BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : This Year Was Tough on 1990 League Champions

Both teams had contract problems in the spring followed by a summer of injures and internal disruptions.

The Cincinnati Reds used the disabled list 12 times; the Oakland Athletics used it 14 times.

No two league champions have seemed to disintegrate so rapidly in the same season, but maybe that’s an illusion.

Said A’s General Manager Sandy Alderson: “I feel very strongly that we’ll be a competitive team next year. It’s hard to believe that, collectively, we could be as terrible as we were this year.”

Alderson, perhaps, could have been speaking of the Reds as well. A closer look:

CINCINNATI

The one thing separating the A’s and the Reds in the final week of their seasons of discontent is the stability of the organization. The A’s still have it, but no one can be sure who’s operating the Reds.

In her ongoing displays of bizarre behavior, owner Marge Schott hung up four more scalps this season, firing the farm director and his assistant, the club controller and her own cousin, executive vice president Stephen Schott.

She also undermined General Manager Bob Quinn by extending his contract only through next spring, refusing to pay his expenses to the All-Star game, selling the seats in his private box and conducting a recent meeting in which the reins of power, as slippery as they are, seemed to be handed to Manager Lou Piniella, who has attempted to play the incident down.

“I don’t want to be a general manager or anything else,” Piniella said. “Bob is the one who’s going to pull the trigger on trades, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The point is, if we need to do things, let’s get them done.”

The point is, Piniella thinks that Quinn failed to get things done last winter, failed to pull the trigger.

The Reds, in the wake of their World Series victory, stood pat as their rivals in the National League West made sweeping changes.

There was clubhouse whining about it throughout a season in which the distracted Reds never led after May 5, blew their final hopes with a 10-game losing streak in mid-July, fought among themselves in the dugout, often lost focus while addressing the behavior of Rob Dibble and Norm Charlton, and played so poorly that Jose Rijo said they had reached the point of “embarrassivity.”

The Reds will become only the 11th league champion to have a losing record the next year, but Piniella said they require only “some fine tuning.”

Part of that process will include extended trials for outfielder Reggie Sanders and catcher Dan Wilson. But by fine tuning, Piniella means he is finely tired of waiting for the development of pitching prospects such as Scott Scudder and Chris Hammond, and wants to acquire by trade or free agency two proven arms capable of 200 innings each.

The Reds are interested in free agents Mike Morgan of the Dodgers and Kirk McCaskill of the Angels, and are prepared to trade pitchers Randy Myers and Jack Armstrong, catcher Joe Oliver and outfielder Eric Davis, no longer the attractive commodity he once was.

Davis is eligible for free agency after the 1992 season, a significant trade hurdle. He has also appeared in only 86 games while complaining of mysterious fatigue, apparently stemming from last October’s kidney injury.

His three-year, $9.3-million contract lists six clubs--the Angels, Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves--to which he can be traded without permission. Only three of those--the Angels, Padres and Cubs--are likely to have interest, tempered by the questions of contract and physical condition.

Said Davis: “Sure, it’s possible they’ll try to trade me, but a lot of things are possible. Am I concerned? No. Am I anticipating it? No. Right now I have to get my body back to where it’s supposed to be and I have the dedication to do it.”

Dedication is a trait that often seemed to be missing in Cincinnati this season.

OAKLAND

After three straight trips to the World Series, the A’s were weakened early by pitching injuries, which may have produced, in Alderson’s view, a natural but inexorable feeling among some of the A’s that fate, and the percentages, weighed against a fourth straight American League pennant.

Eight of the team’s top 12 pitchers were on the disabled list at various times. Nine rookie pitchers were among the 46 players employed by the A’s. Nineteen of 22 pitchers won games after a total of 18 pitchers won games in the previous three years, a measure of the injury wave.

Yet, the club was only three games out of first place on Aug. 11, when it began a 14-23 run that left it three games out of last place.

It also left Manager Tony La Russa so convinced his team had lost its hunger that he canceled the clubhouse buffet after a 6-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 18.

“I don’t know how anyone cannot be embarrassed and, in turn, motivated by what happened this year,” said Alderson, who refused to use injuries as an excuse.

“We got subpar seasons from everyone on the team with the exception of Mike Gallego, Mike Moore and Jose Canseco.”

Alderson, however, said he did not think it was disintegration as much as erosion. He said wholesale changes aren’t needed and aren’t feasible considering that the A’s will lose $5 million this year because of their $36-million payroll.

