Trading Johnson may help Seattle
Posted: Tuesday June 16, 1998 07:48 PM
In his last three starts Randy Johnson
is 0-3 with a 6.10 ERA. The Seattle Mariners now
privately acknowledge that they have no other choice but to trade the Big
Unit in a last ditch effort to save a season that is nearly over in June.
In the first half of the month - as the Johnson trade rumors heated up -
Seattle lost 11 of 14 games.
Dogged by a litany of catastrophes, including the Johnson circus, the
miserable bullpen and the knee injury that sidelined Jay Buhner for
two months, there has even been speculation that manager Lou Piniella's job
is vulnerable.
But Ken Griffey, Jr. defends Piniella by saying, "Lou's fine, nobody
should even have to consider that. You ever hear of Murphy's Law? We are
leading the league in obeying Murphy's Law." Hundley situation
heats up for Mets
Amid the euphoria of the New York Mets acquisition
of catcher Mike
Piazza on May 22 was one nagging question: What happens to their
All-Star catcher Todd Hundley
when he returns from elbow surgery?
Well, Hundley is saying that he could be ready to play in two weeks - and
right now, barring a trade, the word is that Piazza will do the bulk of the
catching with Hundley playing primarily in left field.
If Hundley moves to left that would likely shift Bernard
Gilkey to right and Butch Huskey to
center, leaving the Mets with one of the best hitting and worst fielding
outfields in all of baseball. A dog-eat-dog world for Twins’ Walker
Minnesota second baseman Todd Walker is a
star on the rise, with a batting average that ranks in the top five in the
American League.
But Walker admits that he is still haunted by the memory of last season
when the Rookie of the Year candidate struggled so badly that he was
unceremoniously shipped to the minors in May.
Strangely, what he remembers most about that time was having to send home
his dog, a labrador that he had confidently named Slugger.
Walker told me, "I was so upset when I got sent down that I thought I
should rename my dog ... something like Wimp or maybe Wet Newspaper."
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