BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Nothing Absolute in Season of Unusual Turnarounds

The Minnesota Twins became the first team to go from last to first in consecutive seasons, and the Atlanta Braves still have a chance to become the second.

In a season of unusual twists, maybe it was to be expected that neither the American League nor the National League would produce a clear-cut, unequivocal Most Valuable Player or Cy Young Award winner.

Any selection in any season can be argued, but in 1991--while there is no shortage of candidates--there is also no right or wrong.

This is one reporter’s view:

MVP

American: 1--Cal Ripken Jr.; 2--Cecil Fielder; 3--Frank Thomas.

National: 1--Terry Pendleton; 2--Brett Butler; 3--Barry Bonds.

Comment: Forget where his Baltimore Orioles finished. Look up Honus Wagner or Ernie Banks. Ripken had one of the great years ever by a shortstop. He hit for power and average. He seldom struck out. He played terrific defense and he played, period--all 162 games again.

A batting title would be the frosting on Pendleton’s career offensive year, but only one measure of his contribution to the Braves’ improbable season.

Hot again down the stretch, Pendleton was hottest in midseason when David Justice was sidelined and Atlanta could otherwise have been extinguished. He is a Gold Glove third baseman who made more errors than he ever has, a measure of his problems now on synthetic surface, but still stabilized a previously porous infield, along with an inexperienced squad.

CY YOUNG

American: 1--Roger Clemens; 2--Scott Erickson; 3--Bill Gullickson.

National: 1--Tom Glavine; 2--Lee Smith; 3--John Smiley.

Comment: Erickson legitimately won the West for the Twins with his big first half, but Clemens was again the AL’s dominant workhorse and warhorse. Check the number of categories in which he leads or is near the top.

Glavine struggled some in September but was the leader of that young Brave staff, the NL’s most consistent pitcher for most of the season, a contender for the earned-run average title throughout the season and the league’s only 20-game winner.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

American: Chuck Knoblauch.

National: Jeff Bagwell.

Comment: Not much competition for Knoblauch of the Twins or Bagwell of the Houston Astros. Most of the premier first-year players--Thomas and Juan Gonzalez, among them--didn’t qualify as rookies because of too many appearances last season.

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR

American: Jose Guzman.

National: Orel Hershiser.

Comment: In the year of Bo Jackson, pitchers Guzman of Texas and Hershiser of the Dodgers traveled even further in their comebacks.

Guzman missed the 1989 and ’90 seasons because of a shoulder injury, was released by the Rangers in spring training, re-signed in May and became the club’s top winner at 13-7.

Hershiser, who missed the 1990 season after reconstructive shoulder surgery, is 7-2 overall and has won six consecutive decisions down the stretch. The Dodgers are 16-5 in his 21 starts.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR

American: Tom Kelly.

National: Bobby Cox.

Comment: Self-explanatory considering the unexpected success of the Twins and Braves, respectively. Joe Torre of the St. Louis Cardinals deserves very honorable mention.

EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

American: Tie between Andy MacPhail and Pat Gillick.

National: Tie between Fred Claire and John Schuerholz.

Comment: The ties may be a cop-out, but so be it.

MacPhail deserves recognition on a cumulative basis. Translated: He was responsible for the three-year reconstruction of the Twins’ pitching staff, the claiming of Shane Mack in the December draft two years ago and the signing last winter of Chili Davis.

Gillick could have stood pat again with a solid team, but he negotiated blockbuster deals for Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter and Devon White, then added Tom Candiotti and Candy Maldonado during the season. His Toronto Blue Jays may finally be ready to go the distance.

Claire made the big moves by signing Butler and Darryl Strawberry as free agents, but he also provided a new cast of Dodger role players with the addition of Roger McDowell, Gary Carter, Mitch Webster, John Candelaria, Bob Ojeda and Steve Wilson.

Schuerholz transformed the Braves by signing Pendleton, Sid Bream and Rafael Belliard last winter, but the saving move may have been his quick addition of Alejandro Pena when bullpen ace Juan Berenguer was injured in August. Schuerholz was also still at it last week, trading for Mike Bielecki and Damon Berryhill in a move that may pay dividends next year.

STANDING PAT

The Dodgers, Braves and Blue Jays all made significant deals during the season, as did the Pittsburgh Pirates, who traded for Steve Buechele on Aug. 31. All have clinched division titles or are still in the running.

The stand-pat policy of teams such as the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers and Angels contributed to their fall from contention.

Richard Brown, the Angel president, made a painful mistake that an aggressive Whitey Herzog is unlikely to repeat. The Angels’ failure to deal for a fifth starting pitcher when they were in the thick of the race was costly from both a tangible and intangible standpoint.

