SEATTLE MARINERS-- John Wagner

By now the Seattle Mariners know the drill.

Star is born in Seattle. Star shines brightly in Seattle. Star leaves Seattle. New star is born in Seattle. You go through the drill three times in three years, well, you sense the pattern. The first star the team dealt with was Randy Johnson, who brought a snarly attitude to the process in 1998. The Mariners allowed his attitude to fester before finally sending him to Houston.

The spotlight then turned to Ken Griffey Jr., and this time the Mariners didn't wait for Griffey's attitude to bring the whole team down. GM Pat Gillick traded him to Cincinnati before the start of last season.

That left Alex Rodriguez at the top of the Seattle marquee. And while Rodriguez certainly produced - he contributed on both offense and defense to the Mariners' 91-71 season record and deep playoff run - he probably dealt the team a more serious long-term blow than Johnson or Griffey.

The damage Rodriguez did was not allowing the team to recoup anything from its investment in him. The Johnson trade netted two solid starters (Freddie Garcia and John Halama) as well as Rodriguez' replacement, Carlos Guillen; even though Griffey held the team hostage last winter, Gillick still was able to bring in some talent in Mike Cameron and Brett Tomko, among others.

The return for Rodriguez? Bupkus. Zilch. Zero. And that hurts. Believe it or not, that alone isn't a blow that will doom the Mariners this season. There still is a wealth of talent on this team, and there are at least a couple of possibilities that could step forward and continue the Mariners' "star" system of producing big-name players.

Edgar Martinez, perhaps? Well, maybe. Last season one of the best DHs in history added to his legend, posting 37 HRs, 145 RBI and 100 runs. But the problems here are two-fold: first, Edgar is 38 years old this season, so at some point you'd expect him to start sliding downhill at least a little bit. Second, Edgar won't have Rodriguez to help keep his production numbers healthy.

So will the star be newcomer Ichiro Suzuki? American baseball fans probably don't grasp what his addition to the Seattle lineup will mean; they definitely don't realize that this talented outfielder is the equivalent of Michael Jordan in his native Japan. And that's both good and bad. The attention Ichiro receives from the Japanese media as he attempts to become the first Japanese regular in US baseball has the potential to be oppressive, which may lessen his value to the Mariners this season.

Any other candidates for Seattle's next star? Sure, there are plenty of others - perhaps Guillen, who will replace Rodriguez in the middle of the infield; or Garcia, a 24-year-old who has the stuff to become a top-notch pitcher after winning 17 games as a rookie just two years ago.

But the real spotlight will shine on a one-of-a-kind talent that only the Mariners can claim. That unique skill? The return of pitching and defense as the cornerstones of an American League team. Certainly the Yankees use those two staples to win games, but the Bronx Bombers also have their share of thumpers in the lineup.

The Mariners have no such wiggle room. Seattle will be a case study for the new millennium: can pitching and defense win in a league where offense is pumped up by the DH, rabbit baseballs, 40-homer middle infielders and probably even global warming?

The M's will try. A deep starting rotation with solid arms like Garcia, Aaron Sele, Jamie Moyer, Halama and Tomko is the only rotation that could withstand the loss of young talents such as Gil Meche and Ryan Anderson, both of whom likely will miss most of this season with arm miseries.

The bullpen is much stronger with the addition setup man Jeff Nelson from New York, not to mention the departure of Jose Mesa. Closer Kazuhiro Sasaki got stronger as last season developed, and both Jose Paniagua and Arthur Rhodes will help.

Will the Mariners have good enough defense? This is where the loss of A-Rod will hurt most, especially if Guillen isn't up to the task of playing short every day. New addition Bret Boone is a steady infield glove, though, and both Suzuki and Cameron make the outfield defense strong. Can the M's score enough runs? That question only begs another question: with this team's pitching and defense, how many runs are enough?