1995 Atlanta Braves Retrospective

[selmaborntidefan]

March 31, 1995
Strike Day 231

SOTOMAYOR SUSPENDS STRIKE SO STARS CAN START SEASON
PLAY BALL!

In the end it all came down to a Latina raised three miles from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to end the most costly, gut-wrenching, and damaging strike in the history of American sports, a woman who in only fifteen minutes managed to fix (or at least duct tape) something a bunch of men have been unable to resolve for nearly eight months. And she was nothing short of dazzling in her performance, joking after her ruling that she would "have liked more time to practice my swing." In only four days, NY District Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a judge appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush, mastered the arguments and occurences of the strike, figured her action might even end it since it is well-known the principals are already very close to agreement, and in all probability saved the baseball owners from their stubborness yet again by making it virtually impossible for them to open the season this weekend unless the owners have real appetite for corporate suicide.

"I am ruling today because the issue before me is critical to all the participants who are here and to the public. I also realize that waiting serves no useful purpose." With those words, Sotomayor issued the challenge for the two sides to come to some sort of agreement, concluding with, "Even though opening day is just days away, the parties still have time to salvage it."

The owners, who have managed to ignore the fans, the players, the press, and reality will not be able to ignore the orders of a federal judge. Of course, the owners do have a couple of options, but these are likely little more than threats that only the truly delusional would seek to invoke. The first option is that they may lock out the players and proceed with replacements, but this would snatch defeat from the jaws of, well, defeat. The owners have been given an out so as to not use the replacement players, and it doesn't appear they have the votes to impose a lockout. That leaves another alternative that is only slightly more appealing than the lockout, to appeal Sotomayor's ruling and hope it is overturned. But not only is such a strategy an enormous gamble, it could be a costly one as well. If the owners are found to have violated federal labor laws - and the judgment from Sotomayor suggests that they would probably lose such a case - then the owners could be assessed fines of $5 million PER DAY of the strike that has already gone on for 230 days. Even the richest owners cannot afford an additional billion-dollar loss, although one or two might try to persuade the others that this is a winnable case.

The owners will decide their course of action Saturday, April 2, which will protect them from making much news for surrendering given the eyes of the country will likely be on the NCAA men's basketball Final Four that day.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I 100% blamed the players at the time. Looking back, I now understand just how little I understood at the time.

I blamed the players in 1981 when I was 11, and I'll admit I didn't understand anything about it. Of course, I became a fan in 1977, so free agency was already there. I had no idea about how difficult it had been on the players, who used to hold off-season jobs just to make ends meet (Pete Rose used to sell used cars, which is a joke that writes itself).

In 1994, I largely blamed the owners because I never had ESPN on cable until 1992, and I consumed a steady diet of Baseball Tonight for both the 92 and 93 seasons when the Braves were winning pennant races. It was always suspicious to me that the owners deposed the commissioner and then appointed one of the other owners to act as an "impartial arbiter" between the two sides. I was also more fiscally conservative in those days in the sense I opposed any and all forms of a salary cap, too. But I won't lie to you and pretend I was 100% in the players' corners, either. I just thought common sense should have prevailed as sort of happened in 2002 when they realized another strike so soon would probably destroy the sport for good.

One book that helped me understand the 1981 strike was "Split Season" by Jeff Katz. As you know - indeed you experienced it firsthand - I'm skeptical of so much that gets said by anyone, particularly when it comes across as defiantly certain and arrogant. Katz's book did up to a certain point. It was so shamelessly pro-player that it sounded like Marvin Miller, who I hated when I was 11, had written it. But as you know, I do my homework when an issue is important to me. And just like that time when I went and verified your information regarding Pete Johnson's TDs in Archie Griffin's second Heisman winning year, I went and checked out everything that Katz said that I could. You were vindicated - and I didn't think you were wrong, but I just check things out because it's important to me. Katz (like Pearlman, when he wrote his book about the USFL and butchered newly elected President Trump) is virtually 100% accurate in his stories. He even winds up pointing out that in the long run, baseball AND Miller AND Bowie Kuhn all achieved the goals they were trying to achieve in 1981, it just took 30 years to happen. I did recall reading my weekly Sporting News at the time about "the 16th man," but I won't lie and tell you I understood it, either.

Katz's book has one major flaw in his attempt to be the Miller ghostwriter - he hides information when it comes to drugs and the players. He tells how Ken Moffett replaced Miller as the MLBPA head, but the players were dissatisfied and wanted Miller back. The part he didn't tell that took me five seconds to learn was that the players were afraid Moffett was going to get them to agree to drug testing way back in 1983, and they weren't going to do it. So they fired Moffett. He even takes Miller's side when Miller invoked civil rights to say that the players could not be drug tested, which is going way too far. It's an excellent book overall, but why not simply admit that in that one thing Miller was human and wrong? Miller is to be credited with saving the owners from themselves and improving the competitive balance of baseball from 1979-1995, but he also deserves blame for helping to nurse along the steroid era with his nonsensical civil rights argument regarding drug testing.

I'm kind of with you in that I didn't really get what was up, but I also learned that the owners did things (they did it again in 1994) like refusing to give mandatory donations to the MLB pension fund. The owners by and large were incredibly petty like a bunch of children in kindergarten. In both strikes there were heroic owners (Eddie Chiles of the Rangers and Edward Bennett Williams of the Orioles in 1981, Angelos in 1994). And I have to admit my view is slightly less cynical regarding Peter Angelos, whom I regarded as "just another hack who would have been along for the ride if not for Cal Ripken." Maybe so - but he was also a lawyer with expertise in labor issues who was warning the owners where they were headed, too, so maybe I was too cynical regarding Angelos.

Maybe.

Anyway, it's about to heat up for some fun because the end of the strike means player movement and signings. And also a column about a very sad event - the many MLB players on rosters who went on strike and never appeared in another major league game, never got a farewell tour or a "happy retirement" from their buds. Guys like Sid Bream, Storm Davis, Junior Felix, Jim Lindeman, Kevin McReynolds, Bill Pecota, and Bob Welch.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 1, 1995
Strike Day 232

BATTER UP! PLAY BALL!
STRIKE OFFICIALLY ENDS - BUT THE FALLOUT IS JUST BEGINNING

You half expect baseball fans to wake up and feel they've been pranked with the cruelest April Fool's joke of all, an announcement that the baseball strike isn't really over and - in 1980s typical soap opera drama fashion - "it was all a dream." But it's true, the strike officially ended today as the owners don't have the votes to lock out the players. The more important move, however, was the owners gave the replacement players their walking papers and a $5,000 parting gift to be used to travel back home. A lot of fans would like to give both the owners and the players their own parting gift, but they will probably make their voices heard via the radio call-in shows, boycotts, and boos on the diamond. Players have already said they expect the worst from the fans, and why shouldn't they? The fans already got the worst from both the players and the owners.

And the boycotts are already going full steam from the East Coast to the West. There are planned game boycotts, demonstrations, even planned boycotts of MLB commercial sponsors or of TV stations that were going to show replacement games. Two groups, a Baltimore-based outfit called Fan Out America and a Los Angeles-based group called FOWL TIP are planning the demonstrations OUTSIDE the stadiums rather than purchasing tickets to go inside, at which point why would the owners or players either one care since they have the money in-hand?

There are also the usual over-the-top observations often seen by paid journalists on ESPN SportsCenter but now given new life by fans. One common musing is that "soccer has replaced baseball as the national pastime," a joke that is now nearly 30 years old and no closer to happening today than it was when Phil Woosman first told it in the late 1960s. Though neither sport is going to turn into the national pastime, the indisputable beneficiary of the players' strike has been stock car racing (NASCAR), which has blossomed since last August into one of the top five sports in America. It was NASCAR's good fortune that the Sunday before the strike began was their entry into the most hallowed racing ground in America, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, site of the legendary Indy 500. Indiana transplant Jeff Gordon won his first-ever race that day, ahd the sport saw rapidly rising TV ratings and race attendance well into the NFL season, which despite the league's parity has lately become the "San Francisco-Dallas and no others need apply" league when it comes to Super Bowls. Whether fans return from racing to baseball - or find a way to follow both - is one of the interesting questions going forward.

But it should be known that the strike and the labor negotations are far from over. Milwaukee Brewers replacement player Tim Dell broke up the room and the tense mood with the gathering of replacement players being released when he said, "When the players go on strike THIS August, are we guaranteed our jobs back?" Dell's musing is not as far-fetched as it may sound. The players may well indeed strike again if no agreement is reached and threaten the owners' pocketbooks with yet another post-season cancellation. It seems highly unlikely, but who knows at this point? Brewers GM Sal Bando, a man who played under both the old reserve clause as well as free agency, said he didn't think the owners would risk the $5 million per day fine that imposing a lockout on the players would cause if the owners were found to have violated federal labor laws. One surmises that a federal judge saved the owners from their own headlong rush into baseball suicide, and the hope is that they don't aspire to finish the job and get something they never desired.

A final word about the final negotations, whatever they may be: there is simply no way to know how the aftermath of negotiations will play out. There are always too many variables to ponder that are unknown at the time of negotiation. Consider what happened in 1981. The owners wanted direct compensation, the players agreed upon compensation but felt only indirect compensation (e.g. you don't turn free agency into a trade) would continue their rise in salaries. The owners agreed, saying the key issue was compensation, but by 1985, the owners wanted nothing to do with it because it had been an absolute disaster in many cases. The most notable example occurred in January 1984, when White Sox owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn were to receive compensation for losing 30-year old .500 pitcher (literally, his career record was 96-96, and his 1983 record was 7-7 on a pennant winner) Dennis Lamp. They looked at the list of available players and saw Tom Seaver, who had just returned to the Mets but was left unprotected because he was 39 years old, and the Mets couldn't fathom anyone picking up a past-his-prime player like Seaver. The White Sox knew they could never have gotten this kind of trade - Lamp for Seaver - but because of compensation they were able to pull in the former Marine, who still had a lot left. Seaver went 33-28 over the next two-plus seasons and won his 300th game in a Chicago uniform while the Mets seethed at the White Sox for taking the Met legend away. Those kinds of compensation happened so often that the owners, who forced the players into a seven-week strike over the issue, wished they'd even brought up the subject. Or consider the 1985 strike, which most fans don't even remember because it was only two days long. Despite signing a $1 billion TV agreement for six years, the MLB owners cried "poverty" and got the players to agree to a reduction of owner donations to the player pension plan (from 33 to 18%, which was still a windfall with all the money produced). The owners then wanted a cap on salary arbitration, which the players refused - and that led to the wholesale collusion of 1986-88, where the owners all agreed in concert to keep salaries down and not give any contracts longer than three years.

There is no certainty yet regarding the 1995 baseball season, but one thing is certain: whatever agreement is eventually reached will eventually be deemed a disaster by at least one of the two parties, and they will want to change it whenever the next CBA expires.

