|
|
| |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
The Stark Report By Jayson Stark ESPN.com | ||||||||||||||||||
| Note: Jayson Stark will be filing his Stark Report throughout spring training.
March 27: Everett, Williams hit bad note in quest for harmony TAMPA, Fla. – The amazing thing about the Boston Red Sox is that when calamity strikes, they never seem compelled to limit themselves to the normal quota of one calamity per day. So it almost figured that on Tuesday – the same day they announced Nomar Garciaparra would have wrist surgery and be out a couple of months – they also found a way to toss in another one of those pesky Carl Everett crises. In this week's episode, Everett was sent home by manager Jimy Williams for not accompanying the team Tuesday morning on the 2 ½-hour bus ride from Fort Myers to Tampa. Instead, Everett stayed overnight at his home in Tampa, then met the team at Legends Field. But because he'd already been denied permission to do that by Williams the day before, and because all players are required to ride the team bus, the manager refused to allow his volatile center fielder to play. So they met before the game in Williams' office for over an hour. Then Williams emerged and said: "I believe everything is going to be fine. That's what I really believe." That didn't seem to be what an obviously displeased Everett really believed. But when asked if he wanted to speak the media, he issued two unequivocal "nopes." So that's the deal. But what does it mean? We'll find out. But Tuesday, Everett's teammates tiptoed around the issue, trying to find that fine line of political correctness. "It's the kind of situation that's festered," Scott Hatteberg said. "A lot of it is stuff we don't really know about. It's not a problem with Carl not working hard on the field or anything like that. It's just a rule that was not obeyed. I don't know why. I wish it wasn't that way, because we really need him. But I've got to side with Jimy, because the rules are for everybody." And the rules are supposed to be for everybody. Carl Everett hasn't always gotten that. So it's often hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. But when you look at this particular rule, was it really important enough for the manager to pick this particular fight with this particular player – especially now? It's safe to say that even before this spring, Williams and Everett weren't a good bet to go on a picnic in Boston Common together. But they met at the winter meetings to try to repair the crater their fire-bombed relationship had left in the clubhouse. And they were supposed to be heading into this season riding a new wave of goodwill. But then, a couple of weeks ago, Williams ordered the bus to leave for Clearwater while Everett was still in the clubhouse – and made sure everyone knew he'd missed it, by posting a lineup in the dugout with Everett's name crossed off. Everett's tardiness that morning was also a violation of the rules, obviously. But people in baseball have been buzzing about it all spring, wondering why such a small offense was handled in such a noisy public manner. And now this. In spring training, players who live in Florida make requests to spend a night at home just about every day. They're almost always told, "No problem." So what are we to make of the fact that Williams told Everett exactly the opposite, then made it another humongous issue, out there in front of the world, when he probably didn't have to? "I'm not sure what the history is there," one baseball man said Tuesday. "But most teams grant requests like this all the time." "I'm not sure what you gain by doing this," said another. "The idea is to get the players to play. This isn't the way I'd get this guy to play." That's true any day, any spring, any season. But it's doubly true on a day when the superstar shortstop starts looking through the Yellow Pages for orthopedic surgeons. "How much team chemistry will be affected, I don't know," Hatteberg said. "It could snowball, I guess. But I hope it doesn't, just because of him being late a couple of times. It happens to everybody. "And we need him more than ever now. The guy's a gamer. He plays as hard as anybody between the lines. He's a big-time player. We had three guys in that category. Now we've got two – him and Manny. That puts more pressure on him, I know. But we need him." What they also need, though, now more than ever, is for the center fielder and the manager to co-exist. They don't have to go on that picnic. But they do have to work together to make sure they don't spoil the food for everybody around them. March 26: Penthouse Jinx for Pirates' Benson? The Pittsburgh Pirates have been waiting for a long, long time to get some recognition in a big-time national publication. It's just ... uh ... Penthouse wasn't quite what they had in mind. But Kris Benson and his wife, Anna, had other ideas. So as you no doubt have heard by now, they're featured extremely prominently in the upcoming issue of Penthouse – including a photo of the two embracing while topless. Benson's teammates, naturally, found this highly amusing. So while Benson was addressing the media last week on this topic, Jason Kendall and Brian Giles marched up, took off their own uniform tops – and hugged. This Penthouse development also prompted the managerial quote of the spring, from Lloyd McClendon. "All I care about," McClendon said, "is what Kris Benson does between the lines – not what he does between the sheets." What we're wondering, however, being the suspicious type we are, was whether Benson's elbow injury this spring can be traced to this story – via the somewhat unheralded Penthouse Jinx. "No, I think to qualify for that jinx, you've got to be the centerfold," teammate Terry Mulholland said. "I can't recall how this jinx works. But it's either the cover of Sports Illustrated or the centerfold of Penthouse. It's hard to remember which is which. There are so many sports magazines out there these days." March 25: Phillies in tough spot with Rolen negotiations CLEARWATER, Fla. – A week after Scott Rolen's agent, Seth Levinson, arrived in town, he and Rolen finally met with the Phillies' chief decision-makers Sunday night. The much-ballyhooed topic: a possible extension of Rolen's contract, which expires after this season. Rolen is still two years away from free agency. But if, in a year, he remains unsigned and senses the Phillies are no closer to winning, the pressure could swell for the Phillies to trade him. And if they're forced to trade, the Phillies' entire nucleus – around which they've attempted to rebuild – could crumble in a hurry. Rolen could be looking at a Bill Gates-ish payday if he hits the free-agent market in 19 months at age 27. But incredibly, money hasn't even been the No. 1 issue in this conversation. It's all about winning. And the organization knows it. "I think the key (to