Tomko gets a ticket to Tacoma

Tomko was acquired by the Mariners on Feb.10 along with Mike Cameron and two minor-league prospects from the Reds for Griffey, who told the Mariners he wanted to be traded to the Reds.

While Cameron has been impressive as Griffey's replacement in center field, Tomko has not done well on the mound.

Bothered by a sore left Achilles tendon all spring, an injury that he suffered getting ready for training camp, Tomko struggled. He posted an 0-2 record with a 6.59 ERA in three starts and 13ö innings.

“Basically, he's not stretched out,” General Manager Pat Gillick said. “He hasn't pitched over four innings. We want him to get some work and get stretched out. We didn't think he could do it here working out of the bullpen. So we want him to go down there and start. We project the guy as a starter. We thought coming into spring training, he'd be one of our starters.”

The Mariners will start the season on Tuesday night here against Boston with a starting rotation of Jamie Moyer, Freddy Garcia, Aaron Sele, John Halama and Gil Meche.

Gillick said he wasn't sure when Tomko would be recalled.

“It depends on how he pitches,” Gillick said. “It de pends on how the people pitch here and how he pitches in Tacoma.”

Tomko was the Reds' 1999 opening day pitcher but got off to an 0-1 start with a 7.76 in his first five starts there before being sent to Triple-A Indianapolis on April 29. He won 11 games for the Reds in 1997 and 13 in 1998 before going 5-7 with a 4.92 ERA last season.

Tomko took his demotion from Seattle to Tacoma hard, politely refusing to discuss it with reporters.

“It's not a good time right now,” he said.

Manager Lou Piniella agreed with Gillick. He had said Saturday that Tomko would start the season in his bullpen.

“It was a tough decision,” Piniella said. “We talked about Brett for a long time yesterday afternoon. The decision was that he would be better served and we would be better served starting the season in Triple-A in the rotation building up arm stretch and building up his pitch counts.”

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