But there is a silver lining: major league players report this week. Baseball - for however long - is back.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 2, 1995

SUSPECT ARRESTED IN MURDER OF BRAVES REPLACEMENT PITCHER DAVE SHOTKOSKI

This week's immense (and quick) activity overshadowed a development that took place on Tuesday that marks the nadir of the baseball strike, the murder of Atlanta Braves replacement pitcher Dave Shotkoski less than a mile from the team's hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida. Neal Douglas Evans, a 30-year old African American male with a police record that printed out to no less than seven feet of paper, was arrested Tuesday night and has now been charged with first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery. Shotkoski, also 30, was allegedly accosted by Evans, and when he resisted Evans's attempt to rob him, was shot three times, twice in the chest. Shotkoski ran about 600 yards before collapsing and dying. Those in the Braves organization who knew Shotkoski said that he was a mild-mannered gentleman, but he also was one know to aggressively defend himself if he felt under attack.

Details are still sketchy, but it appears Shotkoski's Atlanta teammate, Pentecostal deacon Terry Blocker, who played for the lousy Braves of the late 80s, did some of his own detective work in a dangerous part of the city and then called police with the name of the suspect. After spending three nights in "the hood," Blocker got the name of a street man nicknamed "Thousand", who allegedly had been bragging to friends that he was the one that killed the Braves pitcher in the story that was all over the news. Police knew the street name and arrested Evans hours later.

Blocker was released from the Braves the following day. The arrest of his alleged assailant is not the only news the Shotkoski family is making. His widow, Felicia, spent today strolling O'Hare Airport in Chicago with her 8-month old daughter (Alexis) in tow while carrying a Braves tomahawk. She was attending a meeting of the "movers and shakers" that are going to get the season going on, and have sent the replacement players home. Understandably angry and grieving, she unloaded on the players' union but her biggest reservation concerned the term "real major league players." She said that the "real" major league players were the ones who played for the love of the game such as her late husband. She further said that she has set up a trust fund for her daugher and has received a myriad of support from minor league players, other replacements, hot dog vendors, and even Terry Blocker, who insisted his $10,000 reward money leading to the arrest of Evans be given to the widow's family. She mused that the one group of people from whom she had not heard anything was a single major league player.

The returning major league players head to spring training this week, but there are numerous problems to be resolved. The owners lost an estimated $800 million in the strike, a number sure to climb higher if fan boycotts are invoked. The players not only lost an estimated $350 million in salary, there are currently 833 unsigned roster players, which includes over 100 unsigned free agents - among them Jeff Blauser, Mark Grace, John Franco, Benito Santiago, Frank Viola, and Bob Tewksbury. The strangest case concerns future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, who was dealt at the deadline last August 31 from the flailing Twins to the contending Indians for "future considerations," which may well have been a dinner between the principals of both teams. Also, will the shortened spring training help the hitters or pitchers more? The most recent short spring training (1990) saw the most no-hitters in a season in the history of modern baseball, nine, which suggests the pitchers find their stride before the hitters (which also begs the question of why the pitchers usually report a week early).

And then there's the upset applecart at ESPN, where they now have to develop replacement programming because they won't be showing replacement games. The sudden ruling means that overnight, the Worldwide Leader has to develop some programming people will actually watch in place of baseball.

ESPN isn't the only one having to act quickly. MLB itself has to rework the schedule into a 144-game season that is fair to everyone when they've just recently expanded from four to six divisions. The season will start on April 26th (well, except for the opener with the Dodgers), but you cannot simply drop the first 18 scheduled games because of equity of home and away games as well as opponents played. If the World Series goes seven games this year - assuming no rainouts or worse (like say an earthquake or a snowstorm in a Northern locale) - it will end on October 29th, the latest season-ending date in the history of Major League Baseball. If it works this year, the league might want to consider shortening the season to 144 games every year and starting at the beginning of April. Otherwise, we will soon have Santa Claus thawing out the first ball before he strolls over near Central Park to end the annual Thanksgiving Day parade.

There's also the pending sale of two clubs, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics. Those were not permitted while the strike was ongoing, and would anyone sane really want to buy a baseball team right now, particularly ones in small markets?

And finally, an irony to the entire thing: baseball's players went on strike only to come back under the same economic system they were playing under when they...went on strike. (It's not this simple, of course, but fans are enjoying the punch line).

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 3, 1995

HOT STOVE LEAGUE HEATS UP WITH STRIKE OUT OF THE WAY;
ECK BECOMES FIRST POST-STRIKE FREE AGENT

The federal injunction that ended the 7-1/2 month Major League Baseball players' strike has rapidly given way to teams releasing, trading, or signing players to new deals, both short and long. Though it will be impossible to cover every single transaction, we will do our best to keep you posted of the day-to-day moves in Major League Baseball up to and well beyond the abbreviated 144-game slate that will commence on April 26th. In the coming days, we will also preview all six divisions as well as post the predictions of prominent publications portending the post-season, although let's face it: the Atlanta Braves will go off as heavy favorites to win the National League and probably rank as the most common choice to finally attain the crown and title of World Champions. But there's a reason they play the games, and contenders are expected this year in Cincinnati, Cleveland, New York, and perhaps Los Angeles (perhaps more than one in Los Angeles). It will be up to the players, who are blamed for driving away the fans, to bring those fans back and give them something to cheer, root for, or perhaps root again. (Side note: with both Ohio teams potential World Series winners this year, Ohio State a potential national championship contender, and the Browns coming off Bill Belichick's first playoff team in the NFL, it looks to be a fun year for sports in the state of Ohio as long as you overlook the Bengals and don't waste a wish on the four games above .500 Cleveland Cavaliers).

Speaking of the Braves, the first player has already arrived in camp, a man with a lot to prove, Ryan Klesko. Despite suffering lingering effects from a flu bug, Klesko, who hit .278 with 17 homers and 47 RBIs in the abbreviated season last year, showed up at 10 am this morning ready to go about earning a starting roster spot on the "team of the 90s" thus far. Klesko, originally a first baseman from Westminster, CA, has no hope of taking the first base slot away from the power-hitting, adequate fielding slugger Fred "Crime Dog" McGriff. Justice is ensconsed in right field, and there's no DH in the NL, so Klesko is left to play an adequate left field, get three or four at-bats per night against right-handed pitching, and give way to a defensive replacement late in the game. Or as a guy with less than two full seasons under his belt, he's potential trade bait for the right suitor that can provide the Braves either a closer or a hitter of similar stature to Klesko who plays better defense. In his defense he has improved at the position, but it is also very clearly not his comfort zone.

Speaking of comfort zones, what has gotten into Mark Grace? Grace claims the crosstown Chicago White Sox have shown interest in acquiring him, a musing that is nothing short of ludicrous when you remember that guy who won the AL MVP the last two years - and who many think is perhaps the best hitter in the American League - is current Sox first baseman Frank Thomas. Thomas has played only 17 games at DH the last two years while leading the league in slugging pct in 1994. No, he's not a Gold Glove fielder, but moving him to DH to acquire Grace, well, okay, it does sound like something the White Sox would be stupid enough to do. But that isn't going to happen.

Another thing that will not happen is 37-year old Brett Butler will not be back with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 1995 baseball sason. With a youth movement afoot - Dodger players Eric Karros, Mike Piazza, and Raul Mondesi have won the last three Rookie of the Year awards, and Japanese import Hideo Nomo is a contender for the award this year - the Dodgers don't feel they need a 37-year old outfielder, even if he did hit .314 last year while leading the NL with 9 triples and stole 33 bases. Butler, who has a home near Atlanta dating back to the beginning of his career with the Atlanta Braves, hopes to catch on with another major league team. The Braves could use his leadership, but they seem set with Roberto Kelly in center field if he work through his constant off-the-field issues. Kelly, however, is not a true leadoff hitter of the sort that Otis Nixon or even Deion Sanders (for whom Kelly was traded from the Reds last May) was. On the flip side, he will always be the guy who replaced Rickey Henderson in centerfield with the Yankees, and that's no small accomplishment. The other issue concerning Butler is he was offered a one-year deal that was under the salary cap implemented by the owners that was thrown out two days ago by Judge Sonia Sotomayor's ruling. Thus far, he has received no offers.

And then there's the strange case of Dennis Eckersley, one of the few remaining pieces of Oakland's late 80s dynasty (and, oh yeah, 40 years old). The Athletics may have won four pennants in five years, but those days are long gone now. They've dumped high-dollar players like Jose Canseco and finished dead last in 1993, winning only one game more than expansion Colorado and only four more than expansion Florida. (The Athletics, in fact, had the worst record in the American League in 1993). Eckersley needs only six saves to become the sixth reliever in history with 300 saves. The others are: Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter, Jeff Reardon, and Lee Smith. Terms are unavailable, but the team and player actually reached agreement last December, so the signing was a mere formality. "Eck" did entertain offers from the Yankees and Indians, but he opted to stay where he has been entrenched as the closer since 1987. He had his best season in 1992, when he won the AL MVP and Cy Young during a year when he notched 51 saves for a division winner.

You can choose to see this as either good or bad, but the Florida Marlins and St Louis Cardinals have both decided to give each replacement player that made up their final 32-man roster a $25,000 bonus. It may offset some of the hard feelings by the fans, but it also makes the point that the big league clubs aren't exactly hurting for money, either.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

APRIL 4, 1995

OWNERS LOSE AGAIN AS APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS INJUNCTION;
PLAYERS DEALING WITH POST-STRIKE FALLOUT ALREADY WHILE UMPS ARE STILL LOCKED OUT
OPENING DAY SCHEDULE FINALIZED

And so the healing process begins. For some. Maybe not the owners, who seem willing to see how much farther they can take their farce of a case. It's a three-ring circus - at a minimum.

The panel of the U.S. 2nd Court of Appeals repeatedly ridiculed MLB owners' attorney Frank Casey during his one-hour argument before the court in an effort to have Judge Sonia Sotomayor's injunction that ended the baseball strike just days ago overturned on appeal. Of course, don't blame Casey, who did the best he could while holding no cards above the 7 of hearts. It wasn't Casey who arbitrarily ended free agency and salary arbitration in Major League Baseball, he was just the one who had to appear before the court and try to make a coherent argument that the owners had the right to do so. Chief Justice John Newman told Casey, "You're fuzzing things" at one point and at another said, "You're just going around in circles." One half expected to hear Billy Preston music pumped in through a sound system. It got so bad at one point that Newman spelled out the position Casey was arguing to the complete length of its absurdity. When Casey claimed that "whipsaw forces" as well as the federal injunction "prevented collective bargaining," Judge Newman retorted, "Do you REALLY think the answer is yes? Is THAT your point? You REALLY believe it? You really think that the letter that Mr. Fehr sent, which says, 'We're ready to resume negotiations', your position is, 'We'd love to resume negotiations over a new contract but the district judge has prevented us from doing it?' Is THAT your position?" As it his framing of his argument wasn't bad enough, Casey continued, "That is correct, your honor."

