BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Put Eckersley in Front of the Line for AL Awards

A season almost devoid of pennant drama ends today with the very competitive awards races promising to make up for what the division races lacked.

Here’s one man’s view:

MVP

American League: Dennis Eckersley, Oakland Athletics.

Contenders: Joe Carter, Dave Winfield and Roberto Alomar, Toronto; Mike Devereaux, Baltimore; Kirby Puckett, Minnesota; Mark McGwire, Oakland; Paul Molitor, Milwaukee.

Comment: There is some merit to the contention that a pitcher, particularly a relief pitcher, should not win the most-valuable-player award. As Devereaux noted: “An everyday player can’t win the Cy Young Award, so how can a pitcher win the MVP over an everyday player?”

It has happened only four times in the American League since the Cy Young was created in 1956, and only twice has a relief pitcher won both the MVP and Cy Young: Rollie Fingers of Milwaukee in 1981 and Willie Hernandez of Detroit in 1984.

Eckersley deserves to do it as well. He had a virtually flawless influence on almost two-thirds of his team’s victories. Said Manager Tony La Russa: “I don’t know of any everyday player who’s done that.”

Eckersley converted 51 of 53 save opportunities, and the A’s were 64-3 in games he pitched, the one constant as the A’s won the West despite using the disabled list 22 times in a revolving-door summer.

National League: Barry Bonds, Pittsburgh Pirates.

Contenders: Terry Pendleton, Atlanta Braves; Gary Sheffield, San Diego Padres.

Comment: Bonds and Pendleton define the MVP. Sheffield’s flirtation with the triple crown while playing for a team basically out of the race since late August belongs in a player-of-the-year category. In a year without a true MVP, Sheffield would be it, but in 1992 it has to go to either Bonds or the 1991 winner, Pendleton.

Neither the Pirates nor Braves would have won their division titles without them. Their influence and statistics are virtually impossible to separate, but the feeling here is that Pendleton had more help than Bonds.

Performing in a lineup devoid of Bobby Bonilla, Bonds is third in the league in both home runs and runs batted in, and ninth in batting without reliable protection batting behind him.

If he hadn’t missed 18 consecutive games at one point with a rib injury, he would have blown past Sheffield as the 1992 object of triple crown speculation. Bonds will finish ahead of Sheffield in RBIs and come close to catching him in home runs. The Pirates are 84-50 when he starts, 11-14 when he doesn’t.

CY YOUNG

American: Eckersley.

Contenders: Jack McDowell, Chicago White Sox; Kevin Brown, Texas Rangers; Jack Morris, Toronto.

Comment: If he’s the MVP, he also has to be the Cy Young winner.

National: Greg Maddux, Chicago Cubs.

Contenders: Tom Glavine, Atlanta; Bob Tewksbury, St. Louis.

Comment: A dominant year for Maddux, enhancing his free-agent marketability. He was third in the league in earned-run average at 2.18, led in starts and innings pitched, was third in strikeouts and complete games and held opponents to a .210 batting average, lowest among full-time starters.

ROOKIES

American: Milwaukee Brewer shortstop Pat Listach, who hit .290 with 54 steals, and Cleveland Indian center fielder Ken Lofton, who batted .285 with a league-leading 65 steals, hit and ran with almost similar success and deserve to share the rookie award. Dave Fleming’s 17 victories for the hapless Seattle Mariners justify his selection as the top rookie pitcher over Cal Eldred’s 10-1 second half for the Brewers.

National: Eric Karros. His 20 homers and 88 RBIs are proof that something went right for the Dodgers in ’92. He’s an easy choice over Reggie Sanders of the Cincinnati Reds, with Tim Wakefield, whose 7-1 second half helped stabilize the Pittsburgh rotation after Zane Smith was injured, the pitching winner.

ETC.

Managers: Oakland’s La Russa over Baltimore’s John Oates and Milwaukee’s Phil Garner in the American League. Pittsburgh’s Jim Leyland over Montreal’s Felipe Alou and Houston’s Art Howe in the National.

Comebacks: Baltimore’s Rick Sutcliffe over Oakland’s Carney Lansford and the Angels’ Bert Blyleven in the AL. Philadelphia’s Darren Daulton over Houston’s Doug Jones and St. Louis’ Todd Worrell in the NL.

Executives: No clear-cut candidates in either league, but Pat Gillick of Toronto and John Schuerholz of Atlanta deserve recognition for continuing to add to already successful teams, and John Hart of Cleveland and Dan Duquette of Montreal continued to move those long-struggling teams in a more promising direction.

PARING THE PAYROLL

Cost cutting is happening all over baseball and one question is, how far will the Dodgers take it? A quick saving of $20 million isn’t impossible.

Juan Samuel, $2.325 million, and Kal Daniels, $2.5 million, are already gone. Among those who may follow are Eric Davis, $3.6 million; Jim Gott, $2.125 million; Roger McDowell, $2.2 million; Jay Howell, $2.575 million; Mike Scioscia, $1.9 million; Bob Ojeda, $1.6 million; Tim Crews, $1.175 million, and Lenny Harris, $840,000. If this turns out to be Tom Lasorda’s last day as manager, that’s another $800,000 to be applied in other ways.

