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Mr. Everything Colbrunn ready to give Mariners whatever they needPosted: Thursday March 20, 2003 12:42 PM
PEORIA, Ariz. -- When everything is going right for a team, it's darn near impossible to measure the worth of a good bench player. The guy hardly does anything. He pinch-hits, maybe, once in a while. He goes in for a regular every now and then. And he sits. A lot. In baseball, though, almost never does everything go right, which is why managers put such a premium on their bench players. It's why, in fact, the Seattle Mariners are paying Greg Colbrunn nearly $4 million for the next two years. The 2002 Mariners were pretty good. But 93 wins was only good for third in the AL West. They went into the offseason looking to get better, but the player they wanted most was not a stud starter or an everyday slugger. It was Colbrunn, a 33-year-old now with his seventh team. That may have caused a lot of head scratching by the fans in Seattle. But, in truth, it may be just what the Mariners need.
"A bench player does more than be a pinch-hitter," says Colbrunn. "You never know if you're going to go out there for two pitches or two innings or two games in a row or two weeks in a row." The Mariners are not the youngest team in baseball. They travel a ton. Fatigue is a factor, especially late in the season. Those are reasons why bench players are so important. They are all reasons why the Mariners made getting Colbrunn their top priority once they re-signed their own free agents. Colbrunn, who played last season in Arizona where Melvin was the bench coach, comes with solid statistics. He's a lifetime .291 hitter. He's a lifetime .319 pinch hitter. He hit .368 with seven home runs against lefties last season. Now he's part of a deep and talented bench that Melvin hopes will give him the upper hand in late-game situations. The new skipper can dictate a lot of what goes on with opposing pitchers when he can choose to send up Mabry (lefty), McLemore (switch hitter) or Colbrunn (righty). "Our role players," Melvin said, "will be the strength of our team." Colbrunn began his career in 1992 with the Montreal Expos. He played fairly regularly in 1995 and '96 with the Florida Marlins, but for the most part, being a bench guy -- a utility player, a pinch-hitter, whatever -- has been his thing. "You accept it," he says, "but do I love it? No. I think you sell yourself short if you're not trying to be an everyday player. You should want to be in the lineup." Still, Colbrunn knows the value of a good utility man, pointing out the contributions of new teammate Mabry and guys like San Diego's Dave Hansen and the Chicago Cubs' Lenny Harris. And Colbrunn recognizes that the best managers realize their importance, too. So he takes his job seriously, always trying to be one move ahead of the manager so he is ready when the call comes. He will look at the schedule and the pitchers the Mariners will face to get an idea of when he might start. And, during a game, he'll pay close attention to situations and pitch counts so he can prepare for a pinch-hit appearance. "It takes time to see that, to see things happen before they happen," he says. "But that's the plan. To be ready when they call you."
The luckless PadresThe Padres are staring down the near-certainty of another losing season after a spring full of injuries has sapped them of any optimism they had. Manager Bruce Bochy still thinks his guys have a chance in a competitive National League West. But he's realistic, too, almost to a fault. "Sometimes you wonder why the only luck we have is bad luck," Bochy says. "But you move on." Wednesday, the Padres traded outfielder Bubba Trammell and a promising minor league pitcher to the New York Yankees for Rondell White. The deal works in a couple of ways for San Diego. First, it frees up the Padres from shelling out nearly $5 million in salary for Trammell next year, when the Padres are expected to make a run at some big-name free agents (maybe Oakland's Miguel Tejada, it is reported, or the Seibu Lions' Kazuo Matsui). Secondly, and more important for this season, White plugs immediately into the left-field spot that Phil Nevin vacated when he fell on his shoulder earlier this spring, knocking him out for the season. White will be in left, Mark Kotsay in center and, very possibly, rookie Xavier Nady in right. "We're gonna miss Bubba," Bochy said. "But Rondell gives us someone who can hit fourth or fifth in our lineup, play every day, drive in some runs, gives us some experience, coming from a winning team …" White probably will hit fifth most of the time. Over the course of his career, he hits .314 in the middle of the lineup (at Nos. 3, 4 or 5). Even with White around, the Padres are painfully young -- not to mention just plain pained. The team that set a major-league record last season by using 59 players, largely because of injury, is off to another gimpy start. Besides Nevin, closer Trevor Hoffman is out until at least July after shoulder surgery. Three other pitchers -- Jay Witasick, Jaret Wright and Kevin Jarvis -- are banged up and may not be available for opening day. Ryan Klesko and Sean Burroughs are hurting. Pitcher Charles Nagy took a liner off his hand Wednesday night. And the Padres still are having trouble defensively. Only six teams had a lower fielding percentage last season. Only one, the Cincinnati Reds, have made more errors this spring than San Diego. That's something this team just can't afford. "It's vital. It's gonna be our season," Bochy said. "We have to play better than everyone else. Our margin of error is not like other teams."
Mixing it upMajor League Baseball's decision to cancel the season-opening series in Japan between the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners threw a bit of a curve into the Cactus League schedule. With the A's and the Mariners suddenly needing some games, MLB released a new schedule that affected a lot of other teams. The two teams will stay in Arizona through at least March 27. They were originally scheduled to leave Wednesday for Tokyo for a series of exhibition games against Japanese teams and the two-game MLB opener on March 25 and 26. The A's and Mariners, as it works out, will still open the season against each other. On April 1, the Mariners will be in Oakland to start a two-game series. Barry Zito had been slated as the opening day starter for the Japan series, but the opener no longer falls on his scheduled day, which means Tim Hudson probably will get the start. Seattle gets its home opener a week later, on April 8, against the Anaheim Angels.
Camping outBochy, on witnessing Nevin's dive in the outfield in which he separated his shoulder, putting him out for the season: "I knew it when it happened. I just put my head down and said 'You gotta be kidding me' … The Diamondbacks, going into Wednesday night's game in Peoria against the Padres, lead the Cactus League with 13 wins and are on pace for the best spring in their history. In five previous springs, the Diamondbacks have never been under .500 and last year were 23-12-1. It doesn't count, granted, but it sure beats 1-12-23 … White is scheduled to be in a San Diego uniform by Friday … Mets catcher Mike Piazza says he'll probably appeal the five-game suspension for charging the mound last week after being hit by a pitch from the Dodgers' Guillermo Mota … … For the second straight spring, Arizona's Curt Schilling is not pitching against National League West rivals, refusing to let them see him before the season begins. The Spring Training Buzz appears every Monday and Thursday until Opening Day. John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com. Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here. |
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