"I'm not surprised that he didn't take it," general manager Jack Zduriencik said Sunday night. "Then again, I wouldn't have been surprised if he did take it. I've said it before that he's a guy we'd like to have back. We can still talk to him, and we will talk to him."

New hitting coach Cockrell said he'll spend the coming weeks getting to know the team's remaining hitters from a more detailed, statistical perspective. He said much of the Mariners team reminds him of the Rockies' World Series finalist club from two seasons ago in their youth and talent.

"It was a very, very young club," he said. "A talented club coming together and doing what we had to do to pull off a miracle. It wasn't just the Matt Hollidays, the Garrett Atkins or the Troy Tulowitzkis doing it. It was everybody on our roster. It might have been the 24th guy to move the runner over to third base, and then the 25th guy to get the six-hopper up the middle."

Getting the M's to play more as a team and live up to their talent has been made a top priority by manager Don Wakamatsu and his staff. Each coach hired has been lauded for their high energy and ability to communicate with players.

Cockrell is no exception.

"Numbers certainly paint a picture, but the story isn't told until you get some communication back and forth between the coach and the player," he said. "I'm a firm believer that everything starts with a thought. I would like to talk to a guy and get to know what he's thinking in a given situation before I set out to try to help him deal with such situations."

Ibanez's situation is pretty straightforward.

By declining arbitration, he guaranteed the Mariners will get two compensatory round draft picks in June if he signs elsewhere. That Ibanez will leave seems almost certain given that a dozen teams have sought him out, and most are offering multiyear deals.

The Mariners had offered Ibanez arbitration for 2009, but gave little indication they would sign him beyond next year. While they are still free to negotiate with Ibanez just like any other team, those talks won't go far if Seattle declines to compete with offers expected to go for at least three years and $30 million.

Seattle had been leaning toward retaining Jose Castro as hitting coach. But that changed when new bench coach Ty Van Burkleo came aboard and pushed to get Cockrell his roommate at Class AAA Colorado Springs during his playing days brought on.

Cockrell had already agreed to become a AAA hitting instructor with the Atlanta Braves. But the Mariners got permission to interview Cockrell and hammered out a deal this weekend.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com