BASEBALL : First to So-So Unlikely for Both Twins, Braves

Having defeated the Atlanta Braves in an unexpectedly exciting World Series, the Minnesota Twins have gone from worst to the ultimate first. But neither the Braves nor Twins will be worst--or close to it--again soon.

That is not to suggest that either has begun a dynasty in this era of parity, but based on the talent and character displayed in their unlikely seasons, each should remain a factor in its division though mid-decade--or until free agency shatters the framework.

Andy MacPhail and John Schuerholz, the general managers, didn’t flinch when asked if 1991 was fact or fiction, if their teams would remain championship contenders.

“I think our core is good enough and we have enough young players coming up,” Minnesota’s MacPhail said. “As much progress as we’ve made at the major league level in the last five years, we’ve made just as much in rejuvenating our farm system, which will always be our lifeblood.”

Schuerholz was even more emphatic, citing Atlanta’s young pitching staff and the youth of the overall roster.

“I think we’re going to play at this level for several years,” Schuerholz said, citing Ron Gant, David Justice and Brian Hunter as position players still progressing. “I think we’re going to get better.

“I don’t know if the pitching can get better, but I think we have a chance to sustain it well into the future. Tom Glavine may win the Cy Young Award this year, Steve Avery may win it for the next several years and John Smoltz pitched like a Cy Young winner over the second half and should continue to perform at that level.

“The good thing, when you have so many players who are so good so young, is that they haven’t reached that level of satisfaction yet where hunger starts to dissipate. They had so much fun this year that the attitude is, ‘Let’s keep doing it,’ and they should be able to.”

In duplicating their 1987 formula, when they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in a seven-game World Series, the Twins won all four games at the Metrodome and lost all three on the road. They won Game 7 on the fortitude of Jack Morris and another baserunning error by Lonnie Smith.

On Monday, less than 12 hours after receiving a $100,000 bonus as the World Series MVP, Morris declined to exercise his contract option for 1992 and became eligible to file for free agency by Nov. 11. He would have been paid $3.65 million under terms of the three-year contract he signed as a new-look free agent last winter and which gave him the option of becoming a free agent after each of the three years.

Attorney Richard Moss, who represents Morris, declined to comment on the contract, but it is believed that Morris hopes to negotiate a new deal with the Twins putting him in the salary neighborhood of Roger Clemens ($5.38 million per year) and Dwight Gooden ($5.15 million).

“The best money I’ve ever spent on this baseball team was signing Morris,” owner Carl Pohlad said after Sunday night’s game. “Everyone contributed, but without him, we never would have won it.”

The contract situation poses an immediate complication for the Twins. Are they certain that Morris, 36, can repeat this season’s performance--22 victories and 280-plus innings--and ease the pressure on Scott Erickson and Kevin Tapani? Can he bolster a rotation that is expected to include one or two new faces from among farm products Paul Abbott, Willie Banks, Denny Neagle, Pat Mahomes and Mike Trombley?

That might be the key question for the Twins, although there are others. Will they re-sign free-agent catcher Brian Harper or go with rookie Lenny Webster? Will they pursue a big-money free agent or re-sign free-agent left fielder Dan Gladden? Will they preserve the third base platoon by re-signing free agent Mike Pagliarulo?

The signing season starts Friday, and the Braves have their own games to play. They are expected to re-sign free-agent relief pitcher Alejandro Pena, although Schuerholz says that Mark Wohlers, 21, is going to become one of baseball’s best closers, “and it may be as soon as next year.”

The tougher question involves left fielder Otis Nixon, who is reportedly in drug rehabilitation at the same time he is eligible for free agency. Do the Braves re-sign him, hoping he can come back?

Schuerholz said that is a situation he has to sort out. Otherwise, the promising Keith Mitchell is expected to receive more playing time in left field, and Smith will be back, to the Braves’ chagrin. His 1992 contract option was triggered when he got the required playing time because of Nixon’s drug suspension.

“I think you have to keep stirring the waters, but we’re a real good team and we don’t have to do too much this winter,” Schuerholz said. “And to an extent, we’ve already done it.”

He referred to the September trade with the Chicago Cubs that landed Mike Bielecki, who is expected to be in the rotation next year, and catcher Damon Berryhill, who could challenge Greg Olson if Berryhill recovers from rotator-cuff problems.

Schuerholz rebuilt the Atlanta infield with his free-agent signings of Terry Pendleton, Sid Bream and Rafael Belliard, applying a finishing touch to the pitching foundation Manager Bobby Cox had laid in his days as general manager.

MacPhail used every avenue--trade, free agency, December draft and farm system--in strengthening the Twins after they had won the title in the then-weak American League West with 85 victories in 1987.

Both general managers said they hoped their worst-to-first seasons proved inspirational to the sport, but they cautioned that it can’t be done through free agency alone, that the farm system is still the key.

“If the nucleus isn’t there or that strong, there’s no way a team can anticipate doing what we did,” Schuerholz said. “As I’ve said many times, if Bobby Cox hadn’t assembled the talent he had, there wouldn’t have been any sense for me to make the moves I did.”

Said MacPhail: “There’s still so many unknowns for teams in the mid-markets, so many times choices have to be made between what’s best in a baseball sense and what’s possible economically. The gratification in this is that we were able to bounce back quickly and do it basically on our terms.”

The Twins won the title in baseball’s toughest division with a 15-game, first-half winning streak, after which they never trailed. The Braves overtook the Dodgers in the National League West after having trailed by 9 1/2 games at the All-Star break.

Schuerholz was talking about the Braves, but he might as well have been thinking of the Twins when he said:

“Cinderella. One of the unique stories in the last 20 years.”