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Drought Hits Farm : Dodgers’ Lack of Home-Grown Players Called an ‘Interruption’ by O’Malley

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Mike Munoz remembers the meetings, the speeches, the promises.

“We would be sitting in the Albuquerque clubhouse and somebody from the Dodgers would come in and tell us they were going to start turning to younger players,” he said. “We were told that the Dodgers were going to be using their minor leagues. We were told to be ready.”

Munoz, the former Dodger pitching prospect, remembers hearing those words and waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

“Finally, I think we realized they weren’t serious,” he said. “We weren’t going anywhere.”

Today, Munoz awaits his chance with the Detroit Tigers. Some might say he is one of the unlucky players traded from the traditionally good Dodger player development family.

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Munoz says he is one of the lucky ones.

“I’m now at a place where they give their players a chance to grow,” he said. “The Dodgers’ organization is not that kind of place.”

What Munoz says might be tinged with the frustration of a former third-round draft pick who appeared in only three major league games in five seasons with the Dodgers, but his words are supported by facts.

Because of what owner Peter O’Malley acknowledges has been a glitch in the Dodgers’ player-development system, the Dodgers recently have treated their minor league system as if it weren’t there.

It isn’t as if O’Malley wanted to spend $36.65 million during the off-season on three free agents. He was forced to buy talent because the organization didn’t have competent replacement players.

It isn’t as if Fred Claire wanted to make 10 trades involving everyday players after becoming general manager in the spring of the 1987. He was forced to deal because there was nobody in the farm system to fill the holes.

Although the Dodgers will start this season as one of baseball’s most talented teams, the minor league drought has also made it one of baseball’s most threatened teams.

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If first baseman Eddie Murray is injured, for instance, there is no first baseman at Albuquerque with the experience to replace him. The same goes for Jose Offerman at shortstop, particularly if Alfredo Griffin’s back does not improve.

The Dodgers should have enough starting pitchers from their 40-man roster to offer backup support, but for the time being, the bullpen is irreplaceable.

“The only surprise around the league is that they didn’t sign six free agents this winter,” said one scout. “They’ve got nobody in the minor leagues who can come up right now and do the job for them. Nobody.”

It isn’t that the Dodgers haven’t occasionally tried. In the past three years, 23 players were recalled from triple-A Albuquerque before the rosters expanded in August.

But only nine of those players have since become full-time major leaguers, two with other clubs.

Among those who were summoned to carry the Dodgers to a championship have been the likes of Bill Krueger, Bill Brennan, Jeff Fischer, Mike Maddux, Mike Huff and Brian Traxler.

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Charlie Blaney, minor league director, says things will be different this year.

He notes that this season’s Albuquerque team has some of the best prospects ever assembled on a minor league team.

In the past two seasons, the Dodger organization has had more players than any other team named among top prospects by Baseball America, a magazine considered a must-read by minor league executives.

But the damage from the drought has already been done:

--On this year’s 40-man spring roster, only 12 players with major league experience have advanced through the Dodger farm system. Of those 12, nine are expected to make the final 25-man roster, or 36%.

--The Dodger farm system has not produced a National League most valuable player since 1974.

--The Dodgers won four consecutive rookie-of-the-year awards through 1982 but have not won one since.

--Only one Dodger first-round draft pick has made it to the major leagues since 1982.

--The morale in minor league clubhouses has been so low that organizational psychiatrist Herndon Harding will focus much of his time there.

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Although Blaney denied that was the reason Harding was hired, the Dodgers are not proud of incidents such as the one involving former top third base prospect Tracy Woodson, who quit Albuquerque in late 1989 and never returned.

Sandy Koufax even quit as a minor league pitching instructor before the 1990 season because his morale was so low, according to friends. Blaney said Koufax denied that report.

“You see your friends on other teams get moved up while you stay. . . . It’s hard,” said outfielder Chris Gwynn, who has broken through to become a valued Dodger reserve. “You have to make a positive out of it or it will just eat you up.”

Said Munoz, “There is much frustration in the clubhouses. Much bitterness.”

Indeed, it has been a long time since guys named Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey advanced through the Dodger system and played more than eight years together in the major leagues.

“In our ideal world, everyone from an Albuquerque team could just move up to the big leagues,” O’Malley said recently. “But there has been a glitch . . . an interruption in the flow of talent. When that happens, then what do you do when you have to find somebody to play second base? You have to go elsewhere to get them.”

