August 26

Look, does anyone expect that Jack McKeon will be back as Reds manager next season? Of course not. But there obviously is a lot of concern in GM Jim Bowden's circle of advisers as to whether or not Ken Griffey Sr. or Bob Boone would be the right man for this situation, not to mention whether or not hiring one of the two could fractionize the troops.

Bowden will wait until the end of the season and then see who is out there. It's easy to speculate with so many managers on the bubble and so many unsigned for next year. Curiously, there seems to be less of a storm around Bobby Valentine than a dozen other managers, but while he wants to stay in New York and owner Fred Wilpon seems to want him back, delaying the decision any longer only puts the Mets in a more precarious negotiating position with Valentine's agent, Tony Attanasio.

	Bobby Valentine remains a manager without a contract beyond this season.

The Players Association supposedly doesn't want agents simultaneously representing players and managers, but Valentine, Bruce Bochy and Davey Lopes are represented by Attanasio. Dusty Baker has reportedly linked up with Jeff Moorad and Lou Piniella has hired Alan Nero, all respected, big-time agents. The Giants think Baker will be back and privately claim that he has given them assurances that he will return. But a lot can happen once the season ends and there is a huge market for Baker, especially if the Giants win the NL West and go deep into the playoffs.

It appears fairly certain that McKeon, Pittsburgh's Gene Lamont and Houston's Larry Dierker will not be back.

And what happens in the final 40 days of the season will likely determine the fates of Davey Johnson, Jimy Williams, Art Howe, Larry Rothschild, Jim Fregosi, Felipe Alou, Terry Francona and the big three without contracts (Valentine, Baker and Piniella).

Francona is taking the worst and often most unfair beating, since he didn't make the trading blunders on the pitching staff, he didn't insist on keeping Desi Relaford and Marlon Anderson as his double-play combination going into spring training and he's not part of the players' cynicism best summed up by one player's words, "We've had 13 losing seasons in 14 years, and now we're rebuilding."

It appears that Tampa Bay GM Chuck LaMar understands that Rothschild had no chance from the beginning of this year when he lost his four best starting pitchers and was given a team that was inferior defensively, had no leadoff hitter and no pure middle-of-the-lineup hitter.

Alou, meanwhile, may have given his soul to Montreal, but he may be better off getting out of baseball's Desolation Row. Come to think of it, maybe they should play that great Dylan song before home games in Montreal.

Olympic team faces tall task
The committee that picked the Olympic Team knows that it would take a John R. Tunis novel of a miracle to beat the Cubans or Japanese, especially when the Japanese are sending several of their best major league starting pitchers to the Games. It may also be difficult to beat out Korea and host Australia to get to the medal round, but the U.S. team has to hope that their good young pitchers -- Milwaukee's Ben Sheets, Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia, Tampa Bay's Matt White, San Francisco's Kurt Ainsworth, Kansas City's Chris George, Houston's Roy Oswalt and 6-11 monster Jon Rauch of the White Sox -- come through. They put veteran Todd Williams on the club to close along with left-handers Tim Young (Red Sox) and Bobby Seay (Devil Rays) for lefty-lefty matchups.

There are some fascinating young players to watch, led by 19-year-old Sean Burroughs, a prospect in the Padres' system. "We know Burroughs won't be awed," says one committee member. "He can hit, he can adjust and this will be a great experience for him." Last winter, Tony Gwynn visited Burroughs' house to talk hitting. When Gwynn arrived, Burroughs was in his cage, 40 feet from the pitching machine which had been dialed up to 93 mph. "I'm trying to develop bat speed," Burroughs told Gwynn, who in turn shook his head in amazement at the teenager's maturity.

The team should be strong up the middle with Houston shortstop Adam Everett and Tampa Bay second baseman Brent Abernathy, along with Cincinnati's Gookie Dawkins to play either middle-infield position. But there is little corner power with Minnesota's Doug Mientkiewicz at first base (although John Roskos could be added), and all the outfielders are minor-league veterans.

Patterson was picked as an alternate, but declined, telling the Olympic Committee that he didn't want to go to Australia if he wasn't guaranteed a spot on the team.

It will be tough, very tough for this team to win. The Cubans have their best veteran team ready, including shortstop German Mesa, second baseman Antonio Pacheco, first baseman Orestes Kindalin and the great Omar Linares. Right-handed pitcher Jose Contreras, who beat the U.S. in the medal game in the Pan Am Games last summer and twice dominated the Orioles, will be in the rotation alongside Jose Ibar, Luis Laza with Nils Rodriguez -- who is reputed to throw close to 100 mph -- as the closer.

By the way, that two-game series the Cubans played with the Orioles last year changed a lot of conditions in Cuba. Players have received a 250 percent pay raise, clubhouses were remodeled, teams were equipped with air-conditioned buses, they stayed in first-class road hotels and per diem was dramatically increased -- all thanks to the money taken in by the series with the Orioles. Credit Peter Angelos with bettering baseball on several counts in agreeing to play the Cubans.

News and notes