CLEARWATER, Fla. -- This would have been the Pittsburgh Pirates' best-case scenario this spring:
Kris Benson goes 4-0, 0.00, striking out 30 in 21 innings.
|
Jayson Stark's
Weekly Awards
|
|
Lines of the week
First prize
Chris Holt, Tigers
Sunday vs. Blue Jays
|
|
IP
|
H
|
R
|
ER
|
BB
|
K
|
|
4
|
11
|
13
|
11
|
5
|
2
|
|
From manager Phil Garner, after a day in which his starting pitcher gave up 13, his team made seven errors and two regulars (Dean Palmer, Mitch Meluskey) left the team to be examined by Dr. James Andrews: "I'm not in a very good mood right now."
|
|
Second prize
Barry Zito, A's
Saturday vs. Angels
|
|
IP
|
H
|
R
|
ER
|
BB
|
K
|
|
2
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
3
|
2
|
|
Zito, who pitched despite a case of the flu, was asked afterward if he'd ever had a worse day on the mound, in which he surrendered three homers, four doubles and a triple. "Definitely not in the minor leagues," he said. "Maybe sometime before college." Like when? Tee-ball?
|
|
Third prize
Mark Mulder, A's
Thursday vs. White Sox
|
|
IP
|
H
|
R
|
ER
|
BB
|
K
|
|
3
|
11
|
10
|
10
|
1
|
1
|
|
"I made some good pitches and they hit them," said Mulder, who gave up four homers. "And I made some bad pitches and they hit them."
|
|
Plenty more Jayson
But Jayson's Awards don't end there and they go well beyond boxscores. Click here for his Jimy Williams Quote of the Week, his Magazine Star of the Week and all of his weekly awards.
|
Jason Schmidt and Francisco Cordova both approach Opening Day saying, "I can't believe how good I feel."
Lloyd McClendon convinces them they're the '71 Pirates reincarnate.
Oh, well.
Now this was the Pittsburgh Pirates' actual scenario this spring:
Benson had a 6.00 ERA, sprained a ligament in his elbow and made bigger news in Penthouse than he did in ESPN the Magazine.
Cordova never bounced back from August elbow surgery and is heading for the DL.
Schmidt was on the way back from shoulder surgery when he pulled a muscle in his rib cage.
And that feeling of new-ballpark, new-manager euphoria that once swept through this camp was in danger of turning into a raging, oh-no, here-we-go-again fever.
Not too good.
You arrive in spring training with no guarantees that the sun will shine, the arms will be live or the pieces will all fit together. And five weeks into this spring training, the Red Sox, Braves, Blue Jays and Yankees could all head any list of clubs looking for their spring deposit back.
But no team has been more cursed this spring than the Pirates.
Cordova and Schmidt have started the last three season openers for this team. Benson was going to start on Opening Day this year. Now none of them will even be on the plane north.
"I told our players, 'I don't want anybody to feel sorry for us,' " said McClendon, who has been a veritable Niagara Falls of positive thinking this spring. "It would be easy for people to come around and say, 'You don't deserve that.' But we don't want their sympathy. Sympathy is like junk food. You can't feed off it. It will only drag you down."
So McClendon will let those (ahem) chips fall where they may. And unlike the proverbial cookie, he refuses to crumble.
"It's been tough, no question," he said. "But I believe this, and I've said this: This team feeds off me -- my personality, my mood. So they need to look in my eyes and believe we're OK.
"I told my players, 'Look around at each other. The eight players we'll put out there every day are pretty damn good. So we're not going to back off now. We've got to pick it up. We've got to scratch. We've got to claw. We've got to cheat. Whatever it takes.'"
And it might take all of the above.
The plan, for the moment, is to yank Terry Mulholland and Jose Silva out of the bullpen and shove them into the rotation. But Silva is 14-22, 5.89 lifetime as a starter. And Mulholland's best role, at age 38, is as a do-it-all kind of guy who can start, close and do everything in between.
"I don't know how much of a life raft I am," said Mulholland, who went 9-8 as a starter in Atlanta last year. "But I'm not afraid to dive into the ocean after somebody if they're sinking."
And "sinking" seems like a good description of the Pirates, unless their luck changes or GM Cam Bonifay can swing some sort of deal for another pitcher. Which appears likely.
Rumors of a John Vander Wal-for-Brett Tomko swap with Seattle have been flying. An Abraham Nunez-Rolando Arrojo trade has been on the back burner. And the Pirates still appear at least marginally interested in names like Colorado's Masato Yoshii, the Padres' Jay Witasick, the Phillies' Chris Brock and Cleveland's Willie Blair. Recently, they've even dangled Enrique Wilson to see if he'll bring a quality arm back.