He added, “The easiest thing is not to sign the free agents. The easiest thing is finding the player who you can bring through the system. That is our goal here.

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“We haven’t been able to do that much lately, but you’ve got to ride out the storms in this business.”

O’Malley would not blame anything but fate for this “interruption.”

“There is never a perfect player-development system,” he said. “There are so many things that can happen that you can’t blame anybody for. One player moves up, another player does less than you expected. A lot of things happen.”

It is easiest to discount fate, however, and blame the Dodgers’ scouting department. After all, it is widely known that their first-round picks of the last four seasons, all pitchers, have experienced arm trouble:

--Dan Opperman, the top pick in 1987, has undergone two elbow operations. He has finally reached triple-A.

--Bill Bene, the top pick in 1988, and Kiki Jones, the top pick in 1989, have both experienced sore shoulders. Both should start this season in Class A.

--Ron Walden, the top pick last June, recently learned he will have to undergo reconstructive elbow surgery and miss the season.

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In some quarters, Ben Wade, a former Dodger pitcher who retired as scouting director last season, is getting the rap.

But many in the organization suggest that it is a bum rap.

“We just sign the players and give them to the minor leagues,” said Wade, still a Dodger consultant. “After that, we are not involved in what happens to them. How can it be that we sign a player and, in three years, if his arm is hurting, we are to blame?

“None of those first-round picks showed sign of their injuries when we drafted them. Walden was coming off elbow problems, but he had pitched all spring and was fine. A doctor had examined Opperman and said he was fine. Bene and Jones were both fine.”

Wade said he wishes everyone would just leave the Dodger scouts alone.

“The way things are going, I don’t want anyone patting us on the back for good players, or kicking us in the butt for the bad ones,” he said. “We do our jobs as best we can and leave the rest to the organization.”

In this case, that would be Blaney, a former Dodgertown director who has no playing or scouting experience.

By many accounts, Blaney’s tenure in the Dodger front office has been successful. Since replacing longtime farm director Bill Schweppe in October of 1987, he has run a winning operation with emphasis on top instruction.

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In Blaney’s three seasons, the nine Dodger farm teams have had a combined 1,457-1,059 record, a winning percentage of .579 that has been the best in baseball during that time. Those teams have won nine league championships.

Roving pitching instructor Dave Wallace and hitting instructor Reggie Smith are considered two of the best teachers in baseball. The Dodger minor league staffs include such respected coaches as Claude Osteen and Burt Hooton.

Said O’Malley: “We are spending more money than ever on the minor leagues. We are doing more than ever. It is considered as important as ever.”

So why is it worse than ever?

Some say Blaney, who is actually among a 58% majority of farm directors who never played baseball, is running the system too much like a business. There are two basic gripes: that he emphasizes winning over development, and holds players back to keep them on the same team and promote more winning.

As evidence of the first charge, many point to the 13 career minor leaguers signed by Blaney last year to stock his upper minor league teams. Those veteran players, such as pitchers Steve Davis and Mike Maddux of Albuquerque, do much for winning but little for development.

“But if you look, we signed just one minor league free agent this year, because we didn’t have the holes,” Blaney said. “If we don’t have somebody to play a position at Albuquerque, we aren’t going to rush a player from a lower level and hurt him. We will find somebody to fill that need.

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“The main purpose of our minor leagues is to send players to Los Angeles, but also very important to that purpose is winning.”

Wade discounts winning, saying, “The only purpose is to develop players for the major leagues. That is why they are called the minor leagues . Minor league championships have no importance at all.”

Concerning the second criticism, many point to this year’s highly regarded Albuquerque team as an example of players being moved slowly.

Dave Hansen, the third baseman, has been in the system five years. Carlos Hernandez, the catcher, has played there six years. First baseman Eric Karros was drafted out of UCLA but has still spent three years in the minors and has yet to play an inning of triple-A baseball.

Two probable Albuquerque players who were recently promoted quickly, pitcher Jamie McAndrew and outfielder Tom Goodwin, were both drafted in 1989 as college players.

Part of the reason for the slow movement is that Blaney has a philosophy of starting all college-drafted players at the Dodgers’ rookie league team in Great Falls, Mont. Many other organizations send their collegians directly to double A.

“There is a huge adjustment to professional baseball, and Great Falls is the perfect atmosphere and community where they can start making that adjustment,” Blaney said.