"Well, what would it take to persuade you that that position is wrong? Do you want to hear it from Judge Sotomayor? Or from us? Or what?"

Two of the three judges on the panel went further, telling Casey that the owenrs had made a critical legal mistake when they dropped their own attempt to declare an impasse in bargaining. The owners did originally claim an impasse on December 23 and imposed a salary cap, but they then abandoned the cap on Feburary 3 after a warning from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that they were inclined to issue an unfair labor practice complaint against the owners. Casey called the NLRB finding a "technical violation," but Judge J. Daniel Mahoney pointed out that they could have taken a strong case - assuming they had one - and taken their chances with the NLRB hearing. Judge Ralph Winter added that they could have simply fought that case on the merits, but as he pointed out, "You agreed to restore the status quo. The very next day you turned around and disrupted the status quo."

As it turned out, Casey wasn't done making a fool of himself yet.

As the three judges repeatedly pointed out to Casey that the owners were changing their position based on whatever whim they felt would protect them legally on a particular day, Judge Newnan then asked Casey to cite "just once case" that would support the argument he was making, this after Casey said that with the Clinton Administration running the country, it was impossible to get any sort of fair hearing. Newnan even limited Casey's options to citing just one case that had been heard in a court of appeal that supported the notion where free agency was part of collective bargaining that had reached an impasse, management had the freedom to abolish free agency. Casey then cited a case involving the NBA - a case, ironically, where the opinion was written just three months ago by (wait for it) Judge Winter, who said, "With all due respect, let me defend my own decisions. I did not say that." Casey further stated that the owners will not - if the injunction remains in place - appeal to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the justice responsible for the 2nd Circuit.

The players' union attorney, George Cohen, didn't even bother to make an argument, letting Judge Winter observe, "Don't you like the way the argument's going so far?"

The same cannot be said, of course, with the players, who find themselves in the position of a cheating spouse who is trying to continue the marriage as if nothing has ever happened. Tom Glavine, the Atlanta player rep, is spending extra times signing autographs and letting fans have their say with him. Barry Larkin, already a popular Reds player, is doing the same. Sparky Anderson is back, but who knows for how long? His principled stand and refusal to manage replacement players wasn't exactly well-received with the ownership in Detroit.

And then there's the case of the replacement umpires, which threatens to tear open a hole that hasn't even begun to heal yet. All it will take is someone tossing a player too quickly or making a horrendous call that costs a team a ballgame to remind the fans that the umpires aren't the real umpires, either. Umpires were locked out when their contract expired on December 31, 1994. Weekly meetings have yet to yield a settlement. The umpires initially asked for a 60% pay raise, which they lowered to a 53% request. The owners countered with the offer of a 3% pay raise. The umpires walked off the job in 1991, and while a settlement was reached on Opening Day that year, it was too late so many games were worked by replacement umpires. The umpires' union filed an unfair labor practice complaint against both leagues in early March, but the NLRB said they weren't going to pursue the charge, so the umpires withdrew it.

The Opening Day schedule was finalized yesterday, and former Oriole shortstop Mark Belanger, a former union rep who is now an assistant to the players' union, says he has a schedule outline subject to approval by the leagues that he was up working on all last night. The traditional opener in Cincinnati features the Reds and Cubs, while the Rockies will play the night game on ESPN as they launch their new stadium at Coors Field against the Mets. All 28 MLB clubs will be in action on April 26.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 5, 1995

EXPOS BEGIN DISMANTLING BEST TEAM OF 94;
SIGNINGS GALORE AND OPENING DAY MOVED UP FOR TWO TEAMS; AND WILL THE ROCKIES BE GOOD?

Baseball has gone from nothing happening to everything happening at breakneck speed. And the broken necks begin in Montreal, where the Expos are shedding payroll like a convict planning an escape sheds extra weight. Baseball's best team in 1994 (record-wise) is throwing in the towel, largely due to their losing $15 million last year thanks to that little interruption called the strike. And one can argue the movement away from Montreal is due largely to the fact that with no settlement, there IS no salary cap, so small market clubs like the Expos and Royals don't want to be left holding a very heavy bag of debt. Fans may get to see that there actually is a need for some sort of equilibrium between the large and small-market clubs.

In the case of the latter, we have the New York Yankees picking up closer John Wetteland, who was expected to command somewhere between $4 and 5 million in arbitration this year. Wetteland takes his 25 saves in the short season last year to the Bronx in exchange for Fernando Seguignol and a player to be named later. Ken Hill, 16-5 last year, is back with the St Louis Cardinals, traded for three names out of the yellow pages (Kirk Bullinger, Bryan Eversgerd, and DaRond Stovall). Hill, too, was expected to command Wetteland-like money to retain his services on a team that had a total payroll last year of only $18 million.

There was old news as well. Fernando Valenzuela, the 1981 NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young winner with the Dodgers rapidly becoming a journeyman jumping from team to team, signed with the San Diego Padres. Dave Winfield, the future Hall of Famer who is nine years older than Valenzuela, finally signed on with the Cleveland Indians, who are serious favorites to win it all this year. But at the opposite end of the spectrum is 27-year old Brian McRae, the son of recently fired manager and KC legend Hal McRae, who was sent to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for minor league pitchers Derek Wallace and Gero Merones. The elder McRae had the Royals in contention last year thanks to a 14-game winning streak, but his off-the-field outbursts clash with the reputation of the beloved DH of the championship years. Plus, the Royals think they're one player away from contending. Sure they are - if that player is Mickey Mantle in his prime.

There were other major free agent signings as follows:

- the Orioles signed catcher Chris Hoiles to a five-year, 17.25 million dollar deal
- the Mets re-signed closer extraodrinaire John Franco to a two-year deal worth $5 million
- the White Sox signed Jose DeLeon to a one-year deal worth $600K.

You know, for a bunch of broke baseball owners who claim to have lost nearly a billion bucks in the last eight months, some teams sure do seem to have a lot of money laying around. And speaking of money, there's the always symbiotic relationship between baseball and television. The owners and players, who have been at each other's throats since last June, agreed to move up Opening Day one day but only for two teams. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Florida Marlins will play the baseball opener in Miami on April 25, and the game will be televised by ESPN. This does away with the long baseball tradition of opening the season in Cincinnati, but like all traditions baseball has, it must either pass away or be killed by the principals. In the past few years they've managed to destroy pennant races, fans' trust in the game, and the season opener in Cincinnati. Just wait until they decide to do that long rumored interleague play thing or impose the DH on the National League, as they've wanted to do since 1973.

The schedule being finalized also has Cal Ripken tying Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak on September 5th at home and then breaking it the next night, also at home, against the California Angels. I'm 100% certain the fact the schedule was drawn up by former Oriole Mark Belanger and does precisely what Orioles owner Peter Angelos wants in terms of putting money into his pocket has zero to do with this coincidence. It's solely a coincidence that the Orioles play a nine-game homestand surrounding Ripken's record-setting date - and just happen to have the next day off to accomodate any rainouts. (The O's then play three games on the road at Cleveland and get seven more at home. Sixteen home games out of nineteen in a 21-day span). Angelos will make a fortune in the countdown games as fans race to see the record, which makes his "principled stand" against fielding a replacement team look exactly like the cynical ploy most of us expected it was. At least this time we won't have a baseball commissioner having to order the team to play Ripken as occurred in 1974, when Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ordered the Braves to play Hank Aaron in at least two of three road games to open the season in Cincinnati. Aaron hit the record-tying home run on his first swing of the season, sat out the second game, and then got called out on strikes without swinging in the final game before going home to Atlanta to break the record. The joke, of course, was on Kuhn - you can make the guy play in the game, but you can't make him swing the bat.

Speaking of jokes and swinging bats, we have another interesting winner in the strike, perhaps: the Colorado Rockies. Because they're opening a new stadium that sold no less than 50,000 season tickets for the first year. The Rockies have a guaranteed cash flow stream this year that might just enable them to get a big-name free agent or two. Colorado might welll make the expanded playoffs this year with those advantages.

WINNERS AND LOSERS IN THE STRIKE

Winners:
- the Rockies - guaranteed money and a fresh start
- Sparky Anderson - think of the respect his players will have for him willing to risk it all
- Kevin Gross - because he signed a contract pre-strike, he pocketed $6 million when he isn't worth $600K
- Peter Angelos - nothing more to say
- the Phillies - Jim Fregosi's public reluctance to coach replacement players may bring the team together; they'll need it for a run at the Braves

Losers:
- the Expos - from the best record to the cellar as they dump payroll. Wetteland and Hill are gone, expect Grissom and Walker (and perhaps Fassero) to follow them out the door
- Kevin Brown - turns down a $5M per year deal as free agent, has a bad year, will be lucky to make $1M
- the law firm the owners used - they've repped them for a decade and have never won a single case
- 31 players - eligible for arbitration or free agency who lost service time and won't qualify this year
-

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 6, 1995

BRAVES HOPE GRISSOM IS THE MISSING PIECE TO A WORLD SERIES TITLE;
EXPOS COMPLETE CONTRACT PURGING BY DUMPING 4 HIGHEST PAID PLAYERS;
RENT-A-PLAYER CONE ON THE MOVE AGAIN

Atlanta Braves General Manager John Schuerholz admitted he was just joking, but as news of his acquisition of Montreal Expos centerfielder Marquis Grissom began to make the rounds, Schuerholz said, "We are the first team to ever win the World Series in April." Such a comment could be seen as bulletin board material or perhaps motivation for other teams, but Schuerholz did quickly follow his remarks with the observation that there is "no pressure, just have fun." That brief exchange shows that the Atlanta Braves - like always it seems - are a completely different baseball team from everyone else. There are 28 teams in the big leagues competing for championships this season, and 27 of them will tell you they "aim" or "hope" to win the World Series. The other, the Braves, will tell you, "We have to win it."

The Braves may have taken their biggest step forward towards the 1995 World Series championship today as they acquired Grissom, who will turn 28 next week, from the salary shedding Expos in exchange for outfielders Roberto Kelly and Tony Tarasco plus minor league pitcher Esteban Yan. Just to show they're such good guys, the Braves will be paying most of Kelly's salary in 1995, a carrot that enabled the Braves to beat out the Florida Marlins in the effort to obtain Grissom. The Braves hope that having Grissom in the leadoff spot will give them a solid contact hitter with a little power and a lot of speed to set the table for Chipper Jones, David Justice, and Fred McGriff - and perhaps Ryan Klesko as well. The ground Grissom can cover in the outfield gives Manager Bobby Cox a little more leeway to start Klesko, whose fielding is something of a liability, in left field and then pull him for a defensive replacement in the late innings. Of course, it is entirely possible that 1991 draft pick Mike Kelly, a star from Arizona State, might earn the left fielder job, which would likely open the Braves up to trade Klesko for something else they need for the stretch run, too.

