Baldwin, 30, inked a one-year contract with the Mariners Wednesday, joining last year’s American League West Division champions for the 2002 season. Rumors had been flying since last week that the right-handed free agent would sign with the M’s.
Baldwin, a native of Moore County and a 1990 Pinecrest graduate, agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.25 million of guaranteed money and performance incentives that could push his earnings up to the $3 million mark, according to a story in the Seattle Times. The option year is reported to be worth $4 million.
Baldwin, who has posted double-digit wins in each of his six years in the major leagues, was 10-11 pitching for the Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.
In 2000, he went 14-7, including a 10-1 start, with the Chicago White Sox and was the winning pitcher in the All-Star game. But he suffered shoulder problems beginning in July of that season, missing several starts for the Sox, the team he signed with directly out of high school in 1990.
The White Sox came out of nowhere that season to claim the American League Central Division title. In the playoffs, Baldwin started game three of the Divisional Series against the Mariners.
Despite the shoulder problems, he went six innings in the contest, giving up just three hits and one run in a game that the Mariners would eventually win 2-1 to clinch the best-of-five series.
After surgery on his right shoulder during the off-season, he missed the first month of the 2001 season before returning to work a total of 175 innings. He was traded by the White Sox to the Dodgers midway through last season.
Part of the delay in announcing his signing with the Mariners concerned that shoulder. He passed an extensive physical for the Mariners on Monday.
The Seattle paper reported that Seattle General Manager Pat Gillick said during a press conference Wednesday that “We feel very, very secure about the examination he had. Usually it takes a year to come back from the sort of injury he’s had, so consequently he should be stronger in 2002 than he was last season.”
Seattle, much like the White Sox in 2000, was a surprise runaway winner in the American League West Division.
Managed by veteran Lou Pinella, they set an AL record with 116 regular-season victories, defeating Cleveland in the AL Divisional Series before losing to the New York Yankees in five games during the league’s Championship Series.
Last year Baldwin earned $5.9 million, but according to the story in the Seattle paper, he was a victim of a sluggish free-agent market.
The paper also reported that his agent, Rex Gary, said Baldwin turned down a recent offer for more guaranteed money to come to the Mariners.
“I had a few teams out there willing to sign me,” Baldwin is quoted as saying. “But there’s a difference once you’ve been in the game and made what you’ve made, and you’re able to go out and choose what you want to do in life. I chose to be a Mariner and to be a winner.”
Baldwin will report to the Mariners when spring training starts in two weeks.