keeping this group together)," said manager Larry Bowa, "is getting Scott Rolen signed, to let him know that this organization is committed to winning." But how do the Phillies let him know something like that in the middle of a spring training that will end with a 19-game loser (Omar Daal) starting on Opening Day? It ain't easy. It will take some major creativity. And that's why conversation about a possible "out" clause continues to rattle around the walls at the Phillies' camp. A clause like that would be out of character for an organization as conservative as Newt Gingrich. But what's the harm in it, when you're talking about a player as important as Scott Rolen? "I understand why you wouldn't want to give him an `out' that gives him free agency," said one AL executive. "You'd prefer an `out' where he could just demand a trade. But the bottom line is, what's the difference if you give him an `out' for free agency or just lose him? He's going to get that opportunity, one way or the other. "This is what it's about: You're trying to send a signal that you're turning that franchise around. And he's a franchise player. So what do you have to lose?" Phillies GM Ed Wade hasn't been commenting on any aspect of the Rolen negotiations. So there has been no indication, one way or the other, whether the front office is willing to be that daring. But "daring" and "Phillies" haven't been used in the same sentence since they signed Lance Parrish during an ancient collusion signing freeze. That was 1987. Scott Rolen was 11 years old. The Phillies have had one winning season since. Time flies when you're having fun. March 22: Rollins earns starting job CLEARWATER, Fla. – It wasn't supposed to be automatic that Jimmy Rollins would walk into the Phillies' camp this spring and automatically become the starting shortstop. But clearly, nobody ever convinced him of that. Rollins may be 5-foot-8, 165 pounds, and only 22 years old. But he is a fascinating combination of speed, strength and smarts. And from day one of spring training, he has acted as if there was never any doubt that when the Phillies' season opens April 2 in Florida, it sure isn't going to be Tomas Perez playing shortstop. Fifteen games into spring training, Rollins was hitting .259, with three homers, nine runs scored and three stolen bases, even after enduring a 2-for-27 slide. "The shortstop," said his manager, "has handled himself like a veteran. He's done everything." And the manager ought to recognize a big-time shortstop when he sees one, because Larry Bowa was one of the best of his generation. Bowa was 24 when he got to the big leagues in 1970, at 5-10, 140 pounds. He still remembers his own manager, Frank Lucchesi, calling him in to tell him he didn't care how many hits he got as long as he made the plays. But when Bowa finished playing, it was 2,191 hits later. So this spring, Bowa called Rollins into his office to deliver essentially that same message. And when he was through, Rollins uttered two words: "I'll hit." "He walks around like he's played in the big leagues four or five years -- which I like," Bowa said. "He's very confident. He's not in awe when he takes the field. And he knows that the job is his, for him to lose. So I'm looking for big things from him." How big remains to be seen. But one scout says: "I have no doubt Jimmy Rollins can play. He isn't quite as fast as Rafael Furcal. But he reminds me of Furcal the way he uses his speed to make an impact offensively and defensively. I've seen him for years. He's one of my favorites." March 21: Billy Wags back on track DUNEDIN, Fla. – Maybe Billy Wagner's mama never told him there'd be days like this. But Robb Nen did. Before Wednesday, Wagner had been breezing through an uh-oh-he's-back kind of spring, allowing only three hits in six innings as he returns from last year's elbow surgery. But Wednesday, the Astros' closer had to stand around the bullpen for almost 40 minutes while his team exploded for five runs in the top of the ninth inning against the Blue Jays. Then he marched in to give up a solo homer to Ryan Thompson, allow another hit to Vernon Wells and stagger through his toughest inning of the spring. Afterward, he stomped into the clubhouse, fired his glove, punched a wall and grumbled: "If I pitch like that, I'll be pitching in A-ball." But this is what the rehab trail is all about. This marked the first time all spring Wagner has pitched on back-to-back days. And once his blood pressure started sinking, he was able to let a slice of that particular logic sink in. "I talked to Robb Nen this winter," Wagner said. "And he was the first to tell me not to come to spring training thinking I'd be 100 percent and my fastball would be hopping. It takes time. I know that. But I'm human." And the human in him wants to go back to being the old Billy Wagner -- the one who blew just 18 of 119 save opportunities the previous four years, striking out 356 in 252 2/3 innings in the process. "I honestly don't know where I'm at right now," Wagner said, the daze of that final inning still draining the tan from his face. "I've never been through this before. So I don't know what it's like. Some days are promising. Other days, I don't look too good. "But as long as it doesn't hurt. That's the main thing. I'm pain-free at last. I've got a chance to get back to normal." Of course, normal for him is superhuman for everyone else. And that may be an impossible standard to live up to. No pitcher who ever lived has been able to match the 14.02 whiff-per-nine-innings strikeout ratio Wagner carried into last season. But the Astros aren't asking him to get back to that level. All they need is a return to bullpen sanity, after a nightmarish season in which Wagner blew nine of 15 saves and their bullpen as a whole blew 25 of 55. So this winter, the Astros traded for premier set-up man Doug Brocail, signed Mike Jackson as a free agent and suddenly look as if they might have one of the deepest bullpens in the league. "I think our pen could be one of our strengths, instead of one of the things that dragged us down last year," said Jeff Bagwell. "We've got an awful lot of good arms out there." But it all revolves around Wagner, the most unhittable, most automatic closer in the game until last year -- a year he's using to stoke his fire this spring. "A lot of things went into that," Wagner said. "But to me, things happen for a reason. It was one of those things that build character. That's how I look at it. Either you come back, or they kick you to the wayside." Wednesday, he may have taken a kick to the wayside. But for Billy Wagner, there are a lot of pitches yet to be thrown. And what happens after he throws them will go a long ways toward determining how far the Astros travel this year. March 20: Yankees get Henson The spring-training buzz ...  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | ||||||||||||||||||
