Littlefield Has Big Job Ahead With Pirates

The worst-to-first ascent of the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins a year after the Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox won division titles tends to mock the whines about competitive and revenue disparity. Commissioner Bud Selig calls it an aberration, but Dave Littlefield sees it as far more.

“I look at what Oakland and the White Sox did last year with a limited payroll and what the Phillies and Twins are doing this year,” said Littlefield, named Friday as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager. “Those are things that give you hope. Some people are doing it [in an economically challenged environment] and that leads me to believe it can be done here.”

Frank Wren was the first choice to succeed fired Cam Bonifay with the Pirates but chose to remain as the Atlanta Braves’ assistant general manager, knowing John Schuerholz may retire after the 2002 season and he is the likely successor.

It was a good deal for the Pirates because they needed someone who really wanted the challenging position, and the respected Littlefield was the man. He, too, could have remained where he was, assistant to Dave Dombrowski with the Florida Marlins and certain to be offered a more attractive GM position at some point, but he said of the Pirate offer, “certainly, there are negatives associated with any situation, but a lot of promising things are happening here, and I feel the positives far outweigh the negatives.”

The most positive, of course, is the improved revenue stream in PNC Park, but Littlefield has his work cut out. The Pirates are short on talent throughout the system, and Littlefield may try to improve it by trading Jason Schmidt, John Vander Wal and closer Mike Williams in his first three weeks, beating the July 31 deadline.

At 41, he has paid his dues and is the latest in a series of younger and/or longtime assistants to get a No. 1 opportunity.

It didn’t work out for Bonifay in Pittsburgh or Kevin Malone in Los Angeles, but others are knocking on the door, including Wren with the Braves, Ned Colletti with San Francisco, Dave Stewart with Toronto, Fred Uhlman Jr. with San Diego, Dave Wilder with Milwaukee, Mike Arbuckle with the Phillies and Dan Evans with the Dodgers. For Evans, there is growing industry belief that the Dodgers will hear his knock.

J.D. Drew is on the disabled list, Mark McGwire has been in and out of the lineup, Jim Edmonds has been in a protracted slump and now Mike Easler has been removed as the St. Louis Cardinals’ batting coach and replaced by Mitchell Page. A year after finishing fourth in the league in runs and winning a division title with Easler, the crippled Cardinals are ninth in runs and striking out at a pace almost as dizzying as the number of times Manager Tony La Russa has changed hitting coaches. Page is his fourth in five-plus years in St. Louis.

Closing in on Carlton Fisk’s major league record for catchers of 351 homers, Mike Piazza became only the sixth player whose primary position was catcher to hit 300 when he connected Friday night. Piazza has hit 123 homers with the New York Mets after hitting 177 as a Dodger. Considering that Dodger Stadium and Shea Stadium aren’t known for favoring hitters, Piazza said of 300: “That’s not anything they’re going to try to discount.”

Fernando Valenzuela won’t be at Dodger Stadium on July 29 when his likeness is distributed to fans in the form of a bobble-head doll. Valenzuela, as colleague Bill Plaschke recently reported, has rejected all invitations from the Dodgers, still angry over his release in March 1991.

However, co-agent Richard Moss insists that the perceived image of an uncaring Valenzuela is not accurate. Moss cited Valenzuela’s reaction to the club’s desire to conduct the promotion.

“We’re talking about property rights, where an individual in a case like this might be paid $50,000 or so,” Moss said.

“But Fernando gave the Dodgers permission to use his likeness and said he wasn’t interested in any money, he was only interested in the fans. The Dodgers figure to make money on the promotion, but Fernando doesn’t want any.”

Nor would he drop in to pick up the check if he did.