The point: It will not be a surprise if veteran players throughout the industry are not tendered arbitration or contracts this winter in a move that could awaken the ghosts of collusion.

In the case of the Dodgers, when they consider what is left of the roster and what is available in the minors, they may still use the savings on a big-name free agent, but they probably will rebuild through trades, the signing of second-tier free agents and the best of what their system can muster.

The comments of owner Peter O’Malley accompanying his announcement that the Dodgers would not increase 1993 ticket prices underscored his commitment to younger players--and lower salaries.

HIDDEN INJURY

Tom Glavine, the Atlanta Braves’ 20-game winner, insists he is now fine, but he also acknowledges what everyone had suspected: He had been pitching with an injury since late August, going 1-5 in his last six starts.

The suspicion was a shoulder injury, but Glavine said it was a hairline rib fracture that Manager Bobby Cox knew about.

“If I had to do it again, I would have sat out right away,” Glavine said.

He didn’t sit out, he said, because there was no risk of additional injury, and the Braves didn’t say anything because they didn’t want opposing teams to bunt on him or pitch him inside when he was at the plate.

Glavine will follow John Smoltz and Steve Avery as Atlanta’s Game 3 starter in the playoff series with Pittsburgh. Pete Smith (7-0) and Charlie Leibrandt (14-7), are not scheduled to start, but Cox said he would consider a fourth starter if the Braves are ahead in the best-of-seven series after Game 3. Atlanta starters had a 2.34 ERA during a 53-18 run through Aug. 19 that carried the Braves to the division title.

REDS’ SHAKE-UP

The Cincinnati Reds end a disappointing season today with no indication from owner Marge Schott that she will extend the contracts of General Manager Bob Quinn and Manager Lou Piniella--or no indication from either that they want to continue working for her.

The latest absurdity was a motivational meeting she had with the players in which she circulated a picture of Schottzie I’s grave. Piniella waited only for the clubhouse door to close behind her before telling the players, “OK, you can laugh now.”

Who’s laughing? Jose Rijo and Barry Larkin had a recent meeting with Schott about her repeated comments that the payroll has to be reduced.

That will probably result in the departure of free agent Greg Swindell, a trade of either Norm Charlton and Rob Dibble for a starting pitcher and third baseman Willie Greene taking over for Chris Sabo, who will be exposed to the expansion draft.

And there proved to be little solace in a 53-27 home record, the best in the National League, or an overall record similar to the 91-71 of 1990, when the Reds won the West.

The ’92 Reds led the West for 51 consecutive days--from June 1 to July 21--but wilted during a 12-17 August, when Atlanta was charging.

Said Rijo, who wasn’t laughing, “This team was too good to finish second. We should not be happy to finish second. We should be concerned where we go from here.”

NAMES AND NUMBERS

The Florida Marlins’ managerial search has been narrowed to three recycled candidates, all of whom are involved in the playoffs. They are Atlanta third base coach and former Toronto manager Jimy Williams; Oakland third base coach and former Seattle and Milwaukee manager Rene Lachemann, and Pittsburgh special assignment coach and former Houston and New York Yankee manager Bill Virdon. The Marlins and Colorado Rockies are said to be in a managerial tug of war over Virdon, with Minnesota coach Ron Gardenhire high on Colorado’s backup list.

The successful pursuit of 3,000 hits by Robin Yount and George Brett spotlighted their status as the last of a breed--players who had spent their entire careers with one major league team.

Among free-agent candidates who may be playing their final regular-season game with their original team today are Kirby Puckett, Wade Boggs, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Greg Maddux, Harold Reynolds, Jimmy Key, Manny Lee, Todd Worrell, Benito Santiago and Mike Scioscia.

John Burkett (13-9) pitched better than his team, the San Francisco Giants, played this year, but Burkett will be forced to remember 1992 for his ineptitude at the plate.

Burkett, who said sheepishly that “everybody’s got to be known for something,” was one for 55 and hitless over his last 47 at-bats. He is nine for 174 in his career, a .052 average that is second worst among players with 150 or more at-bats to another former Giant pitcher, Ron Herbel, who was six for 206, a .029 average.

Of Burkett, teammate Will Clark said: “He’s the worst I’ve ever seen.”

Added Manager Roger Craig, who was one for 61 in 1956, said, “He’s so bad that people say he reminds them of me. I fined him for that.”

Did the Dodgers bungle another top draft pick? They did, according to managers in the Pioneer League who did not put catcher Ryan Luzinski, Greg’s son, on the list of the league’s top 10 prospects for the publication Baseball America.

Reporter Jim Callis wrote that Luzinski, a supplemental first-round pick who received an inordinately large signing bonus of $500,000, “got virtually no support for the top 10. Some managers questioned his bat, others his defense and almost all worried he might have weight problems.”

Luzinski even lost his starting job at Great Falls to Felix Rodriguez, a Dominican who was signed by the Dodgers as a free agent and ranked No. 10 in the prospects’ poll.