Bullpen Hangs Perez Out to Dry

Interleague play was introduced as a nice treat, an opportunity to put new faces in different places.

When the Seattle Mariners play the Dodgers this weekend it will be more like an appetizer, a prelude of what’s to come. If you think Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez look good in Dodger Stadium, imagine one of them playing there in a Dodger uniform.

It could happen, with a little patience and a lot of money.

Both become free agents after the 2000 season, and both expect to command salaries that will make Kevin Brown’s $105-million contract look like the contents of the tips cup at a frozen yogurt shop.

There’s no way the Mariners can afford to keep both Griffey and Rodriguez. Not if those rumblings about them seeking $200-million contracts are to be believed. One of them has to go. And when the topic involves big money, it doesn’t take long for the Dodgers and Fox to enter the conversation.

This is a company that talked about spending a billion dollars to buy a soccer team. A couple hundred million isn’t going to scare these folks away.

For the Mariners, money is an issue. Seattle’s about-to-open Safeco Field apparently isn’t the solution. Although it has more than 60 luxury boxes that will lease from between $75,000 and $145,000 a year, the Mariners still say they need taxpayer help to pay off the $100 million overruns on the new stadium.

This is just another case of baseball owners asking for more and giving the fans less. The Seattle situation parallels that of the San Diego Padres, who used the euphoria of last year’s World Series run to win public approval for a new stadium, then put a higher premium on maintaining the payroll than keeping the core of the team intact.

Seattle’s ballpark funding won approval during the Mariners’ playoff run of 1995. The $517-million Safeco Field with a retractable roof was built primarily with tax money.

The Mariners chipped in $45 million. Then they had the nerve to insinuate that they might not re-sign their superstars without even more public help because of the added stadium costs.

Griffey didn’t appreciate being used as a pawn in the funding battles. He also doesn’t like playing for a team with such a weak pitching staff. And this week he spoke again about his issues with the excessive travel dictated by Seattle’s isolated location in the Pacific Northwest.

Leaving the cozy indoors of the Kingdome for Safeco won’t help Griffey’s pursuit of Hank Aaron’s career home run record either. Now he’ll have to hit in the cool, damp air with fences that are 14 feet farther away down the right-field line and six feet farther in right-center.

The Dodger Stadium dimensions (330 feet down the lines, 385 in the power alleys) are similar to Safeco’s, but the climate is better.

As for travel, the Dodgers don’t have to leave the state to play two division rivals and the Arizona Diamondbacks are only an hour’s flight away.

Griffey’s wife and kids live in Orlando, Fla., which might make him partial to playing for an Eastern team. But the Dodgers could just have the team jet swing by and pick up his family on the way to Brown’s family in Georgia and bring them all here.

Then there’s the matter of poetic justice. The Dodgers surrendered the home run that pushed Aaron past Babe Ruth, so why shouldn’t they benefit when Griffey hits the last of the 378 home runs he needs to top Aaron?

There are even more reasons to picture Rodriguez in Dodger Blue. First of all, his agent, Scott Boras, has a strong relationship with Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone. Boras represents current Dodgers Brown, Adrian Beltre, Angel Pena and Darren Dreifort.

Griffey’s endorsement career has flourished despite Seattle’s small media market. But Rodriguez has only scratched the surface. Put him in L.A. and he could be the next Ricky Martin.

Griffey will be 31 in the 2001 season. Rodriguez will be only 25 when it begins. If he wants long-term security and a mega-salary, Rodriguez could be locked up for 10 years, the prime years of his career, for $200 million.

While that astronomical figure sounds like a quantum leap, it’s really only a logical progression.

The Dodgers are paying Raul Mondesi an average of almost $10 million a season for the 1999-2001 part of the contract he signed last year. Brown’s contract averages $15 million a year. Rodriguez would come in at $20 million a year.

Of course the Dodgers would have to cut costs somewhere. The logical place to look would be Mondesi. Once the Dodgers were assured of landing Rodriguez or Griffey, they could start shopping Raul. Trade him for a package of minor leaguers that could help replenish the barren farm system. If the Dodgers could discuss trading Mondesi in a deal for 34-year-old Cincinnati Red shortstop Barry Larkin last off-season, they certainly could afford to part with Mondesi for what would amount to a 25-year-old Rodriguez and prospects.

Or if the Mariners try to trade either of the two players before they become free agents, Mondesi could be part of the package.

It’s only one of the thoughts to keep in mind during this weekend’s three-game series.

Anything beats thinking about this dismal season.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.