Sunday, March 12, 2000
BASEBALL INSIDER
Loria brings Expos hope
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Finally, the Montreal Expos have a decent supply of that most essential commodity — hope.
Jeffrey Loria, the team's new owner, expects to break ground on a downtown ballpark in 2002. By then, Loria projects, Montreal's payroll will have risen to $50 million. That would give the Expos enough economic leeway to keep a few highly paid, highly skilled players on their roster, instead of relying on Vladimir Guerrero and a cast of rookies.
The Expos employee most grateful for these improvements is Felipe Alou. The Expos' esteemed manager has patiently endured eight seasons in Montreal, where the previous ownership kept morale and budgets low while trading or failing to retain some of the game's best players: Pedro Martinez, John Wetteland, Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Jeff Fassero, Marquis Grissom and Delino DeShields, among others.
“Last year, there was only one plan, and that was to get the club out of Montreal,” Alou said. “Now, there are many plans. Keep the team in Montreal. Build a stadium. Sign free agents. Make trades to improve the team instead of the other way around.”
Alou loves Montreal and wants to see baseball succeed there.
“This is why I didn't go to Los Angeles two years ago,” he said. “It is my desire to see a stadium built in Montreal for a big-league franchise.”
The patrons will have a team to match. Guerrero, the game's best young player, is joined in the Expos' outfield by left fielder Rondell White and prospect Milton Bradley in center field. Numerous minor-league stars are a year or two from reaching the majors.
“Waves of talent have always been passing through here; we just never rode those waves,” Alou said. This time could be different.
AIMED ROCKET: Doesn't it seem like Roger Clemens' contract is always up? The five-time Cy Young Award winner is eligible for free agency after this season. But Clemens, who sealed the New York Yankees' World Series triumph last October with a stirring Game 4 effort, wants to remain in pinstripes.
“When you win a championship together, have an owner who wants to win as badly as you do, you'd be foolish not to appreciate the situation that you're in,” Clemens said.
However, the Yankees face a potentially sticky situation. Both Clemens and David Cone, the organization's darling, are 37, an advanced age for a pitcher. Though New York would hate to part with Cone, Clemens clearly has a better chance of lasting another year or two. After a mediocre 1999 season (14-10, 4.60 ERA), Clemens altered his rigorous offseason conditioning program by lifting fewer weights and running more. Result: His fastball already has been clocked at 95 mph.
Clemens, who began this season with a 247-134 career record, also is motivated to reach the 300-win plateau. “Every win is so precious,” he said.
SPRING PHENOM: The Florida Marlins think they have a young Clemens in Josh Beckett, the 19-year-old who was the second overall pick in last year's amateur draft.
Beckett pitched two perfect innings against Kansas City in a recent exhibition that left the Marlins thinking about the future.
“You don't want to go crazy with your praise, but my goodness gracious,” manager John Boles said. “If I was 19 years old, I'd be scared to death out there, but not him. I wish I could find something about his performance that I didn't like, but I honestly can't.”
Though Beckett likely will begin the season at Single-A, a late-season callup is possible.
REFRESHER COURSE: As outstanding a hitter as Mike Piazza is, the New York Mets slugger realizes that he's not so great behind the plate. Opponents stole bases against Piazza at a 76-percent rate last year.
So Piazza has begun working with Mets bullpen coach John Stearns, a former All-Star who served as a Reds coach under Davey Johnson in 1995. Stearns has focused on improving Piazza's footwork.
“I'm never going to be as quick as Pudge Rodriguez or Johnny Bench, but there's no reason I can't improve,” Piazza said.
Playing less might also help Piazza. His workload has exceeded that of most catchers: 152 games in 1997, 151 in 1998 and 140 last year. Fatigue may have hampered him as he hit .318 before the All-Star break and .290 afterward a year ago. That included a .248 average in September and October and .167 in the National League Championship Series.
CARING FOR KERRY: The Chicago Cubs have entertained the notion that Kerry Wood won't pitch at all this spring. That thought doesn't bother them, either.
Wood, the 1998 NL Rookie of the Year whose progress from major elbow surgery has been encouraging yet ginger, has been expected to make his spring debut next Saturday or Sunday. But because the Cubs leave for their Japan season openers against the New York Mets on March 24, even a slight delay will keep him on hold.
That's fine with the Cubs, who want to preserve Wood's valuable arm. “We want it completely healed. That's the bottom line,” manager Don Baylor said. “When I said we were going to be cautious with him, I can't state that enough. It could mean (not pitching until) May 1. Who knows? Any type of pain, and he's off the field.”
The Cubs even want Wood to stop throwing his slider, which accounted for most of his 20 strikeouts in his historic performance against Houston two years ago. Chicago's braintrust believes that Wood's fastball, curve and change-up are enough.
“There's a lot of elbow torque with the slider, and it's too easy to throw improperly,” said Cubs pitching coach Oscar Acosta. “Kerry had the best curveball at 18 I've ever seen, and that includes Dwight Gooden. It was close to a finished product. With the curve, Kerry can determine the break more.”
Said Baylor, “Vida Blue was a two-pitch guy. And Vida didn't have that good a curve. He threw his fastball up in the zone. Kerry can pitch with his fastball.”
Of course, Wood disagreed. “I don't think the slider is a pitch I can abandon,” he said. “We can make it less stressful on the elbow, but I can't throw it out the window.”
QUICK PITCHES: The Boston Red Sox are holding their collective breath over reliever Rod Beck, who pitched poorly in last year's ALCS and has been slow to regain his velocity this year.
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