Deer’s Future Is Clearly Out of Focus : Baseball: Whether or not the Detroit Tigers’ power hitter will be traded is anybody’s guess.

Rob Deer is on the road and that’s bad. It means that when he walks into the Detroit Tiger clubhouse, he has to personally look at the lineup card. An unwelcome chore.

At home, a clubhouse boy will take a peek for him. He’ll then give Deer a sign if he’s starting or not. It’s the most anxious moment of the day.

“Yeah, he’ll nonchalantly walk over, get a cup of coffee, then mosey back and give me a wink,” Deer said.

Not here, though. Whether he’s playing or sitting will be right there before his eyes. Deer hates the thought.

“Sometimes I can get Henne (pitcher Mark Henneman) to look for me,” Deer said. “I’m afraid to walk over and look at it. I don’t like the disappointment.”

Obviously, these are uneasy days for Deer. His future is day-to-day and, at the same time, beyond.

Will he still start for the Tigers tomorrow? Will he even be with the Tigers tomorrow? Will he have to test his value on the free-agent market? These are questions he can’t answer.

“What I can say and what I feel are two different things,” said Deer, a Canyon High graduate. “I have a contract and I’m going to play as hard as I can, until that change comes.”

It could . . . any day now. For the last two weeks, rumors have been circulating that Deer is headed to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for a pitcher. Right-handed power hitters tend to do well in cozy Fenway Park and Deer certainly qualifies.

He has averaged nearly 28 home runs during the last seven seasons. He has 14 this year.

Oh sure, Deer is never going to lead any league in batting. He has topped the American League in strikeouts three times in seven seasons and is running neck-and-neck with Texas’ David Palmer this year. But when Deer does hit the ball, it tends to go a long, long way.

So Boston and Fenway Park sound OK to him. Trouble is, the talks have bogged down, leaving Deer in a sort of limbo.

“I have tons of friends in Boston and I keep getting phone calls from them,” Deer said. “They tell me the trade talks are on TV and in the papers. To be honest, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

According to Manager Sparky Anderson, Deer’s future is clear.

“If I was a betting man, I would bet that Rob Deer ends the season in Detroit,” Anderson said. “There will be no trade, if I was betting man. But that don’t mean nothing either.”

Which hardly clears a murky picture. So Deer is left with one thing to cling to.

“There are times in your career when you need a change,” he said. “This might be one of those times right now.”

This is not what Deer anticipated when the season began. He thought he had found a home in Detroit.

Deer was signed as a free agent before the 1991 season. He had hit no fewer than 23 home runs during five seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, but left when the outfield got crowded.

In Detroit, he had room to stretch out. He hit only .179 with the Tigers in 1991, but had 25 home runs. Last season, he had 32 homers and raised his average to .247.

But this season hasn’t gone well. He spent three weeks on the disabled list with a neck injury. His average has hovered around .220 and the home runs have been less frequent. So has his playing time recently.

Deer’s role has been reduced since the All-Star break. He has been platooned in right field, playing mostly against left-handed pitchers.

“It’s real frustrating,” Deer said. “I’m not ready to be a part-time or platoon player. I’m the type of player who needs to be in the lineup every day to be productive. The more I sit, the harder it is for me. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Said Anderson: “He should be frustrated. Anyone who wasn’t should hang up their uniform and go home.”

Deer, who will turn 33 in September, has talked with Anderson about the situation and has received an honest answer.

“I told him that he was going to play against left-handers,” Anderson said.

But truth and satisfaction don’t always coincide.

“We’re men here,” Deer said. “I think Sparky realizes that, if I’m not going to play everyday and he can get a pitcher now, they should do it. It makes sense.”

So does Deer’s problem. There are just too many outfielders with the Tigers, a situation he’s faced before.

He was drafted by the Giants out of high school in 1978. His power had impressed scouts, some of who still talk about the long home run Deer hit at Boysen Park as a senior.

“People bring that up from time to time,” Deer said. “I still get goose bumps. After I hit it, the scouts started calling me a lot.”

Deer made it to the Major Leagues in 1984, but found a Giant outfield filled with Jeffrey Leonard, Chili Davis and Dan Gladden.

“Yeah, I was behind some pretty good players,” Deer said. “The same thing happened in Milwaukee my last season there. We had five or six guys who should have been playing. I really couldn’t complain.”

Nor does he now. But that’s not to say he’s happy about the situation.

Deer started the season as the regular right fielder, then was injured. When he returned, the Tigers had begun to use catcher Mickey Tettleton in the outfield to give Chad Kreuter a chance to play.

Kreuter is hitting .279 with 11 home runs and is a solid defensive player. Tettleton is hitting only .230, but has 27 home runs and 85 RBIs.

Deer has been left wondering when and if he would play.

“Chad’s having a good year and, the way I understand it, they want to play Mickey in the outfield everyday next season,” Deer said. “If that’s the case, there’s really no room for me.”

Free agency is an option. Deer is in the last year of his contract and likely will leave on his own if the Tigers don’t trade him.

Either way, Deer takes it day-to-day, from one lineup card to the next.

“I think a player should look at the lineup card and be angry if he’s not on it,” Anderson said. “If he isn’t, then he’s not worth a damn.”

Deer does look, when he has to.