He said the A’s will attempt to lower the payroll while restoring the pitching to its pre-1991 level and rehoning the team’s motivational and psychological edges.

“Age-wise,” he said, “we shouldn’t be over the hill.”

Some would disagree.

Dave Stewart and Bob Welch, who have combined for 23 victories in 1991 after winning 49 last season, will both be 35 next year. Dennis Eckersley, 36, had another season of 40-plus saves but blew eight others. Carney Lansford, 35 next April, tore up his knee in that winter snowmobile accident, played only five games and could become a victim of the payroll reduction.

Where age isn’t a concern, attitude may be. Rickey Henderson moped through spring training when his contract wasn’t rewritten and never approached his MVP season of 1990.

Malingering accusations that haunted Henderson at times in New York resurfaced, and the A’s can only hope that the unflattering portrait, as well as rebukes by the media and anonymous teammates, serve to prod Henderson’s pride.

There is also a question of attitude at first base, where Mark McGwire is viewed as inflexible to change despite a four-year slide that now finds his average at .201.

McGwire received $2.85 million this year, has been on the trade block since August and could become the largest of the payroll reductions if traded.

Other questions: Who would replace McGwire if he goes? Is Brook Jacoby the answer if Lansford is not retained? How will the force-feeding of this year affect all the touted young pitching? Will they pay the price to re-sign free agent Ron Darling?

The A’s were viewed as vulnerable entering this season and may seem more so now, but there is also this: Despite an often patchwork lineup and rotation, they are nine games over .500 in what is considered to be baseball’s toughest division, the AL West--while the Reds are eight under .500 in the NL West.

Stewart reflected on the A’s physical and psychological problems of 1991 and said there was nothing that can’t be corrected, that the nucleus remains more vaunted than vulnerable.

“And when we’re home next week watching those other teams play on TV, that should be enough to wake us up,” he said.

The Sleeper: The focus in the American League batting race has been on Wade Boggs’ bid for his sixth title and the competition between the Texas Rangers’ Julio Franco and Rafael Palmeiro.

But there is a possibility that the crown could go to a man whose name has not been in the top 10 all season.

Willie Randolph, a .274 career hitter who has batted .300 or more only once in 16 previous seasons, was batting .332 through Thursday and should have the required number of plate appearances by next weekend’s final two games of the regular season.

Randolph maintained his career-high average while platooning with second baseman Jim Gantner for most of the season, but he has played regularly since Aug. 1, when Gary Sheffield went on the disabled list and Gantner moved to third base.

The current list of batting leaders is based on 3.1 plate appearances a game, which for the Milwaukee Brewers means 474.

Randolph has had 471 but seems certain to get the required 502 by the final weekend while playing regularly and batting second in the lineup. Whether he can catch Franco, batting .339, is another question.

“I don’t really consider myself in the batting race,” Randolph said. “I’m sure if my name popped in there, people would do a double-take.

“If I wake up at the end of the season and I’m close, that will be sweet. It will mean I’m making the most of my at-bats, but actually I’m more proud of my on-base percentage. That’s what I’m supposed to do, get on base.”

Randolph’s .430 on-base average will also put him among the AL leaders when he has the required plate appearances. He said he has felt no pressure because his name never appears among the leaders, and as a platoon player this year he never gave thought to a batting title.

“I couldn’t even be sure I was going to have a job,” he said.

Randolph, 37, joined the Brewers as a non-roster player in spring training after being released by the A’s. He was guaranteed $500,000 and will make another $400,000 in appearance bonuses.

As a free agent at the end of this season, he may have expanded his opportunities with his strong showing. “People said I had lost bat speed, but this proves I can still swing it,” he said.

Wally’s World: Wait a minute.

The Angels would like a determination on Wally Joyner before taking any other steps in their rebuilding project?

No chance, and they know it.

Unless bowled over by the Angels’ initial offers, Joyner is going to see what’s available as a free agent and see what moves the Angels make that will provide him protection in the lineup and a guarantee that the club is commited to winning.

“Just as the Angels would like to fit Wally in first, Wally would just as soon fit in last,” said Barry Axelrod, who represents Joyner in conjunction with Michael Watkins. “Wally isn’t inclined to make a long-term commitment until he knows where the club is headed, and that may take time.”

It will be November before Joyner and other eligible free agents can begin talking to other clubs. The Angels must decide by Oct. 31 if they are going to pick up Dave Winfield’s 1992 option at $3 million or buy him out for $450,000, a decision that can’t be delayed until Joyner makes his.