There's also at least a little hope that one -- or even all three -- of the injured starters could be back by May 1. But McClendon says, pointedly: "I'm not counting on it."
In theory, spring training is supposed to be a happier time than this. But the season will start next week, whether the Pirates are ready for it or not. So McClendon promises the Pirates will start it right along with everybody else.
"We're going to move ahead," he said. "We've got some good players. We're ready to do battle."
Miscellaneous rumblings
Scott Rolen's agent, Seth Levinson, emerged from Sunday night's meeting with a Phillies contingent headed by club president David Montgomery calling the session "informative" and "enlightening." But does that mean the Phillies are any closer to signing Rolen to the richest contract in club history? Not likely.
|  | | Scott Rolen doesn't want to negotiate a new contract once the season swings into action. |
Neither side is commenting further, but what's known is this:
Rolen has a year left on his contract and two years left until free agency. His frustration after four losing seasons is visibly mounting.
He has said he won't negotiate once the season starts. And he is apparently looking for some sort of clause that will assure him that either the Phillies are committed to winning or he can get out of the deal.
So any contract he would agree to now would have to be complicated and creative. Could a deal that complex get done in the few days left until Opening Day?
It would seem unlikely. And if Rolen gets to within a year of free agency, the odds of signing him would figure to grow even longer.
But Levinson would say only that he and Rolen would "keep the door open" for more discussions this week.
The Mariners continue to shop for another bat. They've been following Vander Wal closely over the last few days and apparently would be willing to trade Tomko for him. But it also appears they've asked Pittsburgh to take back Al Martin (and his $5-million contract) in any deal, and the Pirates can't do that. So they're looking around for a third team to get involved in the discussions.
Those Phil Nevin-to-Seattle rumors might be about to revive, as well. When Nevin's name was mentioned to one NL executive this week, this was the response: "Keep an eye out there. I'm getting the sense they'll move him in the right deal."
Those Mark Quinn rumors in Kansas City refuse to go away. It now appears that outfield prodigy Dee Brown will make the club, and he's been promised at least 300 at-bats. So the Royals will continue to look for bullpen help, with Quinn as chief bait. Those Quinn-for-Rick White rumors in Mets Land continue to float.
|
No Nomar
|
|
How much will the Red Sox miss their main man, Nomar Garciaparra? Over the last three years, they're 57 games over .500 with Nomar in the lineup -- and only three games over without him. Here, courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau's Ken Hirdt, is their record, with and without him, over Garciaparra's four full seasons:
|
|
With Garciaparra
|
|
Year
|
G
|
W
|
L
|
Pct.
|
|
1997
|
152
|
73
|
79
|
.480
|
|
1998
|
143
|
83
|
60
|
.580
|
|
1999
|
133
|
80
|
53
|
.602
|
|
2000
|
137
|
70
|
67
|
.511
|
|
Total
|
565
|
306
|
259
|
.542
|
|
Without Garciaparra
|
|
Year
|
G
|
W
|
L
|
Pct.
|
|
1997
|
10
|
5
|
5
|
.500
|
|
1998
|
19
|
9
|
10
|
.474
|
|
1999
|
29
|
14
|
15
|
.483
|
|
2000
|
25
|
15
|
10
|
.600
|
|
Total
|
83
|
43
|
40
|
.518
|
Who fills in the shortstop blanks for the Red Sox now that it looks like Nomar Garciaparra will have to go ahead with his surgery? The two players Boston reportedly coveted most were Texas' Kelly Dransfeldt or Cleveland's John McDonald. But Texas wants Sun-Woo Kim for Dransfeldt, and the Indians now say they're not trading McDonald. So the Red Sox will have to turn to their next tier (Mike Benjamin, Abraham Nunez, Juan Castro, Chris Sexton, Chris Woodward, etc.). But there's no Nomar in that group.
The Phillies are attempting to seriously upgrade their bench. Clubs that have talked to the Phillies say they've offered Chris Brock to Florida for Kevin Millar, and to Pittsburgh for Enrique Wilson. They've also shopped Kevin Jordan (possibly to Detroit) and Wayne Gomes, who has had a great spring (49 hitters faced, 0 walks).
Nobody would have believed it six weeks ago, but it looks as if C.C. Sabathia and out-of-nowhere reliever Roy Smith will both go north with the Indians. Sabathia is way ahead of schedule at age 20. But Indians assistant GM Mark Shapiro says: "If any kid can handle it mentally, it's this guy. He's such a mature, strong person that even if he hits adversity, he can deal with it." Sabathia would move into the No. 5 hole in the rotation, with Jaret Wright still on target for an early-May return.
