Moves shouldn't end with Creek

When he sat down for lunch at his Palm Harbor, Fla., home on Wednesday the only thing certain in Doug Creek's life was the sandwich in front of him.

Recently designated for assignment by the dreadful Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Creek, 33-year-old left-handed reliever, didn't know if, where, or when he would be pitching next. He didn't know if he would be in the big leagues or the bushes. Didn't know if he would be in a pennant race or with a bottom feeder.

And then D-Rays General Manager Chuck LeMar called and told him he was going to Seattle. Going, as new teammate Mike Cameron told him yesterday when they hugged in the clubhouse, "From worst to first, baby."

Creek put down the phone, picked up his wife, Alison, and swung her around in the kitchen, an improvisational victory dance that looked like a carnival ride. Creek was out of the steamy nowhere of Tampa Bay, back in the big leagues and smack in the middle of a roiling pennant race.

"I don't think I finished my lunch. I was really excited," said Creek, who arrived in the Mariners' clubhouse, from Tampa, yesterday afternoon. "It's an amazing thing to come over here and expect to win every day. The guys here have won and know how to win and it's going to be a lot of fun to play here," said Creek.

Creek is another small puzzle piece. A rubber-armed left-hander Manager Lou Piniella can use in a sticky, sixth or seventh inning to get out Anaheim's Garret Anderson or Oakland's Eric Chavez, or New York's Jason Giambi, or any number of other dangerous left-handed hitters.

"I can give them a strong arm every night," Creek said. "I'll go out there and I won't take anything home with me. I'll leave it all out there on the mound and be ready to go again the next night."

A week before the trade deadline, the Mariners have made a move, but is that all there is? Is Doug Creek the Mariners' answer to the New York Yankees getting Raul Mondesi and Jeff Weaver and Oakland getting Ted Lilly and Ray Durham?

Unless the question is — In 2002, when the Mariners were in the cauldron of a pennant race, and in desperate need of another bat in the lineup, who was the only player they picked up before the trade deadline? — Doug Creek shouldn't be the answer.

The Mariners need something more. And please, please don't tell me their budget won't allow them to make a trade. That excuse worked for former owners George Argyros and Jeff Smulyan. It worked in 1985, but it won't work today.

This is a rich franchise, blessed with packed houses and the security of a fat, new radio deal.

It can't cry poor mouth anymore.

This is a franchise that should be thinking big. All year. Every year. And right now, these Mariners need to get better. Despite what the standings say, the Mariners may be the third-best team in the American League West.

Forget the talk about Kenny Rogers or Bartolo Colon. The Mariners don't need another starting pitcher. Piniella will take his chances with a rotation of Freddy Garcia, Jamie Moyer, Joel Pineiro, James Baldwin and John Halama.

This team needs hitting. The offense has been crippled by the lack of production from Ruben Sierra and Jeff Cirillo, Mike Cameron and Bret Boone.

It needs another bat.

Jose Valentin, from the out-of-contention White Sox, a switch-hitter who can play left field and third base, is available. So is another White Sox, Carlos Lee, a butcher in left field, but a big bat in the middle of the lineup.

This franchise can't settle for being competitive anymore. Close doesn't count.

That philosophy imploded with the Kingdome. Failing to make a trade would be failing the fans who built the gorgeous stadium that has brought the Mariners so much success. Management would be selling out Seattle.

These next six days will show us how serious they are about winning a World Series. These last days before the trade deadline will show us if Mariners ownership is in it to win or merely in it to be competitive and to get rich

The offensive answers are out there. Maybe Brian Giles from Pittsburgh. Or former Mariner Jose Cruz Jr. Or, if they Mariners truly are bold (and we know they aren't), they could trade for Detroit's Bobby Higginson, even though he is going to make $11 million next season.

Doug Creek got the phone call that saved his season this week.

Now, for the Mariners, there has to be something more.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com.