Challenging times

Hidalgo has to rebound from poor seasons and being shot

Richard Hidalgo walked into the office of Houston GM Gerry Hunsicker on Monday morning with a bullet wound in his left forearm and lingering thoughts about how he had nearly died last week. "He was thankful he was still here," Hunsicker said.

Once among the brightest young stars in baseball, Hidalgo was shot in Venezuela last week, the victim of a carjacking. Now he must overcome the mental trauma and physical injury of the shooting in addition to trying to pull his career out of a severe tailspin. Hidalgo suffered muscle and nerve damage that the Astros don't believe will endanger his 2003 season, though team doctors will monitor his condition closely in the coming weeks.

In two years' time, Hidalgo sank from a star who had slugged 44 homers at age 25 to a musclebound strikeout machine. He hit .154 after June last year, with just two homers and seven RBIs in 117 at-bats. Since the Astros signed him to a four-year, $32 million contract in January 2001, Hildalgo has hit .258 with 34 homers in 900 at-bats.

There are 26 outfielders on the free-agent market. Take your pick of them -- Cliff Floyd? Steve Finley? Reggie Sanders? -- none have the up side of the fallen and forgotten Hidalgo.

"I think Richard can be our best free-agent signing,'' Hunsicker said. "That's the way I look at Richard: like adding a player."

The best news for Hunsicker when he saw Hidalgo on Monday was that the outfielder appeared trim and in good shape. Hidalgo said he weighed 220 pounds, his weight in 2000 when he had his breakout season. His troubles began after that.

"He did it for the right reasons, but Richard decided he had to get even bigger and stronger than he was before to prove to everyone he could hit more home runs," Hunsicker said. "That's the kind of kid he is. He's very dedicated. Unfortunately, he got involved in a program that was probably the worst thing he could have done. It was pretty obvious that he had lost a lot of flexibility and agility because of the muscle mass he added during the winter."

It is not an uncommon story in baseball; young slugger gets enamored with home runs and muscles and gets too big. The Astros gave Hidalgo a training program to get him back into baseball shape, but Hunsicker said, "It's a lot harder taking off muscle mass than fat." Hidalgo was also slowed last season by a strained hip flexor.

Hidalgo, who doesn't turn 28 until July, still has plenty of time to get back on track. The Astros are thinking now might be a good time for that to happen. They still owe him $22 million for the next two seasons, including a buyout for 2005. If the team does pick up that option, it would have to pay him $15 million that season. And the only way that happens is if Hidalgo plays like he did in 2000.

Hidalgo's name came up in trade discussions with Colorado regarding pitcher Mike Hampton, but Hunsicker isn't ready to give up on his outfielder yet, not even after a harrowing experience that gives Hidalgo even more to overcome.

"My preference is to see Richard re-establish himself as a Houston Astro," the GM said. "He's one of the best talents ever to come out of our Venezuelan academy. He's a role model who a lot of our young Latin players look up to. He's a tremendous talent and a great kid."

When playing experience is not required

So you want to run a major league team? Don't bother playing major league ball, or even minor league ball, for that matter. With Theo Epstein, 28, being named the Red Sox's general manager on Monday, and with the Baltimore job still considered open, here are the paths the 29 current general managers took to their front office seats:

Played in majors: 3
Played in minors: 9
Never played pro ball: 17

The only three GMs with big-league playing time are Billy Beane (Oakland), Kenny Williams (Chicago) and Bill Stoneman (Angels). Stoneman became the first former player since Bob Watson (Yankees) in 1996 to win the World Series as a GM. It should not be a surprise that the job of running the day-to-day operations of franchises worth hundreds of millions of dollars should more often fall to people with backgrounds in law and business than to those with experience wearing a protective cup.

So how will Epstein fare? No one questions his passion and intellect for the game. What no one is certain about, however, are the skills he has for managing people, building and running a scouting and development system, employing the resources of advisors, establishing and communicating an organizational philosophy, and the hundreds of other responsibilities for the person who becomes the point man for an organization. Only time will reveal his skills in those areas. Dave Dombrowski, Jim Bowden and Brian Cashman -- who were all hired in their early 30's -- were quick studies and succeeded despite their relative inexperience. Reviews were more mixed for Randy Smith, who ascended to the job of Padres' GM in 1993 at 29.

