Despite Trade Rumors, Chone Figgins Wants to Stay in Seattle

January 29 2011 Last updated at 06:47 PM ET

SEATTLE ? For much of Friday and Saturday, Chone Figgins' cell phone was abuzz with texts and calls wanting to know if he was about to be traded by the Seattle Mariners.

Figgins' answer: not if he has anything to say about it.

Word came out of Oakland Friday that the A's were in pursuit of Figgins, and there was talk of Toronto being interested as well. Earlier in the offseason, the Angels had been linked to a pursuit of Figgins, who played in Anaheim his entire career before signing a four-year, $36 million deal with the Mariners prior to last season.

The thing is, Figgins has a limited no-trade clause, and one of the teams on the no-trade list is Oakland.

Asked at the Mariners' annual FanFest Saturday about the talk and the no-trade clause, Figgins didn't duck the question.

"This is a good team to be with, and I want to stay here,'' Figgins said. "I want to win here. This is one of the best places I've ever played.''

That's not what you expect to hear, given that the Mariners lost 101 games in Figgins' first year in the Northwest, and he struggled for much of the first half of the year before finally returning to form in the final few months. He hit .235 with a .332 on-base percentage in the first half, then improved those numbers to .286 and .349.

Asked again about the no-trade clause, Figgins said, "I want to be here.''

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