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Blaney also believes in bringing players through the system together so they can remain teammates and learn to win together.

“I call it my four-year plan, which I instituted when I got here,” Blaney said. “I want to rebuild the Dodger farm system from the bottom up.

“You look at the Albuquerque team this year and you see the fourth year of this four-year plan. We now have a team of guys who know how to win and who will hopefully soon be ready for the major leagues.”

Not everybody sees it that way.

“Basically, Charlie’s knowledge of the game is questioned by many people,” said Munoz, who was not personally critical of his former boss.

Another former Dodger minor leaguer said, “Many people think Charlie doesn’t understand the game.”

Wade, although not critical of Blaney, was outspoken in his opposing views.

“Baseball should be the same now as it has always been--you push the good ballplayer,” Wade said. “You got a good kid, you push him, push him, push him.

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“You do not hold him back with a group of kids who do not have his ability. You do not put kids into a league where they are better than the league. That is no way to make them better.”

One of the men most involved in the Dodgers’ minor league frustration, Albuquerque Manager Kevin Kennedy, defended Blaney.

“Believe me, we don’t hold players back,” he said. “They dictate where they go. Sometimes we may have two players at one position, and that means one player must move back a level so he can play, but that only helps the players.”

As for Blaney lacking baseball knowledge, Kennedy said, “The man listens to his people. He asks questions, he gets advice. He is a very good baseball administrator.”

Said Blaney, “I’ve heard all the criticism, and it doesn’t bother me. I feel our approach is conservative, but it is the best for the players.

“If I don’t do the job, I’ve got to leave. But thanks to everybody, the job is being done.”

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O’Malley agrees.

“You will see Dodger home-grown players on the field again,” he said. “The flow has returned. Our pipes are full again.”

The proof of that could be seen this season, when the Dodgers’ pennant hopes might rest on a kid from Albuquerque as easily as that guy from the New York Mets.

HOW THE DODGERS WERE BUILT

PITCHERS

Player How Obtained Date Tim Belcher Trade from Oakland Athletics September 1987 Dennis Cook Trade from Philadelphia Phillies September 1990 Tim Crews Trade from Milwaukee Brewers December 1986 Jim Gott Major league free agent December 1989 Kevin Gross Major league free agent December 1990 Mike Hartley Major league winter draft December 1986 Orel Hershiser Drafted in system June 1979 Jay Howell Trade from Oakland Athletics December 1987 Mike James Drafted in system June 1987 Ramon Martinez Minor league free agent September 1984 Mike Morgan Trade from Baltimore Orioles May 1989 Jim Neidlinger Trade from Pittsburgh Pirates October 1988 Bob Ojeda Trade from New York Mets December 1990 Dan Opperman Drafted in system June 1987 Zakary Shinall Drafted in system June 1987 Fernando Valenzuela Mexican league purchase July 1979 Dave Walsh Minor league free agent January 1989 John Wetteland Drafted in system (January 1985); resigned as major league free agent March 1988

CATCHERS

Player How Obtained Date Carlos Hernandez Minor league free agent October 1984 Barry Lyons Major league free agent September 1990 Mike Scioscia Drafted in system June 1976

INFIELDERS

Player How Obtained Date Alfredo Griffin Trade from Oakland Athletics December 1987 Jeff Hamilton Drafted in system June 1982 Dave Hansen Drafted in system June 1986 Lenny Harris Trade from Cincinnati Reds July 1989 Mickey Hatcher Drafted in system (1977); re-signed as major league free agent July 1989 Eric Karros Drafted in system June 1988 Eddie Murray Trade from Baltimore Orioles December 1988 Jose Offerman Minor league free agent July 1986 Juan Samuel Trade from New York Mets December 1989 Mike Sharperson Trade from Toronto Blue Jays September 1987 Greg Smith Trade from Chicago Cubs December 1990

OUTFIELDERS

Player How Obtained Date Brett Butler Major league free agent December 1990 Braulio Castillo Minor league free agent October 1985 Kal Daniels Trade from Cincinnati Reds July 1989 Jose Gonzalez Minor league free agent August 1980 Chris Gwynn Drafted in system June 1985 Stan Javier Trade from Oakland Athletics May 1990 Henry Rodriguez Minor league free agent July 1985 Darryl Strawberry Major league free agent December 1990

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17 players on 40-man roster were developed in Dodger farm system; 12 of those players have major league experience.

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