BASEBALL : Lefebvre Optimistic That Improved Mariners Can Win 90 in ’90

Once known as the American League Worst, the American League West has become baseball’s most competitive division, with five teams given chances to win 90 or more games.

Three of them, the Oakland A’s, Kansas City Royals and Angels, did it last year.

A’s Manager Tony La Russa is among those who believe the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners might join the party.

Burdened previously with unstable ownership, the Mariners have never finished at or above .500 in their 13 seasons, but motivating Manager Jim Lefebvre, preparing for the start of his second season Monday night against the Angels at Anaheim Stadium, is also among the believers.

Citing “immeasurable improvement,” Lefebvre said he feels the Mariners can “come in and play with those three guys (the A’s, Angels and Royals).”

“I mean, it would be premature to say we’re going to be a contender or that we’re ready to challenge, but if we play the way we’re capable, 90 wins is possible.”

In his two springs at the Mariners’ helm, the energetic Lefebvre has delivered daily motivational messages. During his first spring, his players unveiled T-shirts that read: “I’m a Lefebvre Believer.”

The other day, Lefebvre yielded the pulpit to Reggie Jackson, who delivered fire and brimstone for 90 minutes.

Coach Bob Didier gave Jackson a 9.9 on a scale of 10 and said: “The only 10 I’ve ever given was to George Scott for that opening speech in ‘Patton.’ ”

Rhetoric, of course, can only carry the Mariners so far. Amid the high hopes of last year, they finished 73-89, 26 games behind the A’s.

However, Lefebvre alluded to a series of injuries and said: “I’m convinced that if we had stayed healthy, we’d have been better than .500, and I think the players believe that, too. We played 87 games decided by two runs or fewer. I keep reminding them that we were only a pitch away, a play away. I feel they’re ready to accept the challenge.”

Jeff Smulyan did when he bought the Mariners for a reported $76 million in August. In contrast to the erratic regime of George Argyros, the new owner has already seemed to provide a sense of economic stability to a team solid everywhere and more than that at several positions.

Among them:

--Center field, home to budding superstar Ken Griffey Jr.

--Second base, with underrated All-Star Harold Reynolds.

--Bullpen, out of which Mike Schooler saved 33 games last year.

Then there are:

--Left fielder Jeffrey Leonard, who enjoyed a revival last year, hitting 24 homers and driving in 93 runs.

--Right fielder Greg Briley, who drove in 52 runs as a rookie.

--And Alvin Davis, now the designated hitter, who had 21 homers and 95 RBIs at first base, where he has been unhappily displaced by the signing of free agent Pete O’Brien for four years and $7.6 million.

Although Davis’ psyche and Briley’s defense--the Mariners were annoyed by his refusal to go to winter ball and work on it--represent areas he must tend to, Lefebvre said:

“We should be an exciting team to watch. We have a good blend of speed and power. We should score runs and score them quickly. We should be explosive.”

Pitching, of course, is the key. The rotation of Brian Holman, Randy Johnson, Scott Bankhead, Erik Hanson and Matt Young, who is coming back from arm problems with the A’s, had allowed only 11 earned runs in 44 exhibition innings through Thursday.

Obtained with Johnson in the trade that sent Mark Langston to the Montreal Expos last year, Holman will face the Angels Monday, having pitched 12 shutout innings during the abbreviated spring.

He is in his second season, as are Hanson and Johnson. Bankhead is in his fourth. The promise is there, but so is the inexperience.

“We will put as many quality arms out there as anyone in the division,” Lefebvre said. “It’s just that being so young, you might see some highs and lows.”

In the toughest division, a Seattle high might not be high enough.

One man’s opinion:

AL West: 1--Oakland; 2--Kansas City; 3--Angels; 4--Texas; 5--Seattle; 6--Minnesota; 7--Chicago.

Comment: The only real threat to the A’s is the internal combustion that is pinpointed on some scanners as Jose Canseco and Rickey Henderson brain waves.

AL East: 1--Toronto; 2--Milwaukee; 3--Boston; 4--New York; 5--Baltimore. 6--Cleveland; 7--Detroit.

Comment: With not much to beat, the Blue Jays still have the division’s deepest pitching and best lineup--not to forget their own Cloud 9: SkyDome.

National League West: 1--Dodgers; 2--San Diego; 3--Cincinnati; 4--Houston; 5--Atlanta; 6--San Francisco.

Comment: The Dodgers could finish anywhere from first to last, but the pitching might be even better than last year’s league best, and the offense might have been strengthened enough to reverse the 1989 record of 31-51 in games decided by one or two runs.

