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Long-term investment Giants hope Schmidt is more than a two-month rental
Updated: Saturday August 11, 2001 9:52 PM
When the San Francisco Giants acquired Wilson Alvarez and Roberto Hernandez from the White Sox for the 1997 stretch drive, Chicago regarded the pitchers as classic rentals they had little hope of re-signing. This time around the Giants are hoping their latest pennant race addition, right-hander Jason Schmidt will stay a while longer. Schmidt is eligible for free agency after this season. Giants assistant GM Ned Colletti met last weekend with one of Schmidt's agents for a discussion Colletti termed "real informal." The Giants have a recent history of getting long-term deals done during the season -- Kirk Reuter, Robb Nen, J.T. Snow and Jeff Kent, for example -- but as Colletti said, "All of them were established Giants. They knew what the team and the people were all about." The Giants want Schmidt to get comfortable with the organization over the next two months. A Washington native, Schmidt gets to be on the West Coast for the first time in his career and the Giants get to see how he performs when it counts.
Meanwhile, even though the Giants have traded young pitching in recent years (Nate Bump, Jason Grilli, Ryan Vogelsong, Bobby Howry, Keith Foulke), they like what's developing in their system. Top prospect Kurt Ainsworth could be up for the playoff push (he likely would be in the rotation already if not for the Schmidt trade) and Jerome Williams (back on track at Class AA Shreveport after missing time in spring training) is still regarded as a future ace.
Houston's GambitUnlike the Giants and Schmidt, the Astros have a very different view of Pedro Astacio. Houston's move to get Astacio for the stretch drive was a bold move, considering it meant giving up Scott Elarton, who won 17 games as a 24 year old last year. What makes the trade even riskier for the Astros is that they made it with no expectations of keeping Astacio beyond this season. The right-hander does have an option for next year at $9 million, but that number is too high for the Astros. They're more interested in another number: the $1 million buyout that would make Astacio a free agent. In anticipation of that move, the Rockies agreed to kick in $500,000 -- or half the buyout --as part of the trade. The Astros still feel good about trading from their deep pool of young pitchers. Houston may be on the best run of any organization as far as turning up arms. The height of their riches may have been at the end of the 1997 season, a year they lost to the Atlanta Braves in the Division Series. At the time, all of the following pitchers were in the Houston organization: Elarton, Daryl Kile, Mike Hampton, Freddy Garcia, John Halama, Shane Reynolds, Wade Miller, Jose Lima, Billy Wagner, Roy Oswalt, Tim Redding, Tony McKnight and Jose Cabrera. That kind of talent is reminiscent of the caches held by the Mets and Royals in the '80s.
The Lineup
Paul LoDuca has been a highly unusual success story for the Dodgers. It's not every season you see a 5-foot-9 catcher, who was drafted in the 25th round and invested eight years in the minors, get his first chance to play every day in the bigs at age 29 -- and tear it up. But here's something else that makes LoDuca a rarity in today's game: He combines power with the ability to consistently make contact. LoDuca was one of 78 players in the majors who began this week with at least 15 home runs. None of them had struck out fewer times than LoDuca, whose 17 home runs and 19 strikeouts are truly Berra-esque. Yogi Berra, that more famous squatty backstop, finished his career with 358 home runs and 414 strikeouts. In five seasons Berra had more homers than whiffs: 1950 (28 homers, 12 whiffs), 1951 (27, 20), 1952 (30, 24), 1955 (27, 20), and 1956 (30, 29). Here are the only players who started this week with at least 15 home runs and fewer than 50 strikeouts.
Rays: Not Done Yet?The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are glad to have moved the salaries of Fred McGriff, Albie Lopez and Mike DeFelice, but the team that now is the youngest in the big leagues hopes its cost cutting isn't over. Outfielder Greg Vaughn and catcher John Flaherty may be the next to go, assuming another club wants to take on their contracts. Vaughn has $17.95 million owed him in 2002 and 2003, when he turns 38 ($7.95 million of that is deferred). Flaherty is scheduled to make $3.25 million next year (half of which is deferred). Even though the trading deadline has passed, Vaughn and Flaherty are exactly the kind of players likely to pass through waivers -- veterans who aren't living up to big contracts, but who might respond to a pennant race. That's how Jose Canseco wound up with the Yankees last season. New York, fearful a rival club might trade for Canseco, put in a waiver claim to scuttle such a deal, but the Devil Rays simply let the Yankees take him off their hands. Randy Myers wound up with San Diego under the same scenario in 1998.
Oakland's Mr. ReliableThe A's are on a roll, and let there be no question as to where their prolonged success begins. It starts with Tim Hudson, 26, the youngest true ace in the big leagues. With apologies to Kerry Wood, Bartolo Colon and A.J. Burnett, who haven't mastered the art of strike-throwing well enough to ascend to pitching's ultimate rank, Hudson is the real deal. He's overcome a spotty April to once again establish himself as a pitcher who is as reliable as anyone in baseball. Entering this week, Oakland was 15-3 when Hudson took the ball -- ever since his rough first month, that is. What happened early in the season? Hudson's control was off and he was getting hurt by home runs. For instance, when he was 2-3 in April Hudson averaged 4.5 walks per nine innings and gave up six home runs in six starts. Since then, Hudson has allowed only 2.2 walks per nine innings and six homers in 18 starts. Hudson's command, ability to make pitches with runners on base, and sparkling winning percentage are all reminiscent of a young Mike Mussina, who also earned the title of ace very quickly. After three seasons and 496 1/3 innings, Mussina was 36-16 (.692) with a 3.25 ERA in 69 games. After 505 innings, Hudson is 44-14 (.759) with a 3.55 ERA in 77 games. He also has something Mussina still doesn't: a 20-win season. Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers the baseball beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his baseball mailbag.
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