AL Beat - Chisox Have Humpty Dumpty Back Together

[bernieh]

[i:dd0cf9c23b]by Peter Gammons
originally printed, The Sporting News, February 10, 1986[/i:dd0cf9c23b]

BOSTON—One doesn’t have to recap what’s happened to the White Sox since they won 99 games and took the West Division title in 1983. Suffice it to say that as the pitching unraveled, so did the Sox.

The pieces have been put back together slowly. Two vital parts came from Roland Hemond's trades for reliever Bob James and shortstop Ozzie Guillen. Now, Ken Harrelson has acquired Ron Hassey, Wayne Tolleson, Joe Cowley and Dave Schmidt and has signed a couple of minor free agents (don’t bet against a Steve McCatty comeback).

The Hawk has tried to increase the flexibility of the Sox. He has Carlton Fisk in left field, knowing he can catch if needed, and Hassey is available as a catcher and lefthanded DH. Those two should protect young Joel Skinner. Tolleson will keep Julio Cruz on his toes at second base, and the addition of arms for the bullpen should allow James the luxury of working strictly as a closer.

At the moment, Harrelson sees three keys to the White Sox:
1. Daryl Boston making it in center field. Batting coach Willie Horton reported from winter ball in Venezuela that Boston was making progress as a hitter. The Sox need him to patrol center in Comiskey Park, between Fisk and right fielder Harold Baines.
2. Richard Dotson's comeback as a starting pitcher. Dotson won 22 games in 1983 and 14 in ‘84, but he worked only 52 1/3 Innings last year because of a wounded wing. Don Drysdale, serving Harrelson as a pitching consultant, says he is "excited' about the 1986 staff, which includes Floyd Bannister, Joel Davis, Tom Seaver and Cowley. But for the staff to approach pennant quality it needs a strong performance from Dotson.
3. Third base. Tim Hulett has beefed himself up from 180 to 195 pounds by Nautilus workouts. Harrelson likes rookie Russ Morman's power, and Tolleson's also in the picture. To contend, the Sox must have both power and defense from their third basemen.

Seaver made another request to Harrelson to trade him to Boston, which is a half hour's plane ride from the White Plains, N.Y. airport -- which Seaver can see from his Connecticut home. But the White Sox and Red Sox haven't talked recently, and the deal is all but dead. Boston still wants to make it an even-up trade, Seaver for Al Nipper, while Harrelson wants Nipper and outfielder Steve Lyons and will throw in another body, such as outfielder Rudy Law. Lyons is vitally important to Boston, because he is a live body among an aging outfield, and he is the likely third baseman should anything happen to Wade Boggs.... Compensation still is a factor in whether a club wants to sign free agents. There was much division within the Orioles on Juan Beniquez, who was a Type A player and therefore cost Baltimore a first-round draft pick. Boston also wanted Beniquez, before learning be was a Type A player, and Toronto similarly backed off on Cesar Cedeno.

It isn’t written in stone that Phil Niekro will make the Yankees' pitching staff. Some people figure that one or two pitchers in the group of Bob Tewksbury, Brad Arnsberg, Doug Drabek and Dennis Rasmussen will be ready to join the New York rotation… You'd think Seattle Owner George Argyros would learn. He used good judgment when he got Dick Balderson, one of baseball's best young minds, to be his general manager, but already Argyros has undermined Balderson by forcing hin to renege on a contract deal. The Mariners are close to being a serious contender. It'd be a shame if a man who knows little about baseball ruined things… Don’t think the White Sox are being driven out of Comiskey Park. Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Holborn got American League President Bobby Brown to write that move-or-else letter. The upkeep and taxes are so high that Reinsdorf and Einhorn want the city to buy Comiskey Park and maintain it with little or no rent, or else they'd like to have a new stadium built. Then, Reinsdorf could tear down the old park and develop the land… The Indians may have a steal in lefthanded pitcher Bryan Oeikers, acquired from the Twins along with Ken Schrom. GM Joe Klein now has picked up four former No. 1 draft picks -- Oeikers, third baseman Eddie Williams, infielder Jay Bell and pitcher Scott Roberts -- since last July. The Tribe also thinks that Schrom can be a winner on a high-scoring team. In 20 of his 26 starts last year, he allowed four or fewer runs. Twenty of the 28 home runs he served up were hit in Minnesota's Homerdome. He struck out 74 and walked 59 in 160 2/3 innings.

The Tigers raised their eyebrows when third baseman Darnell Coles, obtained from Seattle, was sent home from the Dominican Republic. With a coaching staff of Willie Horton, Doug Rader, Art Kusnyer. Dave Duncan. Moe Drabowsky and Don Drysdale, the White Sox have enough bulk to make the New England Patriots' defensive front look like a pack of Buddy Biancalanas. "We’ll meet before every game. If anything breaks out we want to know who takes whom," cracked Sox Manager Tony LaRussa.

Presenting our New York broadcasters all-star team: Jim Kaat, p; Tim McCarver, c; Bill White, 1b; Billy Martin, 2b; Phil Rizzuto, ss; Bobby Murcer, 3b; Jay Johnstone, rf; Mickey Mantle, cf; Ralph Kiner, If. And if anyone wants to go to arbitration, Mets broadcaster Gary Thorne is a former University of Maine law professor.

[Proverbial Psalms]

As the Oakland manager in this replay, I've been reading a lot about the '86 season, and I'd seen from several writers a consensus that Tony LaRussa was likely going to be the first manager to lose his job during the season...

Interesting to me that Peter Gammons here doesn't even mention LaRussa being in the hot seat- perhaps so as to not add fuel to the self-fulfilling fire?

Of course, LaRussa did lose his job (after 64 games, 26-38 record) and a few weeeks later he was hired by Oakland- where he finished .570 in their last 79 games... and we know the rest of the story with his A's success in 1988+...