ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — After finding their new first baseman, the New York Mets kept trying to land some really big names.
“We have several larger deals that we’re still thinking about and contemplating,” Mets general manager Steve Phillips said Sunday, a day after agreeing to an $18 million, three-year contract with Todd Zeile. “For the most part, you know what it will be, but nobody’s got to the point where they have the courage to say, `Let’s do it.”’
Phillips said the Mets’ meeting with the Seattle Mariners regarding Ken Griffey Jr. had gone well Saturday.
“I think it was a positive meeting. Nothing’s imminent,” Phillips said. “What that means and where it goes is impossible to read right now.”
What he does know is that he has a first baseman who’s topped 90 RBIs in each of the last four seasons — and who has played just 76 games at first base in his entire major league career.
“In our view, that transition will not be a difficult one for him,” Phillips said. “He’s done it in the past.”
Zeile, one of baseball’s most durable players, appeared in 5,582 2-3 innings the past four years, the most in the majors. Houston’s Craig Biggio was second at 5,538 1-3.
Zeile has averaged 95 RBIs in that span, 18th in the majors, and also averaged 30 doubles and 25 homers. But — and it’s a big but — he’s played third base for the most part.
“This time, it’s a matter of choice,” he said. “I can play third base in a number of different cities, or I could weigh the chance to play in New York with a chance to win and voluntarily make the choice.”
After all, he played an entirely different position when he broke in.
“I caught from the time I was 8 years old until my second year in the big leagues,” he said.
Zeile, 34, had been offered $16 million for three years to return to the Texas Rangers and agonized over the decision. It was made easier when his option to purchase a house in Texas expired Nov. 15.
He even talked with Mets catcher Mike Piazza about where to play — the two were traded together to Florida by Los Angeles in 1998.
On Saturday evening, Zeile went with his wife, 1984 Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Julianne McNamara, and his agents to El Torito, a Mexican restaurant near the winter meetings hotel. While munching on chips, he made his choice.
“This was a very, very difficult decision for me to make,” Zeile said. “The Texas Rangers’ organization has been nothing but great to me in the time I was there. This was something that came rather late in the game for me as far as I was concerned.”
Zeile, according to agent Seth Levinson, examined the situations of the Mets and Rangers before making his pick. While the Rangers have been in the playoffs in three of the last four years, they’ve been eliminated in the first round by the New York Yankees all three times. The Mets advanced to the NL championship series last season before losing 4-2 to Atlanta.
“Todd said, `Let’s make this real simple. I have three years left in the game: Which team do I have a better chance of winning a World Series with?”’ Levinson said.
Earlier in the evening, Rangers general manager Doug Melvin thought he had an agreement with Zeile on a $16 million, three-year contract (roughly equivalent to the Mets’ deal because Texas doesn’t have state income tax). The Rangers even offered a no-trade clause.
“I thought we had him in the morning,” Melvin said. “It got down to where I gave everything they asked for. I guess we did it too late. He said he thought we took too long. I told him we had a lot of things going on. We were reluctant to go three years.”
Zeile, who hit .293 this year with 24 homers and 98 RBIs, originally asked for a four-year contract. Texas countered with two years and an option.
The agreement with New York calls for a $2.5 million signing bonus, $3.5 million next year and $6 million in each of the final two seasons. The Mets had not made much contact with his agents until Olerud signed a $20 million, three-year contract with Seattle last Monday. New York began an intense pursuit the following day.
“Earlier on in the offseason, I didn’t think the Mets were a realistic possibility,” Zeile said.
Zeile, who also has played for St. Louis, the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia and Baltimore, is 6-foot-1, four inches shorter than Olerud. But with Robin Ventura at third, Rey Ordonez at shortstop and Edgardo Alfonzo at second, the Mets made just 68 errors last season, a major league record.
“The infield I’m surrounded with,” Zeile said, “is the best in the game.”