Epstein has all the tools to succeed quickly, especially if he makes wise use of the elder baseball men around him. Many observers of the game, however, believe his latitude will be restrained by president and chief executive Larry Lucchino.

"A veteran [GM] who is used to a level of autonomy would have a hard time with [Lucchino]," one NL executive said. "Epstein is the perfect guy because Lucchino can mold and manipulate him as he grows into the job. What's happening is more of these kinds of [executives] are taking over baseball, and because of that the GM position has been watered down. Look at the Mets with Fred Wilpon. He's more involved now than ever without Nelson Doubleday there. He's brought his son into it. It's happening more and more in baseball."

Major awards include rare winners

The American League MVP and Cy Young Awards provided the most controversy among the postseason prizes, even though the results were not exactly close. Just how stunning was it that Miguel Tejada won the AL MVP and Pedro Martinez lost the Cy Young? Here is some historical perspective.

Tejada won the MVP even though he didn't rank in the top 10 in his league in slugging percentage or on-base percentage. How rare is that? Among the 145 MVPs in history, Tejada became only the eighth player to fail to land in the top 10 in either category. Here are the others::

Year	Player	Position
1931	Frankie Frisch	2B
1944	Marty Marion	SS
1962	Maury Wills	SS
1964	Ken Boyer	3B
1965	Zoilo Versalles	SS
1976	Thurman Munson	C
2001	Ichiro Suzuki	OF
2002	Miguel Tejada	SS

Note that Suzuki is the only outfielder on the list (a reminder of the oversight of Jason Giambi in 2001.) Suzuki, though, won the stolen base championship and a Gold Glove. Likewise, Frisch, Wills and Versalles also won Gold Gloves, stolen base titles or both. Voters noted the speed and defensive elements of their game. That leaves only four MVPs out of 145 who didn't place in the top 10 in on-base or slugging percentage or stolen bases or didn't win the Gold Glove: Marion (whose MVP season predated Gold Gloves), Boyer, Munson and Tejada.

Martinez's loss to Barry Zito in the AL Cy Young Award voting was even more rare. Since the Cy Young was first handed out in 1956, only two pitchers have won 20 games and led their league in ERA, strikeouts and winning percentage (relievers excluded): Sandy Koufax and Pedro Martinez. Each did it twice. And how did the voting come out in those years? Take a look:

Year	Pitcher	Voting Result
1963	Sandy Koufax	won unanimously
1965	Sandy Koufax	won unanimously
1999	Pedro Martinez	won unanimously
2002	Pedro Martinez	second place

Extra bases

At $17 million over four years, third baseman David Bell is highly unlikely to turn into a bargain for the Phillies. The first significant free agent to sign this winter is a solid player but has what scouts call a "limited ceiling." It's not as if he'll suddenly blossom into a 30-home run, 100-RBI hitter. But Bell is a quality addition to any team. The Giants were so enamored with Bell, in fact, that they offered him $16 million over four years. Said assistant GM Ned Colletti, "Of the hundreds and hundreds of players you get to know in the course of this job, there are a handful that stick out. David Bell sticks out because of the way he went about his business and the quality person that he is.". . .

The Giants, by the way, may have to move one of their starting pitchers, such as Russ Ortiz, to get an outfielder, but it won't be for Cardinals outfielder J.D. Drew. Some reports suggest that Drew, who underwent offseason knee surgery, might not be ready until June. . . .

Tom Glavine has been dogged by rumors that he wears down at the end of the season, mostly because he was 2-3 with a 4.83 ERA in September last year. But Glavine is one of the hardest-working pitchers in the game, a guy who takes pride in his conditioning program. And in 24 regular-season starts in September and October since he turned 33 four years ago, Glavine is 11-9 with a 3.33 ERA . . .

Representing himself, Jamie Moyer is a fallback possibility for Philadelphia if the Phillies don't sign Glavine. The Yankees have also expressed interest in Moyer, who ranked eighth in the majors in innings pitched last season and is 105-49 since 1996. New York, however, would prefer to get a young power arm and will wait to find out about the availability of Montreal's Bartolo Colon or Javier Vasquez and Cuban defector Jose Contreras, 31, who throws in the mid-90's and probably will break the record of Danys Baez ($14.5 million over four years) for the largest contract given a Cuban defector -- that is, once he officially establishes residency outside of the United States.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers baseball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

 

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