Grissom was probably coming to Atlanta anyway. He is a native of the city, born as the 14th of 16 children and raised in a house his father built in Red Oak, GA between hours at the Ford assembly plant. Although too poor to play organized youth baseball, Grissom's path was guided once when he hit a police officer's car with a rock thrown from a long distance, and the officer gave Grissom the option of joining his youth baseball league or pressing charges. He graduated from Lakeshore High School in College Park (just south of Atlanta) and had scholarship offers in baseball, football, and track. Bypassing the big leagues and the Cincinnati Reds, who offered him a $17,000 signing bonus, Grissom went to Florida A/M and shone both as a pitcher and an outfielder before the Expos drafted him in 1988. With the good luck of being with a bad club, Grissom quickly made it to the majors and led the NL in steals in both 1991 and 1992 and then made the All-Star team each of the next two seasons. Due to be a free agent after this season, the Expos had to either pay him a fortune, trade him for something, or lose him for nothing, so they opted to get some players for the future. The Grissom trade means the Expos have gotten rid of their three highest-paid players in the last two days, and the fourth, Larry Walker, is expected to sign a free agent contract with the Colorado Rockies tomorrow.

Grissom was one of the big names on the move on Wednesday, but another big name (and union activist), David Cone, was dealt from the Kansas City Royals back to the Toronto Blue Jays in yet another example of a small-town club getting rid of a high salaried player. Cone was a Kansas City native on his second tour of duty with the Royals, who drafted him in 1981 and brought him to the majors in 1986 as a middle reliever. The Royals, who at the time seemed to have a solid pitching rotation, traded Cone to the Mets for three players prior to the start of the 1987 season and after a rough first year, Cone became the #2 starter on the team behind the ace, Doc Gooden. He struck out 19 batters on the final day of the 1991 season, tying the NL record set by Mets ace Tom Seaver. Traded in the heat of the 1992 pennant race, Cone finally won a World Series ring with the Blue Jays in 1992 before he was traded back to Kansas City prior 1993. Cone pitched well despite a poor record and then notched the AL Cy Young Award last year with a 16-5 record (2.94 ERA). The Jays, of course, are two-time defending champions since no World Series was played last year, but the Royals managed to dump about $5 million in salary in the trade.

The Phillies signed two free agents, Gene Harris, and the more popular Charlie Hayes, who spent the last two years in Colorado. This is part of the fallout of Phillies first baseman John Kruk's diagnosis of testicular cancer last spring. Kruk is now a free agent who can sign with anyone as of May 12, which has Dave Hollins moving from third to first. The Phillies focused on Hayes because, they said, Terry Pendleton wanted more money than they were willing to give a 35-year old third baseman. Hayes signed a $1 million, one-year contract with incentives that could gain him an additional $500K.

In other news, the Rockies signed right fielder Dante Bichette to a one-year contract with no terms disclosed. The Mariners nabbed White Sox second baseman Joey Cora. The Cincinnati Reds agreed to arbitration deals with three players: Eddie Taubensee, Pete Schourek, and former Brave Brian Hunter. Pete Harnisch signed a three-year deal worth at least $9 million with the Mets, and the Minnesota Twins agreed to contracts with four players on their roster: Pedro Munoz, Alex Cole, Vince Horsman, and Carl Willis. Former Twin Chili Davis, 35, showed up to the Angels' spring training without a contract. He wants a three-year deal, which is unlikely at his age, particularly for a guy who can do nothing but DH, even if he did make the All-Star team last year.

Mitch Williams, last seen watching Joe Carter's Series-winning home run go over the left field fence in Sky Dome, hopes to recapture his "Wild Thing" magic with the Angels this year. Last year with the Astros, "Wild Thing" had six saves in 25 appearances, but his old magic was clearly gone. He faced 106 batters, of whom 21 got hits, 21 walked, and 21 struck out. He also gave up four home runs in those hits and his 1-2 record was uh supported with an ERA of 6.75 - as a reliever.

In news away from the field, former Dodgers infielder Steve Sax is running for office. Seriously! He's running for the California state assembly in the 5th District because the incumbent, David Knowles, has to leave office due to term limits. Sax is simultaneously hoping to continue his major league career at age 35. He was on the Athletics last year, and has shown a political tin ear after saying MLB players who are unionized should not so much as speak to any replacement players, even if that player makes a major league roster legitimately.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 7, 1995

MIDNIGHT DEADLINE FOR SIGNINGS SEES ACTION ALL ACROSS THE MAJORS;
PUCKETT THREATENS TO LEAVE MINNESOTA
CANSECO JOINS BOSOX AND PLAYERS HE BEAT IN 1988

Major league players have until midnight tonight to sign contracts with teams in order to avoid arbitration or waiting to begin play until mid-Mday, and a flurry of activity resulted with some two dozen signings of big and not-so-big names all across the majors, and five players were granted free agency.

The new free agents are: John Burkett, Bernard Gilkey, Glenallen Hill, Derrick May, and Jaime Navarro. The biggest catch out there, Larry Walker of the Expos, is expected to sign with the Colorado Rockies, but nothing official had been determined by press time. But there are some really big names out there in the mix, and we'll run down the biggest ones today.

Terry Pendleton, the 1991 NL MVP, who has received much of the on-the-field credit for the reversal of the Atlanta Braves in recent years, signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with a team option for 1996 with the Florida Marlins. Back injuries limited Pendleton to just 77 games last year, and with Chipper Jones a former shortstop no longer needed to patrol the outfield, Pendleton became expendable. The Marlins also signed Jerry Browne and Mark Gardner, who famously lost a no-hitter in the 10th inning with the Expos in 1991, to free agent contracts. After toying with the absurd notion that he might take over for Frank Thomas at first base across town, Chicago Cubs first baseman Mark Grace re-signed with the Cubs as a free agent. The White Sox themselves signed Kirk McCaskill to a free agent contract worth $750K for two years, letting the Kevin Costner-look alike Grace remain in the friendly confines. A couple of former Braves from the bad ole 80s signed free agent contracts as well, outfielder Gerald Perry with the Cardinals and pitcher Joe Boever with the Tigers. Detroit also brought back post-season home run legend Kirk Gibson as a free agent for 1995, a one-year contract worth $1.3 million.

Kirby Puckett, who has won two World Series with the team and may be the most popular player in team history, is voicing the frustration of a man who sees the small-market Twins as victims of the strike and baseball's new economics. Puckett declared that if the Twins are not competitive this year, he may be gone at the end of the season. Although he said he understood the Twins are rebuilding, he feels the limited budget the Twins have is preventing them from getting the players to be competitive. Minnesota won the World Series just four years ago, but they've plummeted in the standings at the same time the team they beat, the Braves, have become baseball's marquee organization.

Several players did sign deals but took significant pay cuts. Bob Welch, who undeservedly won the 1990 AL Cy Young based on winning 27 games (it should have been Roger Clemens), dropped from his final year contract that was worth $2.6 million with Oakland last year and will make $226K with no performance bonuses. This is based largely on the fact Welch is 38 years old this season. Pat Borders, the 1992 World Series MVP, made $2.5 million with Toronto last year, but he has signed with Kansas City for $310K.

Jose Canseco, baseball's first 40-40 man in 1988, will play his first season with the short left field wall in Fenway Park this year, and he is expecting the same fans who have ridiculed him with allegations of "STEROIDS!" since that season to welcome him with open arms. Canseco was traded from the Texas Rangers last winter to the Red Sox for Otis Nixon and Luis Ortiz. His teammate, Mike Greenwell, has forgiven Canseco for beating him out for the 1988 AL MVP, and so has his other new teammate, Roger Clemens, off whom Canseco homered in the playoffs that year. The first substantial allegations of Canseco using steroids were reported in September of 1988 by Washington Post reporter Tom Boswell on CBS, who referred to Canseco as, "the most conspicuous example of a player who has made himself great with steroids." ABC covered the issue during the pregame of game 1 of that year's ALCS as Canseco called the allegations "false" and attributed his 40/40 season to weight lifting and hard work. The Boston fans, not known for their kindness, followed up their mocking "Dar-ryl!" chants from the 1986 World Series against the Mets with the equally loud, "Ster-oids!" chant towards Canseco during the ALCS in 1988, particularly when he homered. The chants were so loud that Athletics Manager Tony LaRussa, who had praised Boston fans for their warmth the day before, referred to them as "disgusting."


Note: the pregame interview is below. The comments regarding steroids begin around the 1:55 mark.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 8, 1995

FREE AGENT SIGNINGS DOMINATE BASEBALL NEWS;
BRAVES CONTINUE TO WORK OUT DEALS;
EXPANSION TEAMS TRY TO WIN QUICKLY

Over 20 major league players signed new contracts today as small-market clubs continue to dump players with high salaries and large market clubs reap the benefit in the standings and (perhaps, we'll see) at the ticket window. Several formerly big-name players such as Orel Hershiser, Alan Trammell, Andre Dawson, and Dave Stewart signed new contracts, but the biggest signing of all is the Colorado Rockies' acquisition of Expos star outfielder Larry Walker, who received a whopping $22 million over four years to move from relative anonymity in Montreal to the biggest drawing card at the new Coors Field thanks to the pre-season selling of over 50,000 season tickets. Walker hit .322 with 19 homers and 86 RBIs during the strike-shortened campaign last season and is entering his prime at 28 years old.

Not quite so young anymore and not as big news as this would have been five years ago, 1988 NL Cy Young winner Orel Hershiser signed a one-year contract rumored to be worth about $1.45 million with the Cleveland Indians that includes a club option for 1996. Hershiser, whose 1988 season ranks among the all-time single great seasons - he went 23-8 with a 2.26 ERA while throwing 8 shutous and breaking Don Drysdale's seemingly unbreakable record of 58 consecutive scoreless innings before winning both the LCS and World Series MVP - is 35 years old and on the downhill slope of a career that would have landed him in the Hall of Fame had he only been able to avoid injury. Hershiser led the league in innings pitched for three straight years (1987-89) and batters faced twice before tearing a labrum in his pitching arm and missing 13 months of action from April 1990 through May 1991. The Dodgers made no secret of their opinion that Hershiser was the biggest casualty of the 1990 lockout's shortened spring training, and fears of what may happen this year are already being voiced. Hershiser actually pitched better in 1989 than he did in his magical year in 1988, but he led the league in losses due to a lack of run support as he went 15-15. Cleveland is not going to get the 1988 version of Orel, but they'd be happy with the 1985 brand that went 19-3 with a 2.03 ERA on a division winner.

