents go, I think Seattle has fallen into the trap of simply re-signing their own players, which is far more dangerous with non-stars as it frequently inflates the cost of marginal players. The Mariners, unlike many teams, don't have talent in their farm system that makes a run in a few years a better plan than going for it now. Seattle's window of opportunity to win a World Series is closing fast with the situation further complicated by the talent in the rest of their division. As a result, they'll need to make much better decisions for the remainder of the off-season to stay in competition for the playoffs next year.

The Mariners have reportedly narrowed their search for a new manager down to four candidates. None of the internal candidates we discussed have made the final cut. Seattle will choose from a group that includes, Jim Riggleman, Sam Perlozzo, Bob Melvin, and Buddy Bell.

We've looked at Melvin before, as he was a candidate for some of the other managerial openings this off-season and is still a candidate for the Cubs' job. You're likely familiar with Bell and Riggleman as former major league managers. Bell spent last season as a minor league instructor for Cleveland after the Rockies fired him as their manager. Riggleman spent a season with the Indians as their third base coach after the Chicago Cubs fired him as their manager in 1999. For the last two seasons, he's served as the Dodgers bench coach.

The 51-year-old Perlozzo played professional ball as a middle infielder for nine years, only making the majors briefly in two seasons. Immediately following his retirement as a player, he took a position managing the Mets' Short-Season New York-Pennsylvania League club. He moved up to manage A+ the next season, spent two years managing at AA, and one year at AAA before joining the Mets' major league coaching staff as their third base coach. Perlozzo must have really enjoyed coaching third, as he spent the next 14 seasons in that capacity, 3 years with New York, 3 years with Cincinnati, 3 years with Seattle, and 5 seasons with the Orioles. Baltimore promoted him to bench coach in 2001 and he's held that position since that time.

I'm a bit concerned that his last minor league managerial experience came 16 years ago, however his position as bench coach for the Orioles should have helped refresh his memory over the past two seasons. Perlozzo appears at least as prepared as any of the other candidates, probably more qualified than Melvin. He'd probably be my pick of the four, as I don't like recycling old managers. However while Bell is likely the worst choice of the group, none of them should significantly harm the Mariners.