Said Manager Jim Leyland of the Pirates: “Other than winning the division, the two days I’ve seen this club happiest in the last two years is the day we acquired Zane Smith (last year) and the day we acquired Steve Buechele. Guys on the field are out there trying to win. What this tells them is that the front office wants to win, too.

“It inspires a team. A move like that I couldn’t equal if I talked to my players every day until I turned blue. It really hits them. They say, ‘Holy . . . , they’re serious.”

GOOD READING

In the process of compiling the Dodgers’ scouting report on the Twins, Mel Didier said:

“As a unit, and that includes the backup players, the Randy Bushes and the Al Newmans, they might be the best club in baseball. They play hard and they play well.

“I’m very impressed with their first three starters (Jack Morris, Scott Erickson and Kevin Tapani), and they have an excellent closer in (Rick) Aguilera.

“Their middle relief might be a little short, but they’ll probably drop back one of their starters in the playoffs to shore that up. The other plus, they really have players who rise to the occasion, more than most clubs do.”

THE MARKET

Major league clubs are still paying off the $280-million collusion bill and they are not willing to risk another, but there is widespread talk about the need to decelerate free-agent spending in anticipation of reduced income from CBS and ESPN when those television contracts expire at the end of the 1994 season.

“Everyone talks about holding salaries down at a time when the Yankees give a million and a half dollars to an unproven high school kid,” said agent Dennis Gilbert, referring to the $1.55-million bonus New York gave their No. 1 draft choice, Brien Taylor.

“Everyone has an opinion on this, but my own is that as the CBS contract winds up, pay-per-view is right around the corner.

“The bottom line is the teams that want to win will continue to pay what the market will bear.”

Danny Tartabull and Bobby Bonilla, both Gilbert clients, head the free-agent list and should draw bull market offers.

Tartabull has expressed a desire to remain with Manager Hal McRae, but the Kansas City Royals, quietly for sale, have not made a significant offer, and he seems certain to leave, as does Bonilla, who will require more than the $4-million-a-year offer he rejected from the Pirates.

Both players will draw widespread interest, with the Angels among those in serious pursuit. Jackie Autry, wife of owner Gene Autry, can talk about reducing the payroll, but they didn’t hesitate in agreeing to pay Herzog $800,000 a year plus a $500,000 bonus if he puts the cowboy in the World Series for the first time.

Herzog, in turn, would not have taken a job carrying economic restrictions, and his admitted admiration of Bonilla won’t be damaged by the fact that he and Gilbert go back to 1969, when Herzog was farm director of the Mets and Go-Go Gilbert played center field for their Visalia affiliate.

It is also noteworthy that Gilbert was a guest in the private box of the Angels’ Brown at Friday night’s game against the Royals.

FRANCHISE WOES

Three franchise situations concern the commissioner’s office as the regular season ends.

--Houston: John McMullen’s insistence on including several hotel properties in his yearlong attempt to sell the Astros has foiled the search for a local buyer.

--Montreal: A crumbling stadium, attendance that would have barely topped 1 million even if the Expos’ last nine home games hadn’t been moved, and a series of front-office defections that began when their general manager, Dave Dombrowski, was hired by the Florida Marlins have contributed to an unstable picture.

As club President Claude Brochu noted when scouting wizards Gary Hughes and Frank Wren followed Dombrowski to the Marlins: He couldn’t justify trying to stand in the way of their desire to work for an organization free of the Expos’ economic limitations.

--Seattle: Despite record attendance and TV ratings accompanying the club’s first .500 finish, the Mariners are likely to be sold again or moved, with Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., playing the role of wedge again.

Reached by phone, Owner Jeff Smulyan sounded pessimistic.

“If there aren’t changes, maybe somebody else can make it work here,” he said. “The history of baseball in this city is a history of one crisis after another. It’s time to get it solved.”

Smulyan has given the city 45 days to formulate a plan that will boost the Mariners’ annual revenue, now about $36 million, by $22 million--putting the club at about 90% of the AL average.

He estimated that the Mariners will lose $5 million to $7 million despite a comparatively low payroll of $17 million. Nine Mariners are eligible for arbitration, meaning the payroll will increase significantly. This year, strapped financially, the club failed to deal for a right-handed power hitter who might have kept the Mariners in the race and Manager Jim Lefebvre off the hot seat.

“We’re commited to keeping this group together and building a competitive team, but the challenge is doing it without falling off the edge of the world,” Smulyan said. “We can’t compete with teams in the larger markets the way it is.