Also no longer young but still wanted if only to sell tickets are 37-year old Alan Trammell, who seems destined to conclude his career as a single-team player in Detroit. Dave Stewart returns to Oakland, where he won 20 games four years in a row (1987-90) but never won the Cy Young. And he's not so young himself at age 38, and took a slash of 2/3 of his salary to sign a one-year contract worth a cool million. And then there's Andre Dawson, perhaps a future Hall of Famer coming back for his 20th season that will see him turn 40 in July as part of the Florida Marlins' plans to win a World Series quickly. The Marlins signed Dawson as well as pitchers Bobby Witt and John Burkett in their hopes of catching the Braves this year, but they failed to acquire Kevin Brown, who signed with Baltimore Orioles. Jim Abbott, the pitcher best known for having one hand and throwing a no-hitter two years ago, became expendable when the Yankees signed Black Jack McDowell, so Abbott (naturally) replaces McDowell in the starting rotation of the Chicago White Sox. The ChiSox also signed Orioles' outfielder Mike Devereaux to an $800K contract, a substantial cut from the $3.75 million he didn't earn last year while hitting just above the Mendoza line at .203.

All is not necessarily well with the big market powerhouses, either, though. Fred McGriff is a bit miffed the Atlanta Braves have not signed him to a long-term deal yet, but the Braves have benefited from the fact his former club, the Padres, have been paying a large chunk of his salary since the infamous trade that brought him to Atlanta and set the stadium on fire (literally) in 1993. Jason Schmidt and Darrell May arrived at spring training a few days late - understandably so under the circumstances as both were traveling together from California and had to complete a 3,700-mile drive to Braves camp in West Palm Beach. The only missing player in Atlanta camp now is Eduardo Perez, who has been stuck in Venezuela with a visa problem. All 37 players in camp took and passed their physicals, including Jose Oliva, who was hospitalized last month with a liver infection. Braves Manager Bobby Cox suggests that he may recall Atlanta hero Francisco Cabrera back from Richmond after the start of the season. While best-known for his scorching line drive to left field that scored Sid Bream with the pennant-winning run in 1992, Cabrera has had a flair for the dramatic throughout his career, including a three-run shot that tied the Reds in 1991 with the Braves down to their last out as well as a game-tying single in game 5 of the 1993 NLCS that is little remembered because the Braves lost the game in the tenth. That at-bat was Cabrera's last appearance in the major leagues.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 9, 1995

A STRIKE SUMMARY LEAVES US WONDERING WHAT COMES NEXT*
INDIANS REFUSE TO COOPERATE WITH RIPKEN STREAK,
FORMER TWINS OUTFIELDER BOB ALLISON DIES AT 60

Here's a summary of what we have just endured with the baseball strike.

1) The Owners
They finally proved - after 20 years of proving otherwise - that they can stick together on something and once they do they.....have nothing to show for it. They lost $700 million, didn't get a salary cap, didn't break the players union, and then spent (literally) hundreds of thousands of dollars on replacement players even they knew would never take the field.

2) The Players
They managed to again exploit the owners' intelligence (or lack thereof), lose $230 million in pay, tick off the fans who largely blame them for it, hurt the owners to the tune of $700 million - much of which would (wait for it) go to the players themselves, and oh yeah cost all those concessionaires etc their jobs. Now nearly 200 players are scrambling to find work in baseball and many at bargain basement salary prices.

3) The Fans
Well, who knows at this point? Maybe boycott the games because like an abusive relationship, if you show back up like nothing happened, guess what's going to happen again?

4) Here's A Thought
Maybe the MLBPA could have won a settlement had they threatened their walkout just prior to the last day of the regular season. I mean, they were going to get blamed for it anyway, so why not leverage the owners to the point of losing those millions in TV revenue? You think there wouldn't have been a mad scramble to accomodate or at least work something out temporarily?

The best summary? The owners and players fought each other tooth and nail for a solid year, lost over a billion bucks combined - and we're right back where we were less than one year ago. Nobody has really won anything. The best musing was offered by baseball's last real commissioner Fay Vincent, the man who navigated the lockout in 1990 as well as the Pete Rose drama and the horrific earthquake that rocked San Francisco during the 1989 World Series: "What a tremendous waste of time it all was. I feel very bad for the institution that I was involved with...it's embarrassingly inept."

What Goes Around Comes Around

Let's be blunt: the only REAL reason Orioles' owners Peter Angelos didn't field a replacement team is because he sees dollar signs in the games where Cal Ripken is approaching the consecutive games played streak of Yankees legend Lou Gehrig. And just as Bill Bartholomay wanted Hank Aaron to pass Babe Ruth's record at home and just as Marge Schott wanted Pete Rose to pass Ty Cobb's record at home, Angelos is rubbing his hands together as he counts his money while sitting at the table with a big grin on his face hoping to make back some of the money he lost last year. Hell, the schedule was made by a former Orioles player!! But since Mark Belanger saddled the Orioles with a series in Cleveland - their only 3 road games in a three-week span - right after the projected record-breaking date, the Orioles asked Cleveland to swap out a May series with them to ensure it would take an entire month of rainouts to prevent Cal from breaking the record at home. Indians GM John Hart, though, showed Angelos that he's every bit as capable of playing the self-righteous and pretentious bore that Angelos has been, saying that "this is about competition" and some nonsense about "the fans in Cleveland deserve to see a possible championship race in September at home." I'd have more respect for both of them if Angelos would simply come out and say, "Look, the only reason I was opposed to replacement players is because of Cal Ripken's streak" and if Hart would come out and say, "Angelos didn't want to be friends or allies with any of the owners and now he expects us to just give him something? I hope there's enough rainouts that Cal sells out Jacobs Field when he sets the record. What is Angelos gonna do? Forfeit the series and hope it doesn't count? Set Ripken down?"

Those remarks wouldn't be politically correct, but they would be the one thing this strike has yet to see: full-blown brutal honesty.

Allison Dies From Ataxia

Mention the name Bob Allison and Southern racing fans will immediately think of the father of the racing family known as "the Alabama Gang," but baseball fans in the Midwest have a different recollection. Bob Allison was a decent outfielder for the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins of the late 50s and early 60s. Indeed, his career stats are comparable to those of the late Roger Maris, who gets a ton of Hall of Fame support based on one phenomenal year where he slugged more than 20% of his career homers in one magical season. Allison was the AL Rookie of the Year and a three-time All-Star duriing his 13-year career. In 1987 during his attendance at an Old Timer's Game at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Allison began noticing problems with his coordination. Two years of doctor visits in pursuit of a diagnosis finally led them to conclude that Allison suffered from ataxia, a neurological disorder with symptoms similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease). Allison worked after his baseball retirement as a plant manager and businessman associated with Coca-Cola in the Twin Cities. Allison was eventually unable even to feed himself, and his suffering ended today in Rio Verde, Arizona, where Allison passed at the age of 60.

Free Agent Signings Today

Boston signed former Pirates P Stan Belinda and Reggie Jefferson
The Orioles signed Kevin Brown and Jesse Orosco
The Marlins signed John Burkett and Bobby Witt
The Cardinals signed Cris Carpenter and then traded Rheal Cormier and Mark Whiten to the Red Sox in exchange for Cory Bailey and Scott Cooper
The Cubs signed Jaime Navarro
The Rockies signed Omar Olivares

* - The points in this article are largely cribbed, borrowed, or reworded from Bob Nightengale's column in "The Sporting News" with a cover date of April 10, 1995.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 10, 1995
DODGERS OPTING FOR YOUNG STARS RATHER THAN FREE AGENTS;
FEHR QUESTIONS WHY LASORDA WAS FINE WITH REPLACEMENT PLAYERS;
AND THOUGHTS ON THE WILDCARD

The Los Angeles Dodgers, long one of the marquee landing spots for high-priced free agents with their glitz and glamour, have watched free agent after free agent sign contracts over the last ten days - and not one of them is headed to Hollyweird, the land of swimming pools and movie stars. Mark Grace, Bill Swift, Larry Walker, Terry Pendleton, Andre Dawson, John Franco, Lee Smith, Harold Baines, Marquis Grissom, John Wetteland- all very good players (okay, at one time in some cases), and all headed elsewhere. The Dodgers wouldn't even commit to keeping Brett Butler. So far, the Dodgers have lost two starting pitchers, their catalyst outfielder, and signed middle reliever Rob Murphy to a minor-league contract. This is a team that finished 1994 a mere two games above .500 and hasn't really contended since losing the pennant to the Atlanta Braves on the last day of the 1991 season. The Dodger payroll will be less than $30 million this year compared with over $42 million in the 1992 season that saw them lose 99 games, the most by a Dodger team since the Taft presidency.

As if the players they haven't signed isn't bad enough, MLBPA union head Donald Fehr - who has the most punchable face in a self-righteous union hack one will ever seen - has decided to play his version of, "Why was Tommy Lasorda so enthusiastic about using replacement players?" Fehr stated - whined if you want to be blunt about it - "He was both vocal and so far as I can tell alone, and I am perplexed by it." Hell, Don, Peter Angelos was all alone, too, but you had no problem with that. Lasorda is not backing down, either, saying that as he noted, he had wanted the "real major league players" back all along, but in the end as Lasorda noted, he is employed by the Dodgers and is loyal to the organization. Fehr, who still doesn't have a post-strike CBA settlement, might ought to find something more constructive to do with his time than play the "that guy wasn't on our side" game, particularly when baseball fans given two bullets and choice of shooting George Steinbrenner, Tom Lasorda, or Donald Fehr would overwhelmingly use both bullets on Fehr. (Lighten up, it's an old Brooklyn Dodgers joke).

PROBLEMS WITH AN EXPANDED PLAYOFF

Because of last year's strike, we never got to see how the expanded playoffs would have played out, but the question concerning the outcome will always be outweighed by the financial windfall projected. What most fans don't know is that when the old contracts that rotated the post-season games between NBC and ABC were in vogue, there was a contractual clause that allowed MLB to add one additional round of playoffs. Those went out the window when CBS took over the weekly Saturday game in 1990 - and NBC's Dick Ebersol made clear he wasn't a fan of an additional round of games that would potentially take away some of his primetime sitcoms such as "Frasier" or "Friends." There are a myriad of problems that may follow this, which is why baseball needs to be very careful about how they proceed - good luck on that one.

1) NLCS and ALCS games have not sold out in years.