One scout on whether Drew Henson is worth the money: "I don't know if any kid is worth that who hasn't proven anything. But he's got talent. Raw power. Definite arm strength. Big third baseman. If he gets any bigger, he might have to wind up in the outfield. His swing is good, but he doesn't read breaking balls yet. And you can bust him in with an average fastball. To me, he should be like a Larry Parrish, maybe a little better defensively."
It looks as if the Padres may send Rickey Henderson to Las Vegas to get a few at-bats before he heads for San Diego. Which means he could conceivably wind up playing against players who are younger than his big-league career (now in year 23). Rickey's last appearance in the PCL: 1979.
|
Triviality
|
|
Nomar Garciaparra is one of only six active righthanded hitters who have won a batting title. Can you name the others?
(Answer at bottom.)
|
Useless information dept.
For those who thought this new strike zone would be rough on Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, time for a new thought -- if spring training is any indication.
Maddux: 2.25 ERA, 20 IP, 1 BB, 13 K
Glavine: 3.86 ERA, 14 IP, 3 BB, 3 K
Combined: 2.91 ERA, 34 IP, 4 BB, 16 K
Assuming Albert Belle never plays again, he'll add his name to the list of players who hit a home run in the final at-bat of their careers.
Albert also will carry 381 career homers off into the sunset. And only one player with more homers ever ended his career with a trot -- yep, Mr. Ted Williams.
Here's the top six (including Belle), courtesy of famed baseball historian Bill Deane:
Ted Williams 521
Albert Belle 381
Joe Rudi 179
Ken McMullen 156
Michey Cochrane 119
Willie Aikens 110
Tim Belcher retired this week, 18 years after the Twins made him the first overall pick in the 1983 draft. Even though he never did sign with the Twins, Belcher still will rank second all-time among pitchers who were taken with the first pick. Amazingly, only four pitchers who went No. 1 ever won 100 games:
Pitcher Career W-L
Mike Moore ('81) 161-176
Tim Belcher ('83) 146-140
Andy Benes ('88) 143-128
Floyd Bannister ('76) 134-143
Did Drew Henson take up the right sport? Heck, we don't know. But we can compare his baseball numbers (minor leagues) with his football numbers (Michigan):
Yards per passing attempt: 7.88
Yards (of hits) per AB: 13.6
TD-INT ratio: 24 to 7
K-BB ratio: 187 to 54
TD passes: 24
HRs: 23
On Opening Day, the Blue Jays will start Esteban Loaiza -- a man who has never won 12 games in a year, and a man who has had exactly one winning season. Which is a little different from the kinds of pitchers they're used to starting on Opening Day.
Over the previous 10 years, the Blue Jays started a Cy Young winner four times (David Cone, Pat Hentgen, Roger Clemens), the franchise leader in wins once (Dave Stieb), a past or future 20-game winner seven times (all of the above, plus Jack Morris) and a former all-star nine times (Juan Guzman, plus all of the above).
Oh yeah. Plus Erik Hanson. (Don't ask.)
The complete list, courtesy of Elias' Ken Hirdt:
1991: Dave Stieb
1992: Jack Morris
1993: Jack Morris
1994: Juan Guzman
1995: David Cone
1996: Erik Hanson
1997: Pat Hentgen
1998: Roger Clemens
1999: Pat Hentgen
2000: David Wells
While we're on the subject of Opening Day, SABR's Lyle Spatz checks in with an opening-day complete-game alert.
Not counting Steve Woodard's five innings in Milwaukee's rain-shortened tie with the Reds last year, there hasn't been an opening-day complete game in the NL since 1997. John Smoltz did those honors, throwing eight innings in a 2-1 loss to Houston.
The last time an NL pitcher had a nine-inning complete game on Opening Day was in 1993, when the Phillies' Terry Mullholland beat Houston, 3-1, and Dwight Gooden shut out the Rockies for the Mets, in the first game in Colorado history.
The last time an AL pitcher had a nine-inning complete game was also in 1993, when the Angels' Mark Langstonbeat Milwaukee, 3-1. Bill Wegman of the Brewers had an eight-inning complete game in that same game.
After San Diego signed Rickey Henderson, Padres publicity whiz Glenn Geffner was curious about the last time two 40-year-olds played in the same outfield. The shocking answer, according to Elias' Bob Waterman:
Would you believe 1945 -- when Doc Cramer and Chuck Hostetler played in exactly two games together for the Tigers?
Trivia answer
Edgar Martinez (1992 and '95, AL), Frank Thomas (1997, AL), Alex Rodriguez (1996, AL), Gary Sheffield (1992, NL) and Andres Galarraga (1993, NL).
Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com. Rumblings and Grumblings appears each week.
| |
|
