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Roger that Cedeno gets Rickey's seal of approval
As Rickey Henderson closes in on 3,000 hits and prepares to blow past Ty Cobb atop the all-time runs list, the question arises: Can any of Henderson's records can be challenged? The career walks record, for which he passed Babe Ruth earlier this year? Potentially, but not likely. The career stolen base record? Forget it. Rickey has put that one into the stratosphere. Someone like Alex Rodriguez could make a run at the runs record, but it will take another decade and a half of solid production. The one record Rickey holds that could possibly be approached, according to the man himself, is the single-season stolen base mark of 130, set in 1982. He even has the man for the job: Tigers outfielder Roger Cedeno. Those two speedsters spent the 1999 season playing together with the New York Mets. Cedeno, thanks to the expert tutoring of Henderson, stole 66 bags that year, falling six shy of Tony Womack's league-leading total. Until running afoul of Tigers manager Phil Garner earlier this month (sound familiar?), Cedeno was on pace to post the American League's highest stolen-base total since 1998, when Henderson stole 66 for the Oakland A's. Entering the weekend, it appeared Ichiro Suzuki was going to overtake Cedeno, who remains in Garner's doghouse, and keep him from notching his first stolen-base title. Nonetheless, Henderson believes Cedeno, 27, could go even higher someday, perhaps even high enough to challenge a mark that has stood for 19 years and counting. "I do feel that Roger Cedeno is the one guy that could do it," Henderson said. "He's the one that could possibly set the record, and I taught him a lot. I'd be proud." Henderson sees a lot of himself in Cedeno, who turned down a three-year, $13.5 million contract extension from the Tigers this summer and has fallen out of the club's immediate and future plans. According to reports, Cedeno is hoping to get upwards of $25 million on the open market this winter, and with the dearth of quality leadoff hitters in today's game, not to mention Rickey's endorsement -- he just might do it. "He's a great base stealer," Henderson said. "He wants to steal bases, and when he gets out there he's not afraid. I feel he's a guy that could steal 100 bases and I think he'd have a shot to get the record. He's a pretty good hitter, he knows how to get on base and bunts well. The biggest thing is just to be healthy and play every day. That's the main thing, staying healthy that long. He's my long-shot guy."
What about Bobby?With a little more than one week left in the regular season, just three players -- all right fielders -- were on track for 30-homer, 30-stolen base seasons. Expos star Vladimir Guerrero had already made it into the 30/30 club. Raul Mondesi of the Blue Jays was at 27 homers and 28 steals. Rising Phillies star Bobby Abreu, who needed two more homers to go with his 36 stolen bases, was the other. He's trying to become the first player in franchise history to accomplish that rare feat. Abreu was hitting just .230 on May 24 with seven homers and 24 RBIs. That's when he took off. Entering Friday's play Abreu was one of just four players in the majors with at least 100 runs, 100 RBIs and 100 walks. The others are all former MVPs: Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa. "I still think he's one of most underrated players in the game," one major league scout said. "I've got him in our grading system as a perennial All-Star. That's the type of player he is. He's more consistent as a right fielder than Guerrero. He doesn't have quite the power in his arm, but he's more accurate and he covers a lot of ground. "He can run, steal bases, he's got power. I don't think people in baseball or the media realize how good this guy is. Most guys don't even mention him. There's no flair about him. There are no Nike or milk or Wheaties commercials. He just goes out and plays. He hits over .300 every year, drives in his 100 runs. I love the guy." Best of all, at 27, Abreu is just coming into his prime. He carries a Career batting average of .306 and a career on-base percentage of .408. Phillies batting coach Richie Hebner sees the potential for Abreu's numbers to go much higher. Hebner even compares Abreu to one of his former teammates, another left-handed hitting outfielder who won the NL batting title in 1982. " Al Oliver, that's who [Abreu] reminds me of," Hebner said. "Al could use the whole field. Al could take the 2-0, 3-1 pitch into the cheap seats. He didn't really try to hit home runs, but if he got a pitch he could drive, he'd drive it. This guy is the same way." Oliver finished his career with more than 2,700 hits and a career .303 Batting average. Abreu, at this rate, could take his talent even farther.
Sour luckHere's a staggering statistic: Right-hander Rocky Biddle (shoulder) recently became the 12th White Sox pitcher to have surgery since last September and the ninth to have surgery that ended his 2001 season.The others out for this year: right-handers Bill Simas (elbow), Cal Eldred (elbow), Antonio Osuna (shoulder), Lorenzo Barcelo (shoulder) and Jon Rauch (shoulder); and left-handers David Wells (back), Jim Parque (shoulder) and Kelly Wunsch (shoulder). White Sox general manager Ken Williams says his staff has assessed the run of pitching injuries and chalked it up to lousy luck more than any faulty training methods. "You definitely have to self analyze, and that's what we've done," Williams said. "We had our doctors in and the training staff, the conditioning people and we all bantered about it. I'm very careful and really very defensive and protective of our staff in that area. We've been so good for so long." Club research shows that for the 10-year period through last season, the White Sox had the second-best track record of keeping players off the disabled list. Only the Twins kept their players healthier on average. Mike Berardino covers the baseball beat for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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