Sunday, February 27, 2000
BASEBALL INSIDER
Now, Mariners turn to Rodriguez
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Living through the Ken Griffey Jr. nightmare was bad enough for the Seattle Mariners. Now, after receiving insufficient value for an elite player, they're about to endure the same fate again.
Shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who becomes eligible for free agency after this season, is poised to become history's highest-paid player. It seems unlikely that the Mariners, his current employers, will be signing those bigger paychecks.
Seattle could ease its headaches by throwing a tidy little deal worth about $18 million-$20 million per year at Rodriguez. But he has vowed not to sign before next offseason.
“I'm firm with that,” he said. “To think of myself or my future now would be selfish. This year is about winning, about seeing where this franchise is headed. In a perfect world, we'd win the World Series this year and it'll be an easy decision to make in November. But I won't make a decision about my future before then.”
This leaves the Mariners with three choices: Keep Rodriguez all year, begin worrying next offseason and risk losing him as a free agent with nothing but draft-choice compensation; trade him now; or swap him shortly before the July 31 trading deadline and try to stay in contention.
MARKED TARDY: Differing opinions have divided the Chicago Cubs, who were expected to welcome Sammy Sosa to training camp Saturday or today. The slugging right fielder typically reports late, so many players didn't consider his absence a big deal. But new manager Don Baylor and first baseman Mark Grace took offense.
Said Baylor, “I imagine a lot of those guys in the clubhouse probably care. They're in here working, and you don't want to put one guy before the team. That's not going to happen.”
Technically, Sosa doesn't have to report until March 1. But, said Baylor, “I know one thing for sure. This team lost 95 games last year and we have to change that. We have to work as a team. That's the bottom line.”
Said Grace, “He misses working with Damon Buford, someone he's never played with. He misses getting to know Eric Young on the basepaths. If Sammy's hitting third, he needs to know Eric Young's tendencies. No matter how good or how smart you are, you can always learn something in this game.”
Outfielder Glenallen Hill suggested that Sosa has earned the right to be late. “What he has done over the last two years (129 homers, 299 RBI) is unheard of.”
NO FUNNY VALENTINE: Maybe he rubs too many people the wrong way. Maybe one of the people is New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon. For some reason, Mets manager Bobby Valentine hasn't received a contract extension despite leading the Mets to 88, 88 and 97 victories in his three full seasons.
Valentine has seemed to sense he's not wanted: “They (Mets ownership) set expectations. ... And I have met expectations. But now they say, "We're going to have a change of policy.'”
The wildest Mets managerial rumor has pitching coach Dave Wallace taking over and legendary Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, who attended high school in Brooklyn with Wilpon, coming aboard to handle pitchers.
BACK TO NORMAL?: Steve Avery, who spent last year with the Reds, almost felt as if he had a new arm.
“It's nice to wind up and throw the ball and not grit my teeth,” he said this week after throwing 10 minutes of batting practice.
The Reds wanted to re-sign Avery, who returned to his original team, the Atlanta Braves. The left-hander started strong in 1999 before finishing 6-7 with a 5.16 ERA and suffering a tear in his rotator cuff that ended his season in late July.
Now, Avery thinks he's healthy. If so, he believes he can approach the form that helped him win 47 games in his first three full seasons, 1991-93. “It's a whole different world from where it's been the last couple of years,” Avery said. “I want to try and pitch an entire season without pain. That's what I'm shooting for. I've got to be a little smarter.”
UNIT OF MEASURE: Arizona Diamondbacks ace Randy Johnson threw 4,206 pitches while leading the majors with 271ö innings last year. The last hurler to exceed 4,000 pitches, Philadelphia's Curt Schilling in 1998, developed shoulder trouble and might be sidelined until May.
Johnson will carry whatever load is necessary. “That's what I'm here for,” said the left-hander, who's in the second year of a four-year, $52.4 million contract.
QUICK PITCHES: The Boston Red Sox have third baseman Gary Gaetti, 41, in camp. “I thought it was over,” said Gaetti, who signed a minor-league contract.
• In case you were wondering about certain former Reds, right-hander Mike Morgan is with Arizona and infielder Jeff Branson is competing for a utility job with Los Angeles.
• Charlie Manuel, the Cleveland Indians' new manager, likes to assign nicknames. General Manager John Hart is no exception. “When Charlie wants something, he calls me Hart Throb,” said Hart. “When we're just talking, he calls me Hart Beat. When he knows I'm mad at him, he calls me Hart Attack.”
• Willie Mays thinks his godson, San Francisco's Barry Bonds, has a fair shot of surpassing his career total of 660 home runs. Bonds, 35, has 445. “If he says he can do it, he might have a chance,” Mays said. “With that ballpark he's going to be playing in (brand-new Pacific Bell), he can hit 30 to 40 homers a year. It depends on how long he wants to play.”
Chris Haft covers the Reds for The Enquirer.
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