This is not totally surprising given the late start times for games, and the fact they occur during a school night. Throw in the fact that the networks cannot insist the series' be tied to weekends because of their lucrative contracts with the NFL, the fact the fall is a time of active high school sports in both football and basketball, and the stadium isn't going to sell out unless you have a situation like Atlanta in 1991 or Minnesota in 1987. Plus, bad weather such as New York and Boston have had in several Octobers or, what the hey, and earthquake on a Tuesday night during the Fall Classic, also plays a role in attendance. (Fans not around for it may not know that the scintillating Game 6 of the 1975 World Series where Carlton Fisk hit the game-ending home run off the foul pole was set up by the fact there were four days off between game 5 and 6 due to rain, which allowed the Red Sox to bring back their best pitcher on normal rest). As Ken Schanzer (NBC) noted, "If you can't sell out what you've got now, why would you want more?" In 1991, the Pittsburgh Pirates were set up where a Game 7 triumph in the LCS would have put them into the World Series for the first time in twelve years, yet there were 9,000 empty seats and probably 1/3 of the attendance crowd was Atlanta fans.

2) Baseball wants to have its cake and eat it, too.

Guess which proposal was the one not considered? Abolishing BOTH leagues to form one league with four divisions where the four division winners played. Everything from more divisions to the wildcard to play-in games to interleague play was proposed, but the one not considered was the one that would make the most sense. There's a reason for that.

3) The entire purpose of the expanded playoffs - while yes, being money - is to ensure the Yankees and Dodgers a back door way into the playoffs when they can't make it otherwise.

This point is inarguable. Simply go look at the standings since the last time the Dodgers and Yankees met in the World Series after (wait for it) the split season strike nonsense of 1981. If you kept the four division setup and let in the top two teams - aside from the fact you'd eliminate first-place pennant races - then the Dodgers would have made the playoffs in 1980-81-82-83-85-88-90-91 and missed by one game in 1984, which they would have handled September differently had they been in the race rather than out of it. The Yankees would have made the playoffs in 1980-81-85-86-93 and they missed by one game in both 1983 and 1984, games that might have been overcome with different trade options if their distant finishing still had them in a race. The expansion of the playoffs combined with no salary cap suggests - doesn't mean it will happen - that the Yankees and Dodgers (and perhaps the Braves) are liable to make the playoffs nearly every single year into perpetuity. And with it all being about money and NY and LA being the two largest markets in the USA, the league wants their success for its collective financial being.

4) The arguments are throwing shade.

The objection George Steinbrenner has made is that it isn't fair that the Kansas City Royals used to make the post-season back when they'd have finished 4th or 5th in the powerful AL East. This criticism has silenced in recent years since the AL East hasn't had a better season-ending record of a complete season than the West since 1987, but this is the point raised: it is somehow not fair that the 1993 Giants and their 103 wins had to watch the 97-win Phillies make the playoffs and knock off 104-win Atlanta.

But if that's the REAL objection then why are they still setting themselves up for a wildcard team with a better record to stay home merely due to geography? Imagine that this fall the Red Sox, Indians, and Mariners win their division, but the Angels wind up missing the playoffs to the Yankees because a game ends in a tie.* Or imagine we are in last season and the 10 games under .500 Rangers make the playoffs despite having a worse record than EVERY OTHER TEAM IN THE AL not in their own division - which would have happened had the season progressed as it was when it stopped. Baseball is not solving problems, it is creating new ones. Indeed, this is part of why college football is having such a major problem agreeing on some sort of a playoff - that and the Rose Bowl, which functions as the DH argument in MLB. John Harrington of the Red Sox says fans overwhelmingly support doubling the size of the playoffs. I'm sure Harrington does, too, given his team hasn't won a World Series since a pitcher named Babe Ruth was throwing spitballs during the Spanish flu epidemic.

5) Why in the world does the wildcard team get home field advantage to start the series?

The caveat that the wildcard cannot play their own division champion - yet again - sounds a lot to the rest of us like "let's be sure that Boston and New York don't meet in the first round and thus increase the chances of at least one of them making the World Series." The Mets conveniently avoid the Braves until the LCS, too. But on top of that problem, imagine that the Rockies - who are spending money like a drunken sailor on shore leave - wind up as the wildcard and square off with the Braves, who have the best record in the NL. It is suspected that the high altitude may turn long fly balls into home runs. If fairness of record is what you're really about, why should the WILDCARD team get home-field advantage in the effort to take a 2-0 lead on a presumably superior foe? It makes a little sense if the wildcard has a better record than the division winner, but this sets up all kinds of problems. Again, let's suppose that Cleveland winds up with the best record as most pundits think, the Red Sox win the East, the Mariners win the West, and the Yankees make the wildcard. The matchup SHOULD be the Indians with home field against the team with the worst record. But because of all the caveats, the Indians would have to play the BETTER team (the Red Sox) in this scenario OR if the wildcard was in the West, they'd have to start ON THE ROAD.**

The wildcard concept as baseball has invoked it actually punishes the team with the best record by either making them play a team with a better record than the worst team to make the playoffs or by making them go on the road for two games to start the wildcard round.

Remember - these are the folks who cannot agree on a CBA, and it's probably a good thing. They've managed to screw up every single task upon which they do agree.

* - this exact scenario happened in 1995.
** - so did this one.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 11, 1995
Spring Training Starts Thursday; Striking Umpires May Picket
Butler To the Mets

It is truly uncanny how the Major League Baseball owners can try to break unions over and over, force ideas on other groups that must strike to get out from under the new rule - and only with the help of the legal system, raise the ticket and concession prices time after time...and yet nobody blames them for a damned thing. After the 7 1/2 month player strike that has been largely blamed on the players, the owners have locked out the umpires, which wouldn't be a problem except....oh yeah.....exhibition games start the day after tomorrow. The season is liable to begin with replacement umpires. The owners tried replacement players before a judge told them where to stick it.

Why not some replacement owners?

The umpires however are striking back (there's a movie title in there somewhere). Discussions are ongoing to picket the stadiums where actual big leaguers are playing practice games with replacement umpires. The union is clear, however, that they only want to get their side of the story out and will in no way interfere with fans attempting to enter games. The last regular season umpires strike was in 1991, when negotations concluded on Opening Day, which were the only games worked by replacement umps (an agreement was reached in the morning but too late for the crews to make all but one of the games). There was also an umpire strike in the 1984 baseball playoffs. The umpires, however, may have a tough road to hoe. Most folks aren't going to understand anyone expecting to get a 53 percent pay increase over four years.

Free agent signings continued en masse today. Brett Butler, 37, signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the New York Mets. After last season, the Dodgers offered Butler a $3.5 million contract equivalent to his 1994 deal, but they withdrew the offer after the salary cap was withdrawn in negotations between the players and owners. Raoul Mondesi, who won the Rookie of the Year last year, got a one-year deal with the Dodgers worth $435K. Former big leaguers Mike Bielecki and Scott Sanderson agreed to minor-league deals with the Angels that will become major league contracts if they make the team. The Texas Rangers signed Roger McDowell for $500K while the White Sox signed former Reds third baseman Chris Sabo for $550K.

There's a delicious irony at the moment - most of the free agents are signing contracts that reduce their salary from somewhere between 55 to 80 percent. In other words, the appearance in so many cases right now is that they went on strike and came back to make 1/2 of what they were making.

Here's what's coming up in the next few days. We will review the contract situations with the Atlanta Braves plus beginning on April 17, we will have our baseball preview for 1995 (I'll save you the time: the Braves will meet the Yankees in the World Series this October and lose - again).

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 12, 1995
BRAVES SIGN FREE AGENT BLAUSER PLUS STANTON AND DWIGHT SMITH
EXHIBITION GAMES START TOMORROW
GOODEN UNDER INVESTIGATION BY MLB PLUS A REVIEW OF ATLANTA'S CONTRACT SITUATION

Baseball news is overshadowed today by the official moving of the Los Angeles Rams to St Louis approved by a 23-6 vote. But then again baseball news has been overshadowed since the players walked off the job last August.

In the end it was enough. As the Atlanta Braves attempt to set up all their chess pieces in the desired order to score that last checkmate, they handed over one of the more generous contracts in this year's bargain basement version of the Hot Stove League. Jeff Blauser is the lucky beneficiary, cashing in his agent's deft negotiating that had the Braves bidding - supposedly - against the Texas Rangers for Blauser's bat. Blauser, one of Atlanta's many home-grown talents that has developed into a solid starter, will make $10 million over the next three years in Atlanta. Blauser was the biggest name of three signings the Braves made today. The second was reliever Mike Stanton, who agreed to a one-year contract worth $1.5 million to function as a serviceable middle reliever who can't save close ballgames. None of the other free agent signings are of much import, although the Braves picked up former Cubs outfielder Dwight Smith to (maybe) give Ryan Klesko some late-inning relief defensively - assuming, of course, the Braves don't spend the year as they have the past four winning games in the ninth inning or later.

Then there's the ongoing tragic tale of Doc Gooden. It was just 11 years ago that the 19-year old phenom came onto the scene with a 98 mph fastball and won 17 games and was the runner-up for the Cy Young after an incredible appearance in the All-Star Game where he struck out the side. In one span of 50 starts (1984-86), Gooden went 37-5 with a 1.38 ERA and over 400 strikeouts. But ever since his first arrest after that 1986 World Series season - which led to allegations of police brutality and riots in his hometown of Tampa - Gooden has been on the downdhill slope, throwing away what appeared to be a lock for the Hall of Fame career. He's tested positive for cocaine and been suspended, repeat injuries have reduced his effectiveness with his last good season in 1990 when he was only 26 years old, and he's in trouble yet again. Gooden was already going to miss the 1995 season for positive drug tests while (wait for it) serving drug-related suspensions (yes, plural). But last month Gooden was clocked at 117 mph in a 55 mph zone and had an open container in his career (though he passed the field sobriety test), so MLB is looking into the incident. One feels a sense of sadness watching Gooden throw away a chance so few guys ever get. Remember this: when you read all that garbage from sportswriters about how "this young kid is different" and basically attempts to turn the ballplayer into a saint - forget about it. The writers don't know what's going on away from the park. Hell, the TEAMS don't know what's going on away from the park - and in all honesty, they don't want to know anyway.

The Kansas City Royals have hit upon a strategy to attempt to win fans back: tickets to the first four Royal home games this year will be free. Given how awful the team is going to be this year - they're doing the AL version of the Montreal Expo fire sale - why not? It's not like they need the money to pay players. And speaking of paid players, let's review this year's presumed top dog the Atlanta Braves, who have given us all a template for how to build a powerful major league team: a few free agents, a couple of big trades, homegrown talent, and steady pitching. And it promises to continue after this year, too, because the Braves have been penny-wise when it comes to their signings (uh, for the most part; we'll forget they gave Alejandro Pena a fortune and watched him flounder. And Jeff Reardon. And Mark Davis).

HOW THE BRAVES WERE BUILT

THE free agent - Atlanta has only one big-name superstar free agent signing, and he just happens to be the guy who makes the most money, Greg Maddux. Maddux is signed through the 1997 season with a 5-year, $28 million contract, and he's already paid for it with Cy Young Awards each of his first two years with the Braves. You may look at Atlanta and think "they got good signing free agents" but Terry Pendleton was coming off the worst year of his career at age 30, Sid Bream had bad knees, and Rafael Belliard was a good glove, no-hit shortstop. The Braves do not have any other BIG-NAME free agents on the team.

