Johnson Trade Talk Cools Off

Music blared from clubhouse speakers and Randy Johnson went about the business of preparing for his next start for the Seattle Mariners.

Unlike Thursday, when teammates gathered around television monitors in the afternoon, listening to the latest reports on the club’s effort to trade one of baseball’s premier pitchers, eyes were fixed Friday on the College World Series and a telecast of the Atlanta Braves-Chicago Cubs game.

Before Johnson, who last week renewed his request to be dealt to another team, took the mound against Tampa Bay Devil Rays, it was difficult to find anyone in the Seattle clubhouse willing to speculate about whether it might be the 34-year-old left-hander’s last appearance for the Mariners.

“In all sincerity, I’d like to be a little more forthcoming with you. I’d like to be very direct,” Woody Woodward, head of Seattle’s baseball operations, said Friday.

“But after yesterday, with all of the rumors and speculation that was out there--that was false and did not come from Seattle--I’m going to have no further comment on this situation. Period. I handled 50 to 75 phone calls yesterday, and it was all speculation I want to emphasize that we did not start.”

Reports Wednesday centered around talks with at least three teams--the Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees. Although Woodward insisted a deal wasn’t imminent, the Mariners appeared intent on granting Johnson’s wish to be traded.

Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman spoke with Woodward three times Thursday and emerged from the conversations with a sense that Seattle might complete a deal within 48 hours.

Without reveling any names, Cashman said the Mariners requested a player the Yankees were unwilling to trade.

“I asked him how flexible they were and got the impression they weren’t very,” Cashman said, adding he had not yet made a counteroffer.

Meanwhile, Woodward characterized reports that the Mariners were close to sending Johnson to the Dodgers for pitcher Hideo Nomo and an outfielder as rumors that caught officials for both teams off-guard.

Johnson, who will be a free agent, asked to be traded last fall after the Mariners indicated they would not renew his contract--worth $6 million this year--beyond this season. He renewed the request last week.

Seattle Manager Lou Piniella said he didn’t feel speculation of a possible trade involving the team’s top pitcher had become a distraction for the Mariners.

Johnson took a 4-3 record and 6.02 earned-run average into Friday night’s game. He struck out 15 in a 3-1 victory over Tampa Bay last Sunday, and the Devil Rays expected to see him on top of his game again.

“I can’t speak for Randy, but I know he’s a competitor,” Tampa Bay center fielder Quinton McCracken said. “And when there’s adversity, like every competitor, he picks up his game.”