Would the Angels consider a deadline, telling Joyner that once the free-agent period begins, their negotiations end?

“That approach has never been discussed, and I don’t think it would be appropriate to put a squeeze on Wally or anyone else,” Senior Vice President Dan O’Brien said. “At the same time, let’s not have a protracted situation. Let’s get it done or move on, and I would say that about Wally or any of our negotiations.”

What isn’t being said publicly by the Angels is that they will approach Joyner with caution, intent on signing him only within financial parameters that reflect a concern at the very top of the organization for what is perceived to be something of a self-centered and less-than-intense approach by Joyner.

Said a source familiar with front office thinking: “Just because Wally saves the Angels money by seldom getting his uniform dirty doesn’t mean he’s going to get everything he wants from them.”

NAMES & NUMBERS

If the race in the National League West goes down to the final day, Houston Astro Manager Art Howe will start rookie Jeff Juden against the Atlanta Braves.

Unless he were to juggle his rotation to employ Pete Harnisch in that game or reinstate Jim Deshaies as a starter, Howe’s only options are all unproven.

“Whoever’s turn it is, that’s who we’ll use, and not worry about it,” he said. “I’ve got my own agenda.”

There’s not much sentimentality left. The San Diego Padres honored Dave Dravecky the other night and drew fewer than 13,000 fans, although it was a rainy evening. The Milwaukee Brewers saluted Bob Uecker and drew fewer than 9,500. The Astros honored Mike Scott on the fifth anniversary of his no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night and drew only 7,322.

Talking about Scott, Giant Manager Roger Craig said:

“I never told my team, of course, but I thought that every time he walked out there he had a chance to throw a no-hitter. The night he did, we were overmatched. He might be in the Hall of Fame if he had learned that pitch four or five years earlier.”

Scott learned the split-fingered fastball from Craig, but many believe he learned to add a little scuffing on his own.

Hard to explain: The Angels went on the road Thursday with a 29-18 record against the top two teams in each American League division--the Minnesota Twins (8-5), Chicago White Sox (8-5), Toronto Blue Jays (5-4) and Boston Red Sox (8-4)--but were 47-58 against the rest.

The New York Yankees have not had a complete game since Scott Sanderson pitched a one-hitter against the Angels on July 11, a 75-game span that breaks the major league record of 74 set by the Padres in 1977.

The Yankees have only three complete games and figure to break the record for fewest in a season--six, shared by the ’77 Padres and last season’s Blue Jays.

Of New York’s opening-week rotation, only Sanderson (15-10) continues to pitch regularly. The other four--Andy Hawkins, Tim Leary, Chuck Cary and Dave Eiland--are 6-23 as Yankees this year.

A .313 average with the Dodgers is an indication that Mitch Webster didn’t lose his pride and confidence despite being traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Pittsburgh Pirates this year for a winless Mike York, then traded to the Dodgers for a hitless Jose Gonzalez.

Bill Gullickson of the Detroit Tigers went after his 20th victory Saturday, attempting to avoid becoming the major leagues’ first 20-game winner with an earned-run average of more than 4.00 since Jim Merritt was 20-12 with a 4.08 ERA for the 1970 Cincinnati Reds.

Gullickson, whose ERA was 3.94 as the Tigers faced the Baltimore Orioles, said he is much more relaxed and appreciative of the major league environment since returning from two years in Japan.

“Let’s say you’re a sportswriter who is sent to Venezuela,” he said. “When you came back, you’d probably say your deadlines here aren’t too bad, after all.”

Willie Wilson, playing only part time with the Oakland Athletics, still managed to steal 20 bases for the 14th straight season. Only Hall of Famer members Honus Wagner, who stole 20 or more in 18 straight seasons, and Lou Brock, who did it in 15, have had longer streaks.

A baseball analyst on a cable sports network reported this week that White Sox Manager Jeff Torborg is in jeopardy of losing his job and the American League hadn’t approved certain aspects of a two-year contract extension he received in May.

Not true, according to sources, who maintain that the league approved the contract and returned it to the White Sox. That alone doesn’t guarantee Torborg will be retained through the 1993 season, but it seems probable he will be at the helm when next season starts.

White Sox broadcaster Ken Harrelson and Twin first baseman Kent Hrbek exchanged barbs the other night, starting with Hrbek saying Harrelson was unprofessional for using the phrase, “Grab some bench,” when a player strikes out. Harrelson responded by saying Hrbek was overpaid, overrated and overweight, having become “fat and lazy” since signing his last contract.