The "other" free agents - Belliard is signed through next year and will make $1.1 million. Dwight Smith just signed with contract details undisclosed. Greg McMichael has been a quality pickup on the cheap as well, picked up in April 1991 for a song.

The Big Trades - again, the Braves have been very astute in their handling of trades quite responsibly, and the trades have been opened up because the Braves have a lot of good minor leaguers that other teams want. Fred McGriff is the best-known example on the Braves of a player acquired by huge trade, but the Braves pulled off a coup there, too since the Padres are paying most of his salary. McGriff wants a long-term deal worked out before the end of the season when he's eligible for free agency. Marquis Grissom, who came over last week from the Expos, has yet to play a game for the Braves, but he's signed through the 1998 season for $19.2 million.

The Draftees and Homegrown Talent - there may be no better manager at spotting talent in MLB than Bobby Cox, and while he did not draft every single player the Braves have developed, he does deserve the lion's share of the credit. Jeff Blauser (contract details above) and Tom Glavine (signed through 1996) were chosen by the Joe Torre regime in the same draft in 1984, the year before Cox returned to Atlanta following his playoff loss in Toronto in 1985. And Mark Lemke was chosen by Torre was well in 1983.

But as the Braves' GM, Cox has developed talent like Mozart turning out quality music.

Cox's first draftee was pitcher Kent Mercker (1986), who will make $2.25 million this year on a one-year contract and may function as a fifth starter. The following year (1987), he signed Javy Lopez outside the draft (ineligible for free agency until 1998).

Steve Avery (who will make $4M and is eligible for salary arbitration this year) was the #3 overall draft pick of the 1988 draft. The same draft saw Cox land reliever Mark Wohlers, who will make a little over $200K this year and is eligible for free agency after 1996. Cox also is the one who drafted (in 1978) - and has brought back - Steve Bedrosian, who is signed through the end of this year for a cool $800K. The following year - 1989 - Cox drafted Pedro Borbon Jr, Ryan Klesko (who will make $190K this year), and Mike Mordecai.

But the biggest draftee of all is anticipated to be Chipper Jones, whom Cox drafted as an 18-year old shortstop out of Bolles High School in Florida and is slated to be the next Atlanta Dale Murphy - a solid hitting, good glove player who has a personality the fans love.

The one superstar Cox did not draft is David Justice (signed through 1998 for $27M), who was selected in 1985, but Cox has overseen his development into one of the best sluggers in baseball - if he can only stay healthy. And finally, Cox made a coup for the ages when he picked up minor leaguer John Smoltz from the Tigers for Doyle Alexander in August 1987.

There will be other Braves' players, but this is the main point: the Braves will at least be a serious contender through the end of next year and very likely through at least 1998. And bear in mind that since Chipper won't be eligible for free agency until after the 2000 season, if Jones and Klesko develop into a formidable offense, the Braves are likely to have much of the same core for at least the next four seasons (Justice, Klesko, Jones, Maddux, Grissom, Lopez).

Face it - Atlanta ain't going away any time soon.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 13, 1995
SOME PLAYERS REACHING OUT TO FANS (AHEM!) WHILE PROMISING RETALIATION ON REPLACEMENTS
FREE AGENT SIGNINGS CONTINUE
EXHIBITIONS BEGIN TODAY
Baseball is almost like an old marriage where the couple fights incessantly over, well, stupid stuff. It always seems as if it's only a few seconds from the next blowup. And as always, there's a bipolarity to everything.

Some players are reaching out. Ken Griffey Jr, perhaps the most popular player in the current game, politely asked reporters to wait for an interview today while he spent an additional 20 minutes with the fans signing autographs. John Wetteland, a new Yankee, did even better: he climbed into the stands after a workout and talked with fans and signed autographs - until everyone went home. Most of the players realize they're sort of in the "I mistreated my significant other, so let me humbly win that person back."

Unfortunately, humility and kindness have never penetrated the cranium of one Barry Lamar Bonds, a guy who is not only a jerk for no reason but often goes out of his way to be an even bigger jerk. Watching the public courting of the fans, Bonds remained the same aloof self-centered putz with an attitude he has always been: "You like me or you don't. That's just me. They say, 'Kiss butt now.' That's not going to change anything. We all move on together or we dwell on the past." The problem with Bonds has never been that he's the biggest jerk in baseball. There are lot of players who are jerks and quite a few phonies. But Bonds makes sure he goes out of his way to make you know he's being a jerk, which is another level of egomania.

Then again, Bonds has a rival for the biggest "jerk just for the sake of being a jerk" in MLBPA union head Don Fehr. Don doesn't have time to reach an agreement with the owners, even though it's not like he's been doing much successful at his actual job. Don does, however, have time to let the media and players know that he is working on circulating a list of the replacement players who attempted to fill in for the "real major leaguers" and that they are to be treated at personas non grata. At least five players - Rob Dibble, Bobby Bonilla, Trevor Wilson, Brett Butler, and John Franco - have all publicly warned any and all replacement players that they face "retribution" for attempting to cross the picket line and play ball. What's Dibble going to do, throw an ever-decreasing velocity fastball with even less movement at the guy? He already did that to a fan several years ago (speaking of jerks). And speaking of Fehr doing a terrible job, is it not the height of amusement to see that some of these players went on strike to get rid of a salary cap and luxury tax - and are taking 75-90% pay cuts as the small-market clubs live within their means and leave the big-market clubs to only be able to fill their rosters with perhaps the 100 best players in baseball, limiting the really good teams to maybe four?

There were two sort of big free agent signings today. Howard Johnson, 34, signed with the Cubs, and Mickey Tettleton signed on with the Texas Rangers. Given the fact the Rangers have the best defensive catcher in the game (maybe ever) in Pudge Rodriguez, it is assumed Tettleton will DH and spot Pudge the occasional day off.

Exhibition games began today - even with the Baltimore Orioles. Cal Ripken, less than five months away from passing Lou Gehrig's games played streak went 2 for 2.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 15, 1995
OWNERS AVOIDING NEGOTIATIONS, MAY TRIGGER ANOTHER STRIKE;
CLEMENS MAY MISS OPENER

At this point, it's nearly impossible to figure who the bigger jerks are, the players who have promised retribution on the replacement players or the owners who aren't even talking to the players. The game of chicken continues, and if you know anything about how that actually works, it sometimes results in the deaths of everyone in both vehicles. The owners dumped one of their lawyers this weak, probably because of the bad arguments in front of Judge Sotomayor - who by the way is the authority over permitting any sort of impasse declared by the owners to be invoked. Don't underestimate how serious this has become. The players this year might play the entire season - and then declare a strike for the post-season - if for no other reason than to not line the pockets of the owners with the post-season revenue and then get locked out prior to the start of the 1996 season. Honor is in short order in the offices. But there's another train with its light in the tunnel headed right for the entire enterprise: the expected bid by the Fox network to seize control of MLB televised games, which open for bidding in August. Ever since Fox stunned the world in 1993 by grabbing control of the NFC games that had been on CBS for generations, they have made their intent known that they will dominate the globe in sports television. Headed by Rupert Murdoch, they have the money. The question is: can the idiots who won't talk to each other realize that some sort of deal is in the best interests of all of them with the money Fox is likely to bring to the table?

As if this wasn't bad enough, Red Sox star pitcher Roger Clemens left his first spring training start with tendinitis, and it is entirely possible that his streak of opening day starts for the club will end at seven. Manager Kevin Kennedy said they will take the wait and see approach with Clemens before making a decision.

The free agent bargain bin continues to lose players as Tony Phillips, a member of the 1989 World Series champion A's, and Ricky Jordan signed new contracts for about 1/7th what they used to make. Of the 21 remaining free agents, only Andy Van Slyke can afford to be choosy.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 15, 1995
No column today so here’s a picture I took today of Bunker Hill.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 16, 1995
FREE AGENT SIGNINGS COOL OFF TEN DAYS FROM OPENER;
FRANCHISE RELOCATION TALKS BEGIN

The constant movement has slowed down to more of a steady glide lately in baseball's free agent market. Only one team signed anyone today - the California Angels signed three free agents - Rob Deer, Rene Gonzalez, and Bob Patterson. Of course, when you're named after the second-largest state in the union with a baseball team housed in the nation's second largest city, you can afford a few misses here or there. But this strike has driven home a harsh realization: the small-market clubs are now hostages to the big market clubs, who can throw a bundle of money after a free agent - money the small market teams need to continue operations. Already there are discussions that the Montreal Expos make pack it up and head toward Northern Virginia as soon as next year. Not only are they at a disadvantage when it comes to the market size and share, but the difference in value between taxes and the dollar means no self-respecting player wants to be caught dead playing in Montreal (this is to say nothing of the ongoing internal turmoil that has been going on in Quebec since about five minutes after it was discovered). And Bud Selig may suffer as well, which brings delight to the hearts of all who see him as the focal point of the strike. Rumors are that the Brewers are heading to Charlotte, North Carolina, a city on the move and growing by leaps and bounds every single day.

Previews begin tommorrow, and we start in the NL East.
Might as well begin with the easiest one.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 17, 1995

NL EAST: NOBODY ELSE CAN WIN IT, BUT THE BRAVES CAN LOSE IT

My how quickly things can change.

Four years ago this month, it was thought that the Atlanta Braves maybe - MAYBE - could make a move and rise above the cellar where they had spent most of the years of 1975-1990, with a three-year pop-up towards the top of the division (1982-84). For the third year in a row, the Braves are the heavy favorite to win it all. Twenty-seven other teams have the goal to win the championship. In Atlanta, they HAVE to. And they have to win it this year else the Buffalo Bills comparisons will hang over them until they do.

The Braves are consensus favorites to win the Eastern division, the heavy favorite to win the NL, and picked by about 1/2 the prognosticators to finally win the World Series. And it's easy to see why. Start with the best pitching staff in baseball - perhaps the best ever - combine the managerial talent of Bobby Cox and a front office no longer afraid of its own shadow. Mix in the most hyped rookie star to take the field since Brad Komminsk in the early 80s (Chipper Jones figures to have a much better career), a right fielder with the best swing in baseball (David Justice), one of the best defenses in the majors in the infield - and then add the speed and leadership of Marquis Grissom, who came over in a blockbuster deal from Montreal, and the Braves have almost everything. I said ALMOST everything. The team that has everything else does NOT have a closer. And they'd better get one. In their three post-season ventures the last three complete seasons, the Braves have an overall record of 15-18. THIRTEEN of those 18 losses have been by one run. SIX of those 18 losses were in extra innings. And of those 13 one-run losses, the Braves' bullpen lost in the eighth inning or later no less than nine times (the starter lost another in the bottom of the 8th). Mike Stanton and Mark Wohlers will again get the chance to be the fireman as will rookie Brad Clontz.

