ESPN MLB

PEORIA, Ariz. -- The Seattle Mariners have a way with housewarming gifts. First they rewarded Adrian Beltre for one great season with a five-year, $64 million contract. Then they welcomed him to Peoria by giving him the two corner locker stalls once inhabited by his professional role model, Edgar Martinez.

The lockers became available when Martinez, the personification of class in 18 seasons with the franchise, retired from baseball to run his embroidery business in the Seattle suburbs. But the man the Mariners lovingly called "Papi" remains a Cactus League force in absentia. Adrian Beltre, for one, idolizes him from afar.

"I'm a little disappointed, because he retired a year earlier than he was supposed to," Beltre said. "I wish he could be here beside me now and teach me some stuff, and tell me about the American League pitching. I could learn a lot from him."

Beltre has placed several maple X-Bats in Martinez's old locker in hopes that some of Edgar's 2,247 career hits will rub off. And it's hard to complain about the view. Beltre looks at the row of lockers across from him and sees 6-feet, 8-inches of prime cleanup protection in Richie Sexson. He glances to his left and sees a walking RBI opportunity in Ichiro Suzuki, who set a big-league record with 262 hits last year.

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