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Where's the love? Mussina may be gone, but he's not forgetting
Updated: Friday March 30, 2001 4:45 PM
Mike Mussina keeps digging the knife deeper into his old organization. With each new opportunity to tell his story this spring, the Orioles' departed ace has cited recruiting calls this winter from Yankees manager Joe Torre and several New York players as a key factor in his decision to leave Baltimore as a free agent after 10 seasons. Orioles vice president of baseball operations Syd Thrift and manager Mike Hargrove take exception to that. "We shouldn't have to call," Hargrove told me. "I've never called one of my guys that was a free agent, because when they left the club, I made sure they knew how I felt about them. I had two 45-minute meetings [with Mussina], I know [Thrift] had at least three one-hour conversations with Mike Mussina the last week of the season. Syd even called and talked to him during the winter and said how much we wanted him back." This remains a hot-button issue with Thrift as well. Remember, he failed to last even one season working under George Steinbrenner in 1989. The last thing the 72-year-old baseball lifer wants to hear is how much better things are in the Bronx than at Camden Yards. "I don't have an ax to grind with Mussina," Thrift told me. "I just resent all this stuff that puts this almighty team over here, the same almighty team we beat their ass three in a row in our stadium [last September] and they had to stay in our clubhouse and decide where they were going to go [for the division series]. So if they think we're going to lay down and roll over for them, they're full of [baloney]. You hear my words?" Kotsay due for breakout year?That was quite a gamble the Marlins took this week, including right fielder Mark Kotsay in the deal with the Padres for scatter-armed right-hander Matt Clement and outfielder Eric Owens. "They're going for it," one scout told me. "They want to win right now." Watching Kotsay these past three years was like viewing one continuous how-to video: fielding, throwing, running, situational hitting -- the guy did everything the way it's supposed to be done. And they don't come any classier either. No matter how well his replacements fare, Kotsay will be missed in South Florida. Padres manager Bruce Bochy compares Kotsay to former San Diego outfielder Steve Finley, calling him "a ballplayer." That's fitting, since Kotsay has long identified with Finley, who never hit more than 11 homers in a season until his eighth year in the big leagues. Over the last five years, Finley has averaged 28 homers, with a high of 35 last year. The Orioles and Astros both gave up on Finley before he blossomed into a full-fledged run producer. Some scouts think the same thing will happen for Kotsay. The question is when. This will be Kotsay's fourth full season in the majors. Just 25, he's coming off a career-best 12-homer year. His 48 extra-base hits were a career high as well, but those numbers are downright puny in these pumped-up offensive times.
Royals' Brown going home again -- he hopesScheduling may have played a role in Dee Brown's huge spring for Kansas City. Brown, a five-tool outfield prospect who has alternately thrilled and perplexed the organization, circled his pocket schedule at the start of spring training. Brown noticed the Royals opened their season with three games at Yankee Stadium, their only trip to the Bronx this year under the unbalanced schedule. He then went out and hit better than .350 and, in the words of manager Tony Muser, "has probably earned the right to make this team." Brown, who just turned 23, grew up a huge Yankees fan. He remembers making his first pilgrimage to Yankee Stadium at the age of four. His mother took him and they sat with the Bleacher Creatures for $3 a seat. Brown's family moved upstate when he was 8, but he got back to Yankee Stadium as often as he could. Ask him how far he lived from the ballpark and he smiles. "Fifty-five minutes -- I had it timed," he told me. "All my friends were Mets fans, I was the only Yankee fan. We'd go back and forth about who was better, [Dave] Winfield or Darryl [Strawberry]. Man, I hated Darryl. Winfield was my man." His last Yankees' game came on Father's Day 1996. The Indians were in town, and Brown remembers how boisterous the rooting section was for Manny Ramirez, who grew up in nearby Washington Heights. "I remember all his family being there," Brown said. "They were all cheering for Manny. I remember thinking, that's going to be me when I come back." On Monday Brown could get his wish. Mike Berardino covers the baseball beat for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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