The Braves have power hitters - McGriff, Justice, Klesko, maybe even Chipper.
They have young and hungry players - like Chipper, Klesko, and Javy Lopez.
They have a powerful pitching staff.

What they don't have is a world title. And with STARTING pitching to spare, it will be interesting to see if Steve Avery is expendable if the right reliever comes available. For two full years - from September 1991 through September 1993 - Avery was one of the five best arms in the game, compiling a record of 32-15 in the regular season along with capturing an MVP in the playoffs and putting together a streak of 22 scoreless innings in the LCS itself. But last year his father-in-law unexpectedly died and while fans were unaware of it, the Averys (married just days after the 1991 season ended) had their first baby very premature (weighing less than four pounds). Avery spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to Michigan between starts, and as the kid just turned 25, he's shouldering a heavy burden. That distraction has been removed, but Atlanta needs Avery to return to fall 1991 or summer 1993 form. If not, he may be on the trading block with arbitration scheduled before next season.

Can anyone beat the Braves? Well, the Philadelphia Phillies will boast to you that they already did. And most of the Phillies that won the divison are back, other than the retired John Kruk, outfielder Pete Incaviglia, and quiet but effective starter Danny Jackson. Jim Fregosi is a talented manager who has won two division titles, including as as rookie with California in 1979. And he must be pretty good: he replaced Tony LaRussa when the latter was fired from the White Sox in 1986. But let's face it: everyone who was paying any attention to that series knows full well that Philly beating Atlanta two years ago - when the Braves weren't as good as now and the Phillies were better than they are now - was a fluke not likely to be repeated. Atlanta scored ten more runs than Philly, had 12 more hits, and made 2 fewer errors. Atlanta wore itself out chasing the Giants while Philly cruised all year in the second half. And in all honesty, if Tony Tarasco or Francisco Cabrera connect with base hits in their opportunities, the Braves beat the Phillies in five games. It's not impossible, but the Phillies are the team with the best chance to finish ahead of the Braves.

The same cannot be said of last year's team of best record, the Montreal Expos. The Expos pretty much got rid of everyone who was anyone, and they'll be lucky to stay within 30 games of first place. The only way that might happen is if Atlanta routs the field so completely that the Expos don't lose games on other teams. They're going nowhere.

The Mets are a team with some potential if. What a big word that one is - if. If Pete Harnisch can take presssure off Bret Saberhagen, and if the two-time Cy winner can regain his 1985-89 form, the Mets have the potential to at least make the playoff as a wildcard. They'll miss Doc Gooden, gone for the year - who'd have ever imagined the 1995 Mets would have both 1985 Cy Young winners on their roster? Brett Butler, who is nearing 40, has the potential to be a catalyst from the leadoff spot.

The Florida Marlins have some potential, but they're signing names of guys who were good players in the 1980s: Andre Dawson, Terry Pendleton, Bobby Witt. But with manager Rene Lachemann, whose career has been one failure after the other, the Marlins do not look to be potential contenders, either.

PROJECTED FINISH:
1) Atlanta
2) Philadelphia
3) Florida
4) New York Mets
5) Montreal

 

[selmaborntidefan]

April 18, 1995
NL CENTRAL: REDS READY BUT WILL OFFICE TENSIONS GET IN THE WAY?

Five years ago, the Cincinnati Reds stunned the baseball world not only by winning the Western Division (they'd finished 2nd four years in a row prior to the Pete Rose investigation in 1989) but also by sweeping the powerful Oakland Athletics in the World Series in shocking upset. They've since traveled the gauntlet, plummeting to earth in 1991, playing well into August in 1992, and opening with a disaster in 1993 that included the suspension of owner Marge Schott for inflammatory remarks. Last year they were 5-5 against the Braves and were only one game behind, a fact that has many projecting that the Reds have what it takes to win it all again this year. There's just one problem: how in the world do you win the World Series when you enter the season knowing your manager is leaving, and it isn't his own choice?

There's no denying that Davey Johnson is an accomplished baseball manager. There's also denying that he apparently cannot get along with anyone in authority for any extended period of time. Johnson took over the moribound Mets and had two second-place finishes, a world championship, another second place finish, a division title that ran into Orel Hershiser, and yet another second place finish with the Mets in his six full seasons with the club. (Had the wildcard existed during Johnson's tenure as Mets manager, they would have made the playoffs every single year). He took over the Reds in 1993 when they were floundering and had a team leading the division last August when the strike began. So why in the world can't Johnson keep a field job? He was rumored to be on his way out of New York almost from the moment the Mets won the 1986 World Series. And it has already been announced or suggested - or something - that Johnson will be gone from the field this year, win or lose. He's said to be moving to a front office position. But Johnson doesn't get along with either Jim Bowden or Marge Schott, so what kind of glutton for punishment is he? Schott has angered Johnson by sending him micro-managing letters addressed from her St. Bernard. She also let it be known she disapproved of Johnson living with his girlfriend. But Schott sees Ray Knight as a potential superstar manager, so he's already the guy for 1996. It must really feel bad to know the guy who bailed you out by scoring the run when Bill Buckner kicked away game six is about to take your job from you.

But the Reds are talented top to bottom, too. Jose Rijo has not gotten the ink in recent years that other pitchers have, but he's right there among the top pitchers in the NL. Not in the Greg Maddux category the last two years but right below that. He just can't seem to stay healthy. The team will yet again be built around the abilities of superstar Barry Larkin, and this time the Reds have plenty of talent at other positions. Ron Gant, who missed last year after injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident that led to his dismissal from the Braves, is always a potential 30-30 star. Darren Lewis plays excellent defense in center, and the bats of Hal Morris, Brett Boone, and Reggie Sanders suggest the Reds have what it takes to win the division - and maybe even more. If you exclude the horrid 1993 season when the Reds never got going, they are a .500 team against Atlanta ever since the Braves became the NL's premiere franchise. Even behind Rijo, the Reds have a solid stable of pitcher that includes Pete Schourek, John Smiley, and Mark Portugal. Last December, the Reds even tried the tact of the last three world champions: go get Jack Morris. But the soon-to-be 40-year old won't be on the team this year. The Reds are a solid lineup top to bottom, the only question is whether their front office woes will distract the team. It has happened before with this team. The last two times they had major front office distractions - 1989 with the Pete Rose gambling investigation and 1993 with Schott's insensitive remarks - the team has floundered.

Can anyone beat the Reds this year for the division title?

Well there's one team that for sure won't - the Pittsburgh Pirates. This is a team that gets more gradually awful by the year. They lost Sid Bream and Rafael Belliard after the 1990 pennant, Bobby Bonilla, Steve Buchele, and John Smiley after the 1991 pennant, and Barry Bonds and Doug Drabek after the 1992 pennant. Stan Belinda left after the 1993 season, and Andy Van Slyke has gone, meaning you could field an entire team except for second and short with what the Pirates have lost in the last four off-seasons as well as start four games and have a closer. Pittsburgh retains Jim Leyland - a guy who for some reason is thought to be some next-level genius even though he's never won a damn thing. Yes, he's a decent and likable manager of a small-market club, but Pittsburgh is headed back to where they were before developing all the stars - the basement. The other three clubs in the central have a somewhat better chance at Cincinnati, and it all starts with the Houston Astros.

Houston - this is forgotten - was only 1/2 game behind the Reds when the strike began, thanks to a tie between the Reds and Redbirds. And Houston did beat the Reds in six of ten games last year. The young MVP Jeff Bagwell gives the Astros as solid bat, and he's joined by the other Kill B - Craig Biggio, one of the great underrated players of the game - in the power game. But the Astros also gutted their team in a trade, and it remains to be seen if what they got will be sufficient to replace what is gone. The Astros lost Caminiti and Steve Finley (both good players) as well as Andujar Cedeno to the Padres and got six players, only one (Derek Bell) who might replace some of the lost offense and who is also a bit of a troublesome guy to deal with as well. The mound staff is good if - IF - Daryl Kile can show his 15-win season in 1993 wasn't a fluke and if Doug Drabek can pick up just a bit from his 12-6 year last season. With Pete Harnisch gone, the Astros will need Doug Brocail and Mike Hampton to fill the void. Houston also wisely got rid of Mitch Williams, who may never recover from his series-losing delivery, and they have an adequate bullpen with Todd Jones and Greg Swindell. If any team appears poised to take advantage of any Cincinnati front office issues trickling down to the team, it would seem to be the Astros.

Joe Torre returns for his fifth season as Cardinals skipper, and he will have 18th season veteran Ozzie Smith, who figures to top the 2500-hit mark this year, something only 69 other players have done. But he also has a huge problem: his pitching staff last year was the 2nd worst in the NL (5.14 ERA), so he hopes his two pickups of name pitchers - Ken Hill from Montreal and Danny Jackson from Philly - will offset the loss of Bob Tewksbury to the Texas Rangers. Jackson is one of those guys who is quiet and looks stoic on the mound, but he has come up big many times previously. In 1985, Jackson righted the ship for the Royals when they were down, 3-1, in the LCS and when they were down, 3-1, in the World Series. He also won 23 games quietly for the 1988 Reds (because Orel Hershiser's scoreless innings streak overshadowed him), and he bailed the Phillies out in a must-win game against the Braves in the 1993 NLCS, winning game four, 2-1, to prevent the Phils from falling into a 3-1 hole. Between those stellar moments, he's been an adequate at best pitcher. Which one will show up in St Louis after his 14-6 year last season? And the Cardinals do have a potential star in the making if Brian Jordan can get in a full season of work free of injury and NFL commitments. If the Cards can get some offense, Hill and Jackson can win 15-18 games each, and former Blue Jay closer Tom Henke can show the form that made him one of the game's best closers, the Cardinals have the potential to make the playoffs or even win the division.

And then there's the wildest card in the deck, the Chicago Cubs, who are approaching nine decades without a world championship. Odds are they'll easily make that 90 years in 1998. The Cubs are a decent and solid team; it could be argued if they just had Greg Maddux still on the team that you'd have to consider them co-favorites for the division title. Mark Grace returns along with potential stars Sammy Sosa and Brian McRae (late of the Royals), but the Cub pitching staff of Jaime Navarro, Frank Castillo, Kevin Foster, and Steve Trachsel may find the going rough. But if they can get to the end then closer Randy Myers is capable of saving 30-35 games and keeping the Cubs in the race.

As I said - they're decent but not great. Maddux on this team would make them a potential favorite for the playoffs.

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1) Cincinnati (so long as Johnson navigates the front office)
2) Houston
3) Chicago
4) St Louis
5) Pittsburgh - by a lot


Tomorrow: NL WEST