Seattle ? The Seattle Mariners agreed to a $6,875,000, one-year contract with right-hander Freddy Garcia Saturday night, retaining the services of the workhorse of one of baseball’s best rotations. Garcia has been the subject of trade talks going back during the season.

The team faced a Saturday deadline for offering the 27-year-old Garcia a contract. If Seattle didn’t offer a contract, he would have become a free agent, and if he remained on the roster as an unsigned player, the two-time All-Star would have been eligible for salary arbitration.

Garcia also made $6,875,000 this year after winning in arbitration.

Garcia has averaged 220 innings over the past three seasons, and over his five-year major league career he has a 72-43 record and 3.97 ERA. At his best, he’s one of the top pitchers in baseball.

His inconsistency, though, has been maddening for the Mariners. Garcia slumped to a 12-14 record with a 4.51 ERA last season after going 18-6 in 2001 and 16-10 in 2002.

In May, he lost three straight starts, with his ERA climbing to 5.90, allowing nine runs during a 10-run inning in a loss to the New York Yankees and seven runs in a loss at Cleveland.

He straightened things out, rebounding to allow only two runs over a span of 24 1/3 innings, a 0.74 ERA. In July and August, he went 0-6 with a 10.03 ERA — the longest losing streak of his career. In 2002, Garcia went 11-5 with a 3.44 ERA before making his second trip to the All-Star game, then wen 5-5 with a 5.66 ERA in the second half.