Weaver: Did not feel wanted by Cards

SEATTLE -- Jeff Weaver chose the last-place Seattle Mariners over the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.

"As has been known the last couple years for me, change is good," the pitcher said with a smile Tuesday at Safeco Field.

Weaver's new No. 36 Mariners jersey is his sixth uniform in eight seasons. The 30-year-old right-hander got a one-year, $8,325,000 contract -- the same base pay he earned last season with St. Louis -- to become part of Seattle's remodeled rotation. He also can earn more than $1 million in performance bonuses.

Weaver turned down the multiyear deal St. Louis was offering, for a reported $2 million less per year.

"I'm sure St. Louis tried hard," Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said, seated to Weaver's right. "We just tried a little harder. That's why he's here."

Weaver said he expected to be a Cardinal this season. After all, his surge from midseason unemployment to postseason star was a big reason St. Louis won its first title in 24 years.

"Well, yeah," Weaver said. "I mean, after the season ends and you have certain people telling you they'd like to have you back and you're a piece to the puzzle.

"And it's two, three months later and things are still dragging ... you want to feel wanted.

"I guess ownership [in St. Louis] thought they had enough pitching where they really didn't have to come after me too hard. They took their time. And with the interest Seattle gave me, wanting me to be here, those are pretty important things for an athlete to come to an organization and feel wanted."

Weaver said it didn't matter if the Cardinals offered "one, four or 10 years, you want to go somewhere you are wanted."

What the former Tiger, Yankee, Dodger, Angel and now Cardinal really wanted was freedom and financial flexibility, more than long-term security. At least for now.

"This is a crazy profession," Weaver said about his nomadic career -- with 86 wins, 101 losses.

Weaver and his agent, Scott Boras, waited through December and then January for a Cardinals offer they said never came. Meanwhile, they were intent on cashing in now after Weaver went from being waved by the Los Angeles Angels in July to taming the Detroit Tigers over eight innings of the deciding Game 5 of the World Series last October.

Weaver wanted a one-year deal so he could re-enter a potentially more lucrative free-agent market in 2008. Thus, the four or five teams that Boras said were offering multiyear deals never had a chance once Seattle talked exclusively about a one-year contract.

Boras thinks the risk will be worth millions for Weaver.

The two are banking on a bigger payday as a free agent next winter because of Safeco Field's spacious, pitcher-friendly dimensions, Seattle's good defense, closer J.J. Putz and the additions of Jose Vidro and Jose Guillen in a lineup with Ichiro Suzuki, Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre.

There is the risk of Weaver getting hurt without a guaranteed deal beyond this season. But Boras thinks Weaver minimizes that.

"He's 29, 30. He's thrown 200 innings [four times in seven seasons]. Those numbers speak volumes that he's going to be healthy," Boras said. "He's a sinkerball pitcher, so there's not a lot of stress on his arm. He's one of the most durable pitchers in the major leagues."

The Mariners are fine with renting Weaver for one season, especially this one. Impatient fans have led team CEO Howard Lincoln to already declare that Bavasi and manager Mike Hargrove "are on my hot seat."

Seattle already had Felix Hernandez, Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista and Horacio Ramirez in its rotation. Before appealing to Weaver last week, it was faced with choosing a fifth starter between Cha-Sueng Baek, a Triple-A call-up whose season ended last September due to elbow tendinitis, converted reliever Jake Woods and Ryan Feierabend, a veteran of 24 days in the major leagues.

Baek will now go back to Triple-A Tacoma with Feierabend. Woods goes back to the bullpen.

"We changed a lot with this signing," Bavasi said. "To be able to add a guy who could end up near the top of the rotation ... the upgrade in the rotation I hope is obvious."