Analysis : As a Manager, Martin Apparently Has Now Worn Out His Welcome

Here it is, the second week of the second month of a new baseball season, and two major league clubs were suddenly looking for a way to save it.

Here were the owners of the Chicago White Sox and the Seattle Mariners suddenly hungering for a little magic, a quick fix, a patchwork miracle.

Here was a situation made in Billy Martin heaven--and both teams knew it. But they examined it and moved in other directions, raising these obvious questions:

--Is there anyone left who will hire Martin as a manager, or is New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who has hired and fired Martin four times, truly alone now?

--Having self-destructed in Minnesota, Detroit, Texas, Oakland and New York, has Martin worn out his managerial welcome?

--Will he be forced to live with the frustration of his minor role as a Yankee telecaster, seeking solace in a lifetime contract with Steinbrenner?

All of the answers seem affirmative--or as an American League general manager, after requesting anonymity, said Friday:

“We all know Billy can manage, but the obvious problem is that he can’t manage himself.

“I know I’m not the first to say that, but it’s still the bottom line when anyone considers hiring him.”

Seattle owner George Argyros considered it once he had decided to fire Chuck Cottier.

A source close to the Mariners said Friday that Argyros had recently informed his top executives that he was ready to offer Martin a two-year contract.

The source added, however, that new General Manager Dick Balderson and other executives involved in player development first expressed support for Cottier, then argued persuasively that Martin would destroy a young team, that in his characteristic demand for total control and instant gratification, he would undercut the farm system’s patient progress.

The ensuing decision to hire Dick Williams was seen as a compromise between Argyros and those seeking to retain Cottier and as a demonstration by the Mariners--who employed Darrell Johnson and Maury Wills among six previous managers--that they are willing now to pay for a proven winner.

Williams is that--as well as often biting, sarcastic and uncommunicative.

He, too, can wear out a welcome, but he has shown the ability to work within an organizational framework and averages 3 1/2 years per managerial assignment, in contrast to less than 2 for Martin.

The White Sox, meanwhile, went another, more surprising route.

They ended a week of speculation by announcing Friday that Tony LaRussa would remain as manager.

In fact, LaRussa, who submitted his resignation Thursday, emerged with new freedoms, winning an acknowledgement from Vice President Ken Harrelson that it had been unfair to burden his manager with Harrelson’s innovative concepts.

Thus, rather than separate coaches for relief pitchers and starting pitchers, as well as separate coaches for power hitters and those who hit for average, LaRussa will now have only one pitching coach and one batting coach.

Moe Drabowsky, who had been coaching the relief pitchers, and Willie Horton, who had been coaching the power hitters, were reassigned to Chicago’s minor league system Friday.

In addition, Don Drysdale, who had been assisting the pitching coaches, will return to the broadcasting booth full time; Harrelson will be involved strictly in player procurement, and LaRussa was given permission to return Carlton Fisk to his normal position of catcher. Harrelson had ordered an unhappy Fisk to left field, opening a spot for rookie catcher Joel Skinner, who was hitting .163 going into Friday night’s game at Cleveland.

Harrelson said Friday that he wasn’t backing off, that his concepts are part of “the wave of the future,” but that the players hadn’t responded and that LaRussa deserved “a clear shot without me imposing my will. The man has won more than 500 games.”

Harrelson and the White Sox owners, Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn, had met earlier in the week with both Martin and Martin’s agent, Judge Ed Sapir.

The public airing of LaRussa’s status and the prospect of Martin’s hiring brought club management a media flogging. There was also a reaction in the clubhouse.

Ron Kittle said he had at least five or six teammates who couldn’t possibly play for Martin. Tom Seaver, responding to Einhorn’s comment that the situation represented a LaRussa death watch, said the owners were “destroying everything we’re trying to do on the field.”

Although Einhorn and Harrelson reportedly continued to favor a change, they were restrained by Reinsdorf, whose concern reportedly stemmed from Martin’s financial demands, his erratic history and the increased potential of a negative reaction if he were hired.

Reinsdorf reportedly argued that it made more sense for Harrelson to yield some of his authority to LaRussa than all of it to Martin.

It is believed that by the time LaRussa met with his three bosses Thursday night at Chicago’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel and submitted his resignation, they had decided to retain him, though LaRussa’s move may have prevented a change of heart.

“I know that me saying I was going to leave didn’t spark what Hawk (Harrelson) did,” LaRussa said Friday. “I found out they had discussed it before. They said I couldn’t be held responsible for something I hadn’t had a fair shot at.

“I’m not a quitter, but the situation had demanded it. I feel that what Hawk has done shows he’s an honorable man. I feel I’m going to get my shot now.”

Harrelson, who refused to say if there was a timetable to LaRussa’s new shot, said Friday that any mistakes had been his. He voiced regret for the public trial that LaRussa had gone through and said the media would get only “no comment” from him in the future.

He added, however, that he still considered Martin the best manager in baseball.

There are probably others who feel that way, but it’s unlikely to do Martin any good.