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Inside baseball
Posted: Tuesday December 14, 1999 02:48 PM The Hot Corner Why the Reds won't part with Pokey Reese -- even for Junior By Tom Verducci
Reds general manager Jim Bowden estimated that he invested nearly five hours a day for five weeks trying to obtain Ken Griffey Jr. in a trade with the Mariners. "My personal favorite player," he calls the Seattle centerfielder. Bowden knew it could be one of those seismic, franchise-changing acquisitions, as Mark McGwire was for the Cardinals, Nolan Ryan was for the Astros and Babe Ruth was for the Yankees. Bowden considered every option that might make the deal happen -- every option, that is, but the notion of giving up a 180-pound middle infielder with a .258 career batting average.
Bowden never did refer to Reese by name, saying only that he and Seattle G.M. Pat Gillick moved "not a centimeter" over the past five weeks in their talks because "we just couldn't get past that particular player." Several sources said Gillick kept asking for package after package that started with Reese -- the last of which also included righthanded reliever Scott Williamson, the 1999 National League Rookie of the Year; lefthanded pitching prospect Ty Howington, the Reds' No. 1 draft pick this year; and highly regarded shortstop prospect Travis Dawkins. Bowden kept saying no, and by Saturday he'd had enough. Until last week Reese, 26, was known, if at all, as a Gold Glove second baseman who wore cornrows last season to honor Allen Iverson, his favorite NBA player, and who enjoyed a quiet breakout season (his third in the majors but first playing full time) with modest numbers at the plate: a .285 average, 10 home runs, 52 RBIs, 38 stolen bases in 45 attempts and a .330 on-base percentage -- 12 points worse than the league average. He finished 10th at his position in All-Star balloting. More important than Reese's past is his future: The Reds view him as the possible replacement for 35-year-old shortstop Barry Larkin. (Cincinnati offered Larkin to other clubs at the winter meetings.) The team's brass believes Reese is superior in range, throwing arm and reliability to the Mets' Rey Ordoñez, generally regarded as baseball's best defensive shortstop. "He's better than Larkin -- way better," says one National League manager of Reese. "I wouldn't have put him in a deal for Griffey, either. He's that good. He's going to hit for average, steal bases, play hard and be the best fielding shortstop in the game. And he's still young." Another manager, the Diamondbacks' Buck Showalter, says, "I thought there were two or three games this year when the Reds beat us just because of Pokey Reese, especially on defense. I know [writers and fans] talked about the Gold Glove being a toss-up between [the Mets'] Edgardo Alfonzo and Pokey Reese. Everybody in baseball knew it was no contest. He's that good." He'd better be, lest he join those infamously unworthy of such precious treatment -- the likes of centerfielder Jim Edmonds (whom the Angels wouldn't give up to get McGwire) and righthander Jaret Wright (whom the Indians wouldn't ship to the Expos to land Pedro Martinez). "That's not pressure," Reese says. "Getting to the big leagues -- that was pressure. If people want to ask me about it, that's fine. They can come at me all they want. But they should talk to Jim Bowden. It wasn't me who didn't make the trade. I'm just honored to be mentioned in the same sentence as Ken Griffey. And I hope we get to see me, Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey playing up the middle." That still may very well happen. Brian Goldberg, the agent for Griffey, said on Sunday that his client would use his contractual right to block potential trades to all teams but Cincinnati, undercutting Gillick's efforts to create a market in talks with the Cardinals, Indians, Mets and Pirates.
Powering Down: The new cleanup hitter for the Rockies, Jeff Cirillo, has never hit more than 15 home runs or driven in more than 88 runs in a season, modest power levels he reached in 1999 for the Brewers. Recently hired Colorado general manager Dan O'Dowd expects that to change. His computer analysis, based on a three-year study of Coors Field's effect on hitters, estimates that if Cirillo had played last season for the Rockies, he would have hit 25 homers and driven in 115 runs. O'Dowd's program also projects a .353 batting average (up from .326), .425 on-base percentage (from .401) and .517 slugging percentage (from .461). While those numbers are conjecture, O'Dowd's whirlwind makeover of the Rockies is decidedly real. The choreographer of a complex four-team, nine-player trade on Monday, O'Dowd has morphed Colorado -- last in the National League West in '99 with a 72-90 record -- from a slow, slugging ball club to one he calls "more of a multidimensional team." In a span of 43 days O'Dowd traded, sold or released 12 players from his 40-man roster while adding 15. O'Dowd has picked up fleet outfielders who can cover Coors Field's expansive lawn (Tom Goodwin and Jeffrey Hammonds); young, hard-throwing starters who keep the ball down (righties Rolando Arrojo, Manny Aybar and Jose Jimenez); and Cirillo. In the Monday deal Colorado sent third baseman Vinny Castilla to the Devil Rays. Castilla, 32, bombed 159 homers over the past four years, but the Rockies were concerned by last season's 44-point drop in his batting average (to .275) and declining range at third. Castilla can demand a trade after next season, though the Devil Rays hope to sign him to an extension. "With Vinny Castilla, Fred McGriff and Jose Canseco" -- and Greg Vaughn, whom the Devil Rays signed on Monday evening -- "we're heading toward being an American League club," says G.M. Chuck LaMar of his team's power base. Last season only the Twins (105) hit fewer homers than the Devil Rays (145). Meanwhile, under O'Dowd and new manager Buddy Bell, the erstwhile Blake Street Bombers will emphasize situational hitting, on-base percentage and defense to try to catch up with the West champion Diamondbacks, who finished 28 games ahead of the Rockies. "I'm not going to say how much ground we've closed on them," says O'Dowd, whose most recent previous post was as the Indians' director of baseball operations and assistant general manager from 1993 to '98. "We're just trying to push this in the right direction. Erstwhile Rangers third baseman Todd Zeile happily bolted for the Mets and the National League partly because he was fed up with the glacial pace and slugfest mentality of the American League. "If the people in Texas hadn't been so nice, it would have been a no-brainer," said free agent Zeile, who last Saturday accepted a three-year, $18 million contract to play first base in New York. The Rangers will look at free agents Ed Sprague and Tony Fernandez , as well as rookie Mike Lamb , as possible replacements for Zeile at third.... Though the Cubs traded utility infielder Manny Alexander to get outfielder Damon Buford from the Red Sox, don't expect Buford to be Chicago's every-day centerfielder. The Cubs are looking for a lefthanded hitter to share the job with him, such as the Marlins' Todd Dunwoody . Whoever patrols center in Wrigley Field is merely holding the position for one year, when hot prospect Corey Patterson is expected to be ready.... The Cubs also prospered last week from the Dodgers' urge to trim their bloated payroll by getting talented 26-year-old righthander Ismael Valdes and second baseman Eric Young from L.A. for erratic righty reliever Terry Adams , minor league pitcher Chad Ricketts and a player to be named later. Los Angeles, which will save at least $8.5 million next season with the deal, insisted that whoever wanted Valdes would have to take Young and the $9 million owed him over the next two years. After the Rangers balked at trading righty reliever Jeff Zimmerman to Los Angeles, the Cubs took less than 48 hours to move on Valdes.... The Braves are so encouraged by the health of Andres Galarraga that they expect him to be their Opening Day first baseman next April after missing all of 1999 while undergoing treatment for bone cancer. Galarraga is cleared to resume batting practice this month.
Issue date: December 20, 1999
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