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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1997)
Wednesday* Page 9 March 26, 1997 Baltimore looks to unseed New York \ v. /1, Jeremy Furtick Senior journalism major BALTIMORE ORIOLES Baltimore was everyone’s pick to go all the ay last preseason. But all of the new faces ac- [lired from the free agent market didn’t set right [the bat. It wasn’t until late July that the Ori- |es dimbed back in to the Wild Card race they ould eventually win. The only thing Baltimore | mldn’t overcome was their lack of balance, and at brings us to 1997. The most talked about topic in Oriole camp is spring has been the move of Cal Ripken Jr. to lird base to make room for Mike Bordick at lort stop. Ripken fans are hysterical about the ove, but the Orioles and Ripken aren’t. Bordick perfect for this team and is the missing link to [powerhouse. Six-time Gold Glover Roberto lomar returns to second and baseball’s most nderrated player, Rafael Palmeiro, stays at first Iffensively and defensively this is the best infield )the league, and then add Chris Hoiles at catch- rand it still looks nice. Eric Davis was the other big signing of the rinter. He will replace error-prone Bobby Bonil- i in the outfield. One-year wonder Brady An- [erson and budding star Tony Tarasco finish out pe outfield. Pete Incaviglia and B.J. Surhoff hould split time at designated hitter. Mike Mussina will once again be the ace of a Jtarting rotation that added Jimmy Key and jhawn Boskie in the winter. Those two veterans irobably will help take some pressure off Scott Irickson and Rocky Coppinger, who both are jotential No. 2 starters. Randy Myers remains |s the closer and Alan Mills will be healthy this fear to set him up. The biggest addition to the Jtaff might not be a pitcher at all, but will be pitching coach Ray Miller, who worked under llormer manager EarlWeaver during Baltimore’s |®®ory years of the early ‘80s. This team won’t challenge for the home run frown like it did last year, but it will pitch better, leld better and play fundamental baseball better nan last year’s squad. The Orioles could be scary. Projected Record: 98-64 key Series: Sept. 4-7 @ New York Yankees; %. 11-14 vs. New York Yankees: Last month of iheseason, tight division race going right down lothe wire, eight games against second-place New York in 11 days — this is the stuff of which "I baseball is made. Baltimore will be in the driver’s seat going into this stretch. If they want to win i division, they need to take at least five of tese games from the Yanks. NEWYORKYANKEES The World Series Champs better not bask in 4>eir triumph too long, or they may end up in a bole from which they can’t climb out. New York ifas so caught up in their championship, they forgot to re-sign some of the key players who got liem there. Problem No. 1 — Too many outfielders, not m enough spots. This isn’t softball — what is Joe Torre going to do with Bernie Williams, Tim Raines, Paul O’Niell, Darryl Strawberry, Mark Whiten and future superstar Ruben Rivera? They all can play, but the only thing worse the Yankees could do to add to the clubhouse tension would be to trade for the self-centered Rick ey Henderson. Problem No. 2 - Wade Boggs and Charlie Hayes will be a terrible pla toon at third. Just because Hayes caught the last out of the World Se ries doesn’t mean he should get to start over a fu ture Hall of Famer and career .300 hitter. Rookie of the Year Derek Jeter will return to short with Mariano Duncan at second, Tino Martinez at first and Joe Girardi catching. Oh yeah, Cecil Fielder is still around to make sure there will be four former All-Stars on the bench at all times. Problem No. 3 — David Wells is supposed to fill in for Jimmy Key but can’t seem to stay out of bar room brawls in the off-season. He will miss the start of the season with a broken hand. Andy Pettite and David Cone are back to bring some respectability to a rotation that is count ing on Kenny Rogers and Dwight Gooden to boost the staff. Problem No. 4 — Mariano Rivera made New York’s bullpen the league’s best last season, but as a set-up man, not a closer. If he can’t cut it as the fireman then either Graeme Lloyd, Mike Stanton or Jeff Nelson will have to step in from middle relief to try their hand at it. The Yankees had unique team chemistry last season that will be difficult to re-create, espe cially with their already-bloated egos letting a shot of championship get into their veins. Projected Record: 92-70 Key Series: Sept. 4-7 vs. Baltimore Orioles; Sept. 11 -14 @ Baltimore Orioles: See Above. This is where New York gets to prove if they are really champions or just last October’s hottest team. TORONTO BLUE JAYS It didn’t take Toronto long to completely re build their 1992-93 World Series team into a 1997 contender. There will be only two faces in the starting lineup from the ‘93 team, Joe Carter and Ed Sprague, but Toronto should contend for the Wild Card. Carlos Garcia (second), Orlando Merced (right) and Benito Santiago (catcher) are the new acquisitions in the field. Merced is the key. He al lows Carlos Delgado to move into first base and split time with Shawn Green at DH. Otis Nixon and Carter will join Merced in the outfield. Gar cia adds defense to the infield at second, and a helpful voice to second-year shortstop Alex Gon zalez. Sprague will again be at third. But the biggest noise from the winter in Cana da came from the signing of Roger Clemens to a deal that will pay him $8.25 million a year—a lot considering he will be the No. 3 starter. Cy Young award winner Pat Hentgen and ‘96 ERA leader Juan Guzman will be the one-two punch with Erik Hanson and Huck Flener rounding out the starters. Middle-relief may end up the Jays’ Achilles’ Heel with Tim Crabtree and Paul Spol- jaric the only notable guns. Mike Timlin