ESPN.com: ESPNMagazine

[Print without images]

All architects know when they submit a plan, it's going to come back with a few cost-cutting suggestions from the guys who write the checks. Tile in the foyer, not marble. Shingles on the roof, not slate. What they don't expect is that those cuts will ever turn into the elements that win them honors and critical acclaim.

So Mariners GM Pat Gillick laughs at his good fortune. "Coming out of the spring, I thought we had an 82-80 team," he says, looking at the rain falling outside his undecorated office at Safeco Field. "But I also thought Ichiro would hit between .280 and .300, not .350. And I had no idea that Boone would replace Alex offensively, even for half a season."

Ichiro Suzuki and Bret Boone were, in reality, signed for defense more than offense, as Gillick -- who won a couple of World Series rings in Toronto with supreme defenders like Devon White and Roberto Alomar -- was essentially devising the best Plan B he could. "It's always been my preference when building a team to focus on pitching and defense," Gillick says. "But the old Mariners teams had Griffey and Rodriguez, who gave you the complete package of power, speed and defense. I'd be foolish to say I wouldn't want those guys on my team."

But a budget is a budget, and a $252 million shortstop didn't fit on Gillick's spreadsheet. Just like a year earlier, when Gillick's hand was forced by Griffey, the GM knew he needed a new approach. Gillick placed his priorities more on replacing gloves than numbers. "I prefer a speed/defense type player to a guy who is all offense," Gillick says. "So I went looking for guys who would prevent the other team from scoring."

What he didn't know is that these moves would turn into so many hits.

This article appears in the July 23 issue of ESPN The Magazine.