NL East: 1--New York; 2--St. Louis; 3--Chicago; 4--Pittsburgh; 5--Montreal; 6--Philadelphia.

Comment: With the Cardinals and Cubs haunted by injuries, and the likelihood of less friction in their own clubhouse, Mets’ pitching should dominate.

Injuries trouble both the Cubs and Giants as they begin defense of their National League division titles.

In Chicago, Andre Dawson will be restricted to pinch-hitting because of slow recovery from knee surgery, and Rick Sutcliffe is on the disabled list because of a lingering sore shoulder.

Both are major concerns.

Sutcliffe has appeared in 291 major league games and won 133. Without him, the Cubs’ rotation of Greg Maddux, Mike Bielecki, Steve Wilson, Jose Nunez and Mike Harkey has 86 victories in 206 appearances.

Dawson has hit 319 homers and with his bat missing from the heart of the lineup, the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters--Dwight Smith, Mark Grace and Luis Salazar--have a major league total of 37 home runs.

The Giants’ rotation, reasonably solid at the top with Rick Reuschel and Scott Garrelts, has taken on the suspect nature of last October, when the A’s registered their World Series sweep.

Mike Krukow has retired, and both Kelly Downs and Don Robinson are on the disabled list with shoulder and knee problems and no indication as to when they will come off.

Mike LaCoss, 10-10 last year, will be the No. 3 starter. Non-roster rookie Russ Swan, who allowed 11 hits and eight earned runs in the 6 2/3 innings of his only two major league appearances last year, will be the No. 4 starter. Rookie Eric Gunderson, 2-4 with a 5.04 earned-run average in triple-A ball last year, will be the No. 5.

It’s a familiar story in St. Louis, where the optimism over the comebacks of John Tudor and Greg Mathews has been diluted by the appointments of Todd Worrell, Danny Cox and John Costello to the disabled list, the likelihood that Scott Terry will have to go on it, and Manager Whitey Herzog’s inability to use the tender reliever, Ken Dayley, in consecutive games, leaving him without a regular closer.

Herzog acknowledged that it has become an annual pattern with his pitching and said the only way the 27-man roster would help is if everyone on it were a pitcher.

“I don’t think we have enough numbers,” he said. “The situation doesn’t look good. Managing this team has become a threatening experience.

“It’ll be a thrill every night.”

On the other hand, Herzog’s first baseman, Pedro Guerrero, vows to do his part.

“If Willie (McGee) is healthy and Vince (Coleman) is healthy and I’m healthy, we’re going to score some runs,” said Guerrero, who drove in 117 last year. “I’m going to bring them in.

“In Los Angeles they expected me to hit 30 homers, steal 20 bases and play first base, third base and the outfield. Here they say, ‘Play first base and bring them in.’ ”

The Milwaukee Brewers have so many injuries that coach Andy Etchebarren sympathizes with the inability of the Chicago White Sox, their opening-day opponent, to do much scouting.

“The White Sox won’t know who we’re going to play because we don’t know who we’re going to play,” he told Milwaukee writers.

One thing the Brewers do know: With infielders Paul Molitor, Jim Gantner, Bill Speiers and Gary Sheffield all sidelined, they will start an opening-day double-play combination of Edgar Diaz and Billy Bates, whose combined major league experience is 12 games.

Said Molitor, on the disabled list for the 11th time in 13 seasons, this time with a broken thumb: “People ask me if I feel I’m letting the team down. How can I let the team down when there’s nothing I can do about it?”

New York, New York: Yankee relief ace Dave Righetti is reportedly fuming over Manager Bucky Dent’s decision to give Greg Cadaret some of his save responsibilities, and the Mets’ Bob Ojeda asked to be traded in response to Manager Dave Johnson’s decision to put him in the bullpen and use a rotation of Dwight Gooden, Frank Viola, David Cone, Ron Darling and Sid Fernandez.

Both managers tried to downplay the decisions and ensuing storms. Dent said that by using Cadaret, he is only trying to ease the burden for Righetti early in the season, when he generally struggles. Johnson said that the Mets’ rotation will constantly change.

Cadaret was once thought to be a candidate for a Yankee rotation that will open with Tim Leary, Pascual Perez, Dave LaPoint, Andy Hawkins and Chuck Cary, who have a combined record of 42-55.

The Mets, by contrast, are loaded to the extent that when asked if a club can ever have enough pitching, coach Mel Stottlemyre told New York writers, “We’re as close to it as you can get.”