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Notebook Amazing Grace to play last game in Cubs uniform
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) -- They're coming to an end of an era this weekend when Mark Grace plays what could be his last game in a Chicago Cubs uniform. The steady .300-hitting first baseman is a free agent and it is unlikely the Cubs will ask him back. Always one of the top defensive players at his position, Grace will be asking in excess of $5 million per season. The Cubs are not about to give that kind of money again. So after 13 years, it will be sayonara for Grace as the Cubs begin to shake things up. Chicago's first baseman of the future is probably going to be 6-6 Julio Zuleta or, eventually, Hee Seop Choi, a native of Korea who has shown power in two minor league seasons. Shea la vieDoes winning the National League wild card two years in a row guarantee manager Bobby Valentine another three years with the Mets or does he have to get them to the World Series? Valentine has been given no assurance that the wild card is enough and it may not be. One of the club's co-owners, Fred Wilpon, is believed to want a World Series and nothing else. Incidentally, Nelson Doubleday, the Mets' other owner, indicated this week that there may not be a new stadium on the horizon for the team. A few years ago, Wilpon unveiled a grandoise plan for a new park by 2003 or 2004. But the financing sought from the city and state is not there. Doubleday believes Shea Stadium can be renovated to satisfy the stadium's needs. A call to armsThe St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants and the Mets each have five pitchers on their staff who have won 10 or more games. The Kansas City Royals do not have one. No starter for the Anaheim Angels has 10 wins, only reliever Shigetosi Hasegawa does. Does that tell you how thin the pitching is in the major leagues? See ya, wouldn't want to be yaBaseball is a what-have-you-done-for-me lately business. Buck Showalter, Davey Johnson, Gene Lamont, Jimy Williams and Larry Dierker are all recent winners in recent years of the Manager of the Year Award. And all five are likely to be handed their walking papers after the season. Great one year, gone the next. The Buck stops hereWhen Arizona Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo hired Showalter five years ago, he told him to "take care of everything." And, being the hands-on guy he is, Showalter did just that. Now they want to get rid of him for doing just what they told him to do, but not well enough. Rags to riches storyDave Righetti pitched his last game in the majors in 1995 and then left baseball to care for his three young daughters who have experienced health problems. Last year he got the itch to get back in the game and called Giants general manager Brian Sabean, a friend of his while with the New York Yankees. He asked for a job -- any job -- and was not looking for big bucks. Sabean hired the lefthander to be a roving pitching coach in the minor leagues. This year Righetti moved up to be Dusty Baker's pitching coach after Ron Perranoski retired. Righetti has done an outstanding job with the Giants' staff. He has helped turn Livan Hernandez from an 8-12 pitcher last year to 16-11 and a staff ace. Whether Righetti returns next year is up to his family. The Giants want him back, that's for sure, but his wife may need more help with their triplets. Mound mattersFor all the time he removes himself from games before the conclusion, Greg Maddux still leads National League pitchers in innings (249 1/3). ... Houston's Jose Lima avoided losing 20 games he seemed certain to do at the All-Star break. But he did manage to set a record for home runs when he served up No. 47. It broke up Robin Roberts' National League record of 46 that stood since 1956. A league of his ownLast year, Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox set a little known record when he finished with a 2.07 ERA when the ERA for the entire American League was 4.91. This year the discrepancy is even greater this year. Martinez has a 1.74 ERA -- even lower than last year -- while the league ERA was 4.90, just about the same as last year. If anyone but Martinez wins the Cy Young Award, there should be an investigation. Into thin airFrom 8-13 in Colorado to 20-9 with St. Louis. That was the way Darryl Kile reversed his record one year away from the rarified air in Denver. After winning 19 with Houston in 1997, free agent Kile took his act to Colorado for a lot of money . He had seasons of 13-17 and 8-13 and practically begged the Rockies to trade him, which they did in a two-for-four swap last December. It isn't that no pitcher can win in the thin air. Kevin Ritz won 17 in 1996 and Pedro Astacio won 13, 17 and then 12 this year. But you better have a fastball, because the curveball doesn't curve the way it does in other cities.
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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