This Is No Minor Surprise--Padres Bring Up Dilone

Whatshisname looked pretty good in the batting cage. One time, he ran forward, looking like he was going to drag bunt, but lifted the ball into shallow left field.

“Ohhhhh. Another Mariano Duncan,” screamed new teammate Tony Gwynn. “Awesome.”

Whatshisname finally turned around and showed his name on the back of his warm-up jersey. It said Dilone . And on the scorecard, it said Dilone, leading off and playing center field. Was this Miguel Dilone, late of the Montreal Expos?

The same guy. Surprise, surprise. The Expos, loaded with outfielders, had wanted to send him down to the minors in early July, but Dilone, being a veteran, had the right to decline the demotion, and asked to be released.

On July 8, he was. And July 27, the Padres signed him and sent him to Las Vegas to get in shape.

They called him up Friday.

Surprise, surprise.

“A lot of things we do, we don’t have to go out and tell everybody,” Padre Manager Dick Williams said of this subtle transaction.

General Manager Jack McKeon: “It was just a minor-league transaction. Nobody paid much attention to it. . . . But he’s something I had in mind. We’ve got a guy who can play. He can play defense. If there’s a drawback, he doesn’t have the greatest throwing arm, but he can steal bases. We need a runner, anyhow. I’ve been looking for one for two years. And he’s a hitter. He hit .348 in Cleveland and stole 66 bases.”

Actually, he hit .341 and had 61 steals with Cleveland in 1980, numbers that must be taken seriously. The Padres, desperately seeking speed, made this move out of necessity.

Dilone started on his very first day with the Padres because regular center fielder Kevin McReynolds was still hampered with a heel injury and a .229 batting average.

“It’s still a little sore,” McReynolds said Friday. “With the day off tomorrow, it’ll be good not to do anything today. By Sunday, I’ll probably be all right.”

By Sunday, though, Dilone, a switch-hitter, could still be in the lineup.

“By Sunday, we’ll weigh everything,” Williams said of whether this was a more permanent move.

Of course, Dilone, who is from the Dominican Republic, must have been doing something wrong for Montreal to release him. After his big year in 1980, he stole 29 and 33 bases the next two seasons and was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1983 in a minor-league deal. Later, Pittsburgh acquired him but he became a free agent and signed with Montreal for the 1984 season.

In 1984, he had only 169 at-bats, but hit .278 with 27 steals while being thrown out only twice. This season, he was hitting .190 in 51 games with the Expos, and, with Las Vegas, he batted .326 in 11 games.

“Oh, I can run a little bit,” he said. “Last year, I was mostly a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner. This year, they just figured they’d go with other people. I know I’m good. I don’t doubt my ability. I can play.”