Lasorda Has Minors for Gold

The U.S. Olympic baseball team will be an unknown quantity when it takes the field for its Sept. 17th opener in Sydney against Japan, but it won’t lack for celebrity.

That will come from Tom Lasorda, the U.S. manager who is a legend in baseball, be it in Tacoma or Taiwan.

Lasorda, longtime manager of the Dodgers and a fixture of that organization for more than 50 years, presided at the Wednesday announcement of a U.S. team that will be, for the first time, made up of pro players rather than amateurs. The International Olympic Committee changed the rules after the Atlanta Olympics to let in pros, and the United States qualified by finishing second to Cuba in the 1999 Pan American Games.

Besides the U.S., Japan and Cuba, other teams competing in the eight-team tournament will be Australia, Italy, South Korea, the Netherlands and South Africa.

Since that rule change was made, there had been much discussion about what would be the best makeup of the team: All young, eager minor leaguers? Some young, eager minor leaguers and maybe even a sprinkle of college players? Or some minor leaguers built around recently retired, big-name major leaguers?

Wednesday’s announcement, at a news conference at the Biltmore Hotel, revealed that this would be a team of minor leaguers, most of whom are up-and-comers and a few of whom you have heard of if you focus hard. That latter category would certainly include veteran Pat Borders, the team’s 37-year-old catcher, who was the most valuable player of the 1992 World Series with Toronto, but who now plays for the Tampa Bay farm team in Durham, N.C.

Lasorda, who was selected for the manager’s spot in May, had pushed for the selection committee to take long looks at some recent former major leaguers, and Bob Watson, a co-chairman with Bill Bavasi, said it did. Those in that category were Terry Steinbach, Tim Raines, Pat Kelly, Chili Davis and Wade Boggs. Raines made it until the final cut and Steinbach would have made the team until he injured himself in a water skiing accident.

So, it will be Lasorda, Borders, 35-year-old Dodger farmhand Shawn Gilbert and lots of fuzzy faces. The fuzziest face will be Sean Burroughs of Long Beach, the star of that city’s two-time Little League World Series title run in 1992-93. Burroughs won’t turn 20 until Sept. 12.

Nor is Burroughs, or any player announced Wednesday, certain of a spot on the final players’ list until Sept. 15, when five players will be dropped from the main roster.

Statistically, among the top players announced were Ernie Young of the Cardinals’ Memphis team, who has 33 home runs and 95 runs batted in; Mike Coolbaugh of the Yankees’ Columbus team with 20 homers and 55 RBIs; Ryan Franklin of the Mariners’ Tacoma team, with an 11-4 record and a 3.37 earned-run average; Roy Oswalt of the Astros’ Round Rock team at 11-3 and 1.88, and Jon Rauch of the White Sox’s Birmingham team at 11-3 and 2.86.

Lasorda, who will be joined by a coaching staff that includes pitching coach Phil Regan and hitting coach Reggie Smith, both former Dodgers, said his job is a classic quick-build role.

“I wanted guys who can play now,” he said. “I’m not here to develop them. There is no time. I’m here to win.”

Besides the opener against Japan, the United States will play Cuba on Sept. 23 and Australia the next day. The semifinals are Sept. 26 and the gold-medal game is Sept. 27. U.S. baseball officials said that NBC planned to carry games in their entirety, but likely delayed on MSNBC.

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U.S. Olympic Baseball Team

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PITCHERS (13) Age Current Team (Class, Hometown Major League Team) Kurt Ainsworth (RH) 21 Shreveport (Double Kingwood, Texas A, San Francisco) Ryan Franklin (RH) 27 Tacoma (Triple A, Spiro, Okla. Seattle) Chris George (LH) 20 Omaha (Triple A, Spring, Texas Kansas City) Matt Ginter (RH) 22 Birmingham (Double Jacksonville, Fla. A, Chicago AL) Shane Heams (RH) 24 Birmingham (Double Lambertville, Mich. A, Detroit) Rick Krivda (LH) 30 Rochester (Triple A, McKeesport, Pa. Baltimore) Roy Oswalt (RH) 22 Round Rock (Double Weir, Miss. A, Houston) Jon Rauch (RH) 21 Charlotte (Triple A, Westport, Ky. Chicago AL) C.C. Sabathia (LH) 20 Akron (Triple A, Vallejo, Calif. Cleveland) Bobby Seay (LH) 22 Orlando (Double A, Sarasota, Fla. Tampa Bay) Ben Sheets (RH) 22 Indianapolis (Triple St. Amant, La. A, Milwaukee) Todd Williams (RH) 29 Tacoma (Triple A, Syracuse, N.Y. Seattle) Tim Young (LH) 26 Pawtucket (Triple A, Bristol, Fla. Boston) CATCHERS (3) Pat Borders 37 Durham (Triple A, Lake Wales, Fla. Tampa Bay) Marcus Jensen 27 Salt Lake (Triple A, Scottsdale, Ariz. Minnesota)) Mike Kinkade 27 Rochester (Triple A, Tigard, La. Baltimore) INFIELDERS (7) Brent Abernathy (2B) 22 Durham (Triple A, Marietta, Ga. Tampa Bay) Sean Burroughs (3B) 19 Mobile (Double A, Long Beach San Diego) Brent Butler (2B-SS) 22 Colorado Springs Laurinburg, N.C. (Triple A, Colorado) Mike Coolbaugh (3B) 28 Columbus (Triple A, San Antonio New York AL) Travis Dawkins (SS) 21 Chattanooga (Double Chappells, S.C. A, Cincinnati) Adam Everett (SS) 23 New Orleans (Triple Kennesaw, Ga. A, Houston) Doug Mientkiewicz 26 Salt Lake (Triple A, Miami (1B) Minnesota) OUTFIELDERS (5) Shawn Gilbert 35 Albuquerque (Triple Glendale, Ariz. A, Dodgers) Mike Neill 22 Tacoma (Triple A, Seaford, Del. Seattle) Anthony Sanders 26 Tacoma (Triple A, Tucson Seattle) Brad Wilkerson 23 Ottawa (Triple A, Owensboro, Ky. Montreal) Ernie Young 31 Memphis (Triple A, Mesa, Ariz. St. Louis)

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MANAGER: Tom Lasorda; COACHING STAFF: Phil Regan, Reggie Smith, Eddie Rodriguez, Ray Tanner, Dick Cooke.