BASEBALL ’90 PREVIEW : The Bullpen Committee : Pitching: Craig Lefferts is the designated closer, the man to replace Mark Davis. But he is not the only capable Padre relief pitcher.

For the past two seasons, when the Padre bullpen phone rang with the game on the line, only one man needed to answer the call:

Mark Davis.

But Davis and his calls have been forwarded to Kansas City, and the Padres are hoping Manager Jack McKeon doesn’t find himself dialing 911.

“Not only was Mark Davis a great pitcher, but there was not a better person to have in the bullpen,” said reliever Mark Grant, who teamed with Davis both with the Padres and in San Francisco. “Not only did he save 44 games, he was the leader out there. He will be missed not only because of his pitching but because of his personality. I have played with him since 1983, and I really miss him a lot. I miss him tremendously.”

Just how much the rest of the team will miss Davis will depend on how Grant and the remaining bullpen respond to the loss of his club-record 44 saves.

Craig Lefferts will be given the first chance, though no one is saying that he can match Davis’ Cy Young Award statistics.

Lefferts has returned to the Padres as a free agent after 2 1/2 seasons with the San Francisco Giants. He was traded away midway through the 1987 season in the deal that brought Davis to the Padres and sent Kevin Mitchell to the Giants.

McKeon signed Lefferts to a three-year, $5.25-million contract that closed the door on negotiations with Davis and led to his free-agent signing with the Royals. Lefferts, coming off probably his best season in seven years in the major leagues, was 2-4 in 70 games with a career-best 20 saves and a 2.69 ERA.

That season convinced him and McKeon that he was ready for the next step. So the first call to the bullpen in crucial situations this season will be for Lefferts--at least for now.

“I’ve been the middle set-up guy all my career,” Lefferts said. “As I’ve continued to improve through my career, I feel I’ve gotten to the point where I can handle the stress of closing.”

Lefferts, like Davis, is left-handed, and all connected with the Padres are hoping that is not where the similarities end. The Padres plan on giving him the opportunity to do what Davis did last season.

“I hope so; that is what I wanted to do,” Lefferts said. “I came here with the understanding I would get the opportunity to close games.”

That has not changed.

“That’s why we got him,” said Pat Dobson, the pitching coach.

It is a situation everyone understands.

“If Craig gets off to a good start, then everything is set,” said right-hander Greg Harris. “Even if he doesn’t, Craig will be given every opportunity and given time to show he can do the job. That’s what they’re paying him for, and he’ll be given every chance to do it.”

In other words, the job is his to lose. If Lefferts proves to be the stopper, then there will be little need to look elsewhere in the bullpen. If not, the Padres have some options.

Calvin Schiraldi, Harris and maybe Grant could all be called upon for late relief. Left-hander Pat Clements is expected to be used solely for middle relief.

Schiraldi, acquired in an August trade with the Chicago Cubs, has swung between starter and reliever in his four major league seasons but will be counted on as another stopper, Dobson said.

Harris, who was second on the team as a rookie last year with six saves and had a 2.60 ERA, will be the main right-handed set-up man.

Grant’s 116 1/3 innings pitched were second among National League relievers to the 122 by Danny Darwin of Houston.

After a near total reliance on Davis, the Padres could turn to the bullpen-by-committee approach used by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1985 if Lefferts has trouble or gets hurt. In the aftermath of the loss of Bruce Sutter to the Atlanta Braves, Ken Dayley led the Cardinals with 57 games, Jeff Lahti had 19 saves, and the Cardinals won the National League pennant. Of course, it helped that starters John Tudor and Joaquin Andujar each won 21 games, Tudor with 10 shutouts, 19 complete games and 1.93 ERA.

Making the bullpen’s job even more demanding is the shortened spring training, which means relievers should expect extra early season work.

That could mean more work for the middle relievers, especially Grant.

“The more I pitch, the better I feel I do,” Grant said. “I realize that my role should be the same as last year. I feel I made a pretty good contribution to the team that way. And if that is what they want from me again, I will be perfectly happy to do it.”

Grant’s attitude is one commonly expressed around the Padre bullpen. The feeling is that everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to bring the Padres home a winner. The loss of Davis did not mean everyone started trying to figure out a way to get a piece of his 44 saves and 70 appearances.

“If I was selfish about the situation, I would say, ‘Great, more work for me,’ ” Harris said. “But the bottom line is just win the National League.”

That is where the energy is being concentrated. The Padres came within three games of the NL West title last year with Davis. How they will do without him is the question. One thing they know is he made it easier on everyone.

“He gave everyone a lift,” Harris said. “It gave us all confidence. We knew we could go out there and challenge hitters because, if we made a mistake, there was Mark Davis to back us up. If I got in trouble, Mark Davis was there to save me.”

Harris and his teammates in the bullpen are hoping for the same from Lefferts, but no one is asking him to duplicate Davis’ feats. Even Davis might not have been able to do that.

“Mark Davis had a great year last year,” Lefferts said. “He had a career year. What you need to do is to wipe the slate clean and start new. You have to do that every year. You can’t worry about what you did the year before or two years before that. You just have to go out and do the job.”

And that is exactly what the Padres are counting on.