Baseball : Injury Problems Will Put Brewers’ Depth to Early-Season Test

The new math disturbs Tom Trebelhorn, the Milwaukee Brewer manager who used to be a substitute teacher in the off-season.

Last year, despite injuries that forced Brewer players to lose 750 games to the disabled list, Trebelhorn’s team finished only two games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League East.

Now, only a few days into a race many believe the Brewers can win, the club’s 15-, 21- and 30-day disabled lists are already at their limits.

Employing the calculator of his mind, Trebelhorn said:

“We’re missing only 25% of the team, but it’s actually more than that.

“We’re talking about a 20-game winner (Ted Higuera), an All-Star infielder (Paul Molitor), a switch-hitting shortstop with power (Dale Sveum), a talented left-handed pitcher (Juan Nieves) and a guy who has hit cleanup for us (Greg Brock).

“It’s 25% for us statistically, but it’s probably 40% of our effectiveness.”

Higuera, recovering from back surgery, and Molitor, who dislocated a finger in some late-spring horseplay, are on the 15-day list and expected to rejoin the team within the next two weeks.

Pitchers Nieves and Tom Filer and first baseman Brock are on the 21-day list with no timetable for their return. Brock, the former Dodger who escaped Steve Garvey’s shadow and found a home in Milwaukee in 1987, missed two months of last season with a rib injury and had arthroscopic shoulder surgery Friday.

Sveum, still recovering from a broken leg suffered last September, is on the 30-day list and facing more than 30 days before he will be ready to play.

Another injury would force the Brewers to move one of the aforementioned players to the 60-day disabled list.

Is there a limit on the number of players who can be on the 60-day list?

“No, but we may exceed that,” General Manager Harry Dalton said.

In the meantime, Terry Francona, who has never hit more than three home runs or driven in more than 31 runs in a season, is replacing Brock as the cleanup hitter, and former Angel Gus Polidor, with a .227 lifetime average, is replacing third baseman Molitor, a .299 hitter.

“In spring training, we thought we had our best depth in years,” Dalton said. “Now we’ll find out.”

Third baseman Howard Johnson of the New York Mets made two throwing errors in Wednesday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, giving him 10 in the 20 games he had played since the start of spring training.

Said first baseman Keith Hernandez: “He can throw sidearm, underarm or whatever, if he just throws in the vicinity of first base. I’ll cover him. I’m on a 24-hour watch over there.”

A Thursday rainout cost Sid Fernandez his first start of the season, and he was then informed by Met pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre that he won’t be starting for 10 to 12 days as the club goes with a four-man rotation.

Fernandez suggested that he wished one of the many trade rumors in which he has been involved would come true, that he has wearied of the Mets’ routine.

“It’s hard to feel good about yourself and get yourself in a good frame of mind when they treat you like a piece of . . . ,” he said.

“Why is it always me? I’m sick of it. I’ve been in this league five years and I’m treated like a nothing.”

Said Stottlemyre: “I hate to do it to anyone, but I have to do it to someone because of the off-days. It’s not any easier doing it with him than with anyone else. I expect him to be upset. But I’d rather have one guy upset than five guys fouled up and pitching on a seven-day rotation.”

Frustration already seems to be eating at the New York Yankees, who have lost shortstop Rafael Santana for the season, right fielder Dave Winfield for at least half the season, and were also without first baseman Don Mattingly, sidelined by back spasms, for the three-game opening series at Minnesota.

In addition, free agents Andy Hawkins, making $3.6 million for three years, and Dave LaPoint, at $2.575 million for three years, were pounded in games two and three, the Yankees being outscored by the Twins, 19-3, and outhit, 27-11.

The frustration seemed to show when Hawkins, in game two, and Dave Righetti, in game three, threw fastballs close to Kent Hrbek’s head, sending Hrbek to the mound for a brief talk with Righetti.

It was in evidence again later, when Righetti and LaPoint both said they thought the Twins were stealing their catcher’s signs from a center-field camera. That claim was first made by Dick Williams while he was managing the Seattle Mariners and was supported, LaPoint said, by St. Louis Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog during the 1987 World Series because the Twins “couldn’t touch (John) Tudor in St. Louis, but lit him up here.”

Said Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly, pointing out that LaPoint pitched a perfect four innings and still had a shutout through five:

“The only thing I can figure is the sign-stealer slept late or couldn’t get out of work to get here on time.

“Maybe he thought it was a night game.”

What does Manager Jimy Williams of the Toronto Blue Jays like best about his team’s new uniforms?

“I’ve got one,” Williams said.

Keith Moreland, sensing he is the 24th player among the 24 Detroit Tigers, hopes to be traded.

“I don’t even know what the 24th player does,” Moreland said. “I guess he warms up pitchers between innings. I wish they’d put me out of my misery.”

How much do the Tigers miss Kirk Gibson?

Consider:

From 1984 through 1987, Gibson’s prime years in Detroit, there were only six complete-game shutouts pitched against the Tigers by right handers.

But just since the start of the 1988 season, coinciding with Gibson’s departure, there have been seven, the latest by the Texas Rangers’ Charlie Hough on opening day.

The Philadelphia Phillies opened the season by winning two of three from the Chicago Cubs, but how long can it last? The Phillies’ first three starters--Floyd Youmans, Ken Howell and Steve Ontiveros--pitched a total of 151 1/3 innings last year and were a combined 6-9.

The Cubs?

“That team has the potential to be very, very bad,” said Jody Davis, the former Cub catcher now with the very, very bad Atlanta Braves.

And another former Cub, Rafael Palmeiro, now with the Rangers, said: “Do I care how the Cubs do? Why should I? They don’t care about me.”

As will Frank Viola and Jeff Reardon of the Minnesota Twins, Mark Gubicza of the Kansas City Royals said he plans to pursue free agency when the season ends.

Gubicza, 20-8 last year, hoped to sign a multiyear contract before the season started. He reportedly wanted a three-year deal for $5.3 million, but the Royals wouldn’t go higher than $4.8 million.

“I think people are wondering if I can do it again,” he said. “I think my teammates believe in me, but I’m not sure anyone else does.”

Gubicza lives in Northridge, within driving distance of Dodger and Anaheim stadiums.

Royal owner Avron Fogelman disputes the contention of former commissioner Peter Ueberroth that all 26 clubs made money last year.

According to Fogelman, the Royals have lost money in each of the last two years, primarily because they pay the city an annual stadium maintenance fee of $5 million.

“Kansas City does not have the geographical makeup to have a major league baseball team,” Fogelman said.

“We just do not have the inherent demographics that put us in a competitive position and we may as well face facts and not kid ourselves.”

Bargaining rhetoric? What else?

The Cleveland Indians played Milwaukee five times in spring training but never pitched Greg Swindell, who beat the Brewers on opening day.

Were the Indians intentionally hiding Swindell, with opening day in mind?

“It’s more important to get your pitchers in shape than play those CIA games,” Manager Doc Edwards said. “That stuff went out with high-button shoes.”