evolved into a good closer last season and should im prove again in 1997. The Blue Jays are definitely the sleeper team in the A.L. If it can get games to Timlin consistently, they will be in the Wild Card hunt come September. Projected Record: 90-72 Key Series: Sept. 19-22 @ New York Yankees: Toronto could be battling Cleveland, Seattle and New York for the Wild Card. They need to sweep Sports Writer this series to put them over the top. BOSTON RED SOX The Red Sox just aren’t going to be good this season. They have Troy O’Leary, Reggie Jefferson, Darren Bragg and Rudy Pemberton to fill the outfield and DH roles. Not very im pressive, huh? They will be able to score runs fairly frequently though. Mo Vaughn and Tim Neahring are on the corners and will probably have All-Star caliber seasons. John Valentine has moved to second to make room for rookie phenom Nomar Garciaparra at short. Valentine was not very happy about this and has damaged the already fragile clubhouse situation with his complaints. Mike Stanley will catch and quietly have another stellar season. The Clemens era is over in Boston, now it’s time for the ace-by-committee era. Steve Avery will try to rebuild his career with Tim Wakefield, Tom Gordon, Vaughn Eshelman and Aaron Sele backing him up. Heathcliff Slocumb is still a great closer, but will probably end up on a con tending team come September. The rest of the staff will be sorted out by April 1. This is the official start of rebuilding the Boston Red Sox. After the Celtics’ and Bruins’ horrid seasons, spirits won’t be high in Boston. Projected Record: 78-84 Key Series: June 23-25 vs. Toronto Blue Jays: Roger Clemens comes home for the first time. This will be one series when the Red Sox fans will be doing a lot of cheering - too bad it will be for the Rocket. DETROIT TIGERS Anyone attending a Tigers’ game this season better have a team roster with them at all times. You’ll need it to figure out whose playing. It seems like every team in the league has a new player compliments of Detroit’s busy off-season, yet the Tigers didn’t really get any proven talent in return. But baseball’s all-time worst team from 1996 (53-109) may push the 65-to-70 win plateau with their load of young talent. Brian Hunter came from a deal with Houston and will join Bobby Higginson and Melvin Nieves in the outfield. Phil Nevin, Bubba Tram mel and Phil Hiatt are three youngsters ready to step into the outfield and will spend some time at DH. In these six players, Detroit should devel op a very good outfield in the next few years. Third baseman Travis Fryman survived the payroll cut to stay and help the young infield ma ture. Deivi Cruz (short) and Dave Hajek (second) will start the season up the middle with Tony Clark poised at first base to have a break-out year. Matt Walbeck will have the responsibility of handling the pitching staff at catcher. The pitching staff will be the real indication of how long the rebuilding will take. Their situ ation is a lot worse than the hitters’ develop ment. Felipe Lira will be the ace, everything else has yet to be decided. But some combination of Omar Oliveras, Dan Miceli, Doug Brocail, Glenn Dishman and Justin Thompson will round out the rotation. The bullpen will have Mike Myers, Todd Jones and Richie Lewis, along with a group of prospects, handing games to closer Gregg Olson — who was the only Tiger with a winning record last year (3-0). If you’re a Tiger fan, just hold your breath un til 2000 when Detroit will be a contender. Projected Record: 64-98 Key Series: Aug. 25-27 @ Minnesota Twins: The Tigers will be able to start calling up minor leaguers to expand their roster. Now manager Buddy Bell will have even more players on his team that don’t deserve to be in the majors. Martin ^■Continued from page 7 Johnson has been pleased with Martin’s performance as well. “He's done a good job,” Johnson if said, ‘‘He’s been tested in some >retty tight spots ad has done well ivith it. We need C2> : eft-handed 1 Etching and he’s feed that.” d* However, Mar- in also has seen he opposite end M )f the spectrum, d igainst Okla homa State earli- r in the season roughed up ; Martin was allowing three arned runs in 1-1/3 innings as e Aggies fell, 11-7. Martin has taken both the good nd the bad, not letting either af oot him. "You have to have tough skin to be a reliever and you definitely can’t look to the past,” Martin said. “If you get too excited about a good job or too down about a bad job, you’ll never be able to com pete. I think some of the best re lievers talk about that all the time. Once that performance is over, it’s over, both the good and the bad. “The same with the future. If your so worried about the future you’re going to get a chance to get that one batter, and your not going to be able to do it, be- cause you’re not concentrating on that one pur pose,” Martin said. This is advice Martin has taken to heart. “I know how hard I had to work to get here and that really helps me on the mound to stay focused,” he said. “I don’t want my opportunity to slip by.” “I wanted to pitch here and I knew what I had to do.” Colby Martin Junior pitcher Fulbricht Continued from page 7 Johnson said Fulbright is one of the freshmen expected to con tribute to the team. “He’s one of the guys who will have to step forward,” Johnson said. ‘‘We’ve got some young guys — Chance Caple, Possum, and Ful bright —who we thought would be a help to us by their sophomore year.” Apparently Johnson’s expecta tions have rubbed off on the Illinois native. Fulbright said he has envi sioned himself in next year’s start ing rotation. “I’d like to see myself in that role,” Fulbright said. “I’d like to be in the top three positions fighting for the starting role.” -™illE TEXAS MALI OF FAME M ^1 AL AIM Y l l/vit 5000 so. 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