Reds’ Kal Daniels Goes to Dodgers for Leary, Duncan

Sacrificing pitching for potential, the Dodgers traded 1988 pitching hero Tim Leary and infielder Mariano Duncan to the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday for struggling outfielder Kal Daniels and rookie infielder Lenny Harris.

The Dodgers said goodby to a pitcher who helped take them to the world championship but no longer fit into their rotation. They are greeting a hitter, Daniels, who they hope can fill their hole at the top of the batting order. And for now, everybody is happy.

I would definitely rather start somewhere else than be in the bullpen here,” Leary said after hearing the news Tuesday. “There’s going to be some great memories from the 1988 year. . . . I just hope if there are fans out there who have any protests, don’t be afraid to speak up.”

Daniels, who will not address the LA media until today, told reporters in Cincinnati: “I guess it’s good for me because I get to play on grass. That’s good because of my knees.”

Upon a close look, it is a deal smudged with imperfections. Yet the Dodgers prefer to look at the big picture.

Daniels is coming off the latest of four knee surgeries. He is hitting just .218 with two homers and nine RBIs in 133 at-bats. He has been booed and sometimes benched. The left-handed hitter has recently done so poorly against left-handed pitchers, he has played only against right-handers.

Yet at age 25, he entered this year with a .311 career average in parts of three seasons. He has an average of 22 homers and 64 RBIs in each of his two full years. Last season he led the league with a .397 on-base percentage, a most important statistic to the Dodgers considering he will enter the lineup tonight as their much-needed leadoff hitter while playing left field.

And Daniels said he will love Los Angeles. Or at least what he thinks is Los Angeles.

“You’re going to see me on the Cosby Show,” Daniels said Tuesday, which might be inconvenient considering the show is filmed in New York.

Harris, meanwhile, is hitting .223 with two homers and 11 RBIs in just 41 starts. He has committed 13 errors, more than Alfredo Griffin (seven) and Willie Randolph (three) combined.

Yet, as a natural third baseman who can play shortstop and second base, he will neatly fill the utility role vacated by Duncan and perhaps eventually challenge third baseman Jeff Hamilton for a starter’s job. He has speed--he has averaged 33 steals in each of his last five minor league seasons.

And he has perspective. When he was in elementary school in Miami, he served as a batboy for the minor league Miami Orioles baseball team. That team featured Dodgers John Shelby and Eddie Murray.

“I was excited when Tommy Lasorda called me up this morning and told me he wanted me to join the team as soon as possible,” Harris told reporters.

He will join Daniels here tonight.

“I couldn’t get out of Cincinnati in time, but I can’t wait to get to L.A. Me and Kal are going to supply offense no matter what.”

The fourth player in the deal, Mariano Duncan, said he felt just like Leary. He said he was glad to be getting a chance to start. For the next three weeks, he will replaced the injured Red shortstop Barry Larkin.

“It’s a business, I’m not the first one who has been traded,” Duncan said. “I’m only 26, I can still play. I’m going to be in the lineup tomorrow and that makes me happy. “

Duncan was the team’s opening day second baseman in 1985, and opening day shortstop in 1986 and 1987. But last season, after a spring-training fallout with Lasorda in which he called Lasorda “a liar,” he fell from grace. He sent the year at triple-A Albuquerque, and wasn’t among the busloads of youngsters recalled in September. Last spring he redeemed himself with good play and attitude and has been on the Dodger bench since.

Speaking of redeeming, Leary will want to chat with Red Manager Pete Rose upon his arrival in Cincinnati. A couple of weeks ago, when a strictly Leary-for-Daniels deal died, Rose said he was not interested in Leary because Leary had a sore arm.

“I asked the Reds scouting director who I spoke to on the phone today about that,” Leary said. “He said it should haven’t have been taken at face value, more or less, that there may have been other motives behind what Pete said. So really I don’t know what to think about that.

“I did talk to Pete, and he is really excited. That’s all I have to go on.”

Leary was sent to the bullpen after the All-Star break, after winning just once in his previous five starts. During that stretch he had allowed 16 runs in 31 innings for a 4.65 ERA. In his first bullpen appearance and final appearance as a Dodger on Monday night, he showed it. In the eighth inning of a 3-all tie with the Chicago Cubs, he walked the bases loaded and then walked in .237-hitting Curtis Wilkerson with the winning run.

Afterward the usually affable Leary walked away from reporters, saying, “I don’t have anything to say.”

He should be remembered for more than that. Acquired in the winter of 1986 from Milwaukee with pitcher Tim Crews for first baseman Greg Brock, he struggled in 1987 by going 3-11 with a 4.76 ERA. But then he spent the winter of 1987 going 9-0 for Tijuana in the Mexican league in what started baseball’s biggest turnaround.

Last summer he won 14 more games than in the previous year, going 17-11 with a 2.91 ERA and winning comeback-player-of-the-year honors.

“It was difficult going to the bullpen in the middle of this year,” Leary said. “I feel I’ve pitched impeccably--maybe they just gave up on me. Yes, maybe I’m a little bitter.

“Sometimes maybe I think it’s better that I get out of here. I don’t understand some of the moves.”

Daniels said he was feeling the same way about Cincinnati, noting that he would miss “nothing,” about the city.

Coming off a .294-hitting season, it has been a lousy year for him from the start. On May 15, a sore right knee forced him on the 21-day disabled list. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on the knee on May 16. He returned to the lineup on June 21, sprained his right ankle sliding into second base, missed eight starts, and then has been in the lineup since June 30.

But as he has struggled both at the plate and in left field, where he wasn’t a Gold Glove candidate even when injury-free, the fans didn’t make him feel welcome.

“They’ve been booing me since I came off the disabled list, they just think that coming off the DL, you are supposed to pick up the city of Cincinnati and carry it around on your shoulders,” Daniels said. “I’m back, but I just had knee surgery. I’m human. That’s why I don’t trust too many people. The less people know about you, the less than can say about you.”

Rose, who once predicted that Daniels would win batting titles, now says less about that.

“The more I watched him the last couple of months against left-handers, the most I’ve started to doubt,” Rose said.