Nelson Has Something Good To Talk About
Jeff Nelson has a line he likes to use with the press.
The line reads: 55 appearances, six wins, two saves, three losses and a 2.18 earned run average. If pressed, he may point out another line - he has inherited 50 baserunners this season, stranded 38 of those.
Since opening night, the Mariners reliever hasn’t delivered many other lines to the press, choosing to boycott the media all year because of something written after Seattle’s first game of the season. A Seattle columnist implied Nelson was booed during opening night introductions - and said he deserved it.
“After three pretty good years, that’s written the first day of the season?” Nelson asked. “I just figured I didn’t need the hassle of answering negative questions. In my role as a setup man, I only get questions when I screw up.”
True enough. In baseball, the glory goes to the starting pitcher and the closing pitcher and anyone in between gets a nod, perhaps a mention. But let someone in middle relief lose a game, there are questions.
After a confrontation last month with the columnist in question, Nelson pondered the issue and decided to talk again. He is having a superb season in the Mariners bullpen and, off the field, is about to have a better one - his wife, Collette, will deliver their first child within the next 2-1/2 weeks.
“Chandler Grace,” she will be called. And she will be born either during a pennant race or the first round of playoffs in Seattle history.
In talking again, Nelson finds he has much to say. About his new child, about his role in the bullpen, about the stadium vote in Seattle on Tuesday.
“I live here year round and I love the area,” he said. “I’d like to live here my whole career, no matter where I play. But if there’s no ballpark, no major league team here, I wouldn’t. I grew up in Baltimore, going to Orioles games. I look at kids on my block and think, ‘What if they let the game get away from these kids?’ It would be terrible.”
End of the road?
It is time for Jose Offerman to move on, but should it be to a new team or just to a new position?
In the six years since he made his major-league debut, Offerman has played out only two full seasons as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ beleaguered starting shortstop. He led the major leagues in errors both times (42 in 1992 and 37 in 1993), and might finish with the most again this year, despite losing his starting job to Chad Fonville. When the week began, only San Diego’s Ken Caminiti was within 10 errors of Offerman’s major league-leading 35.
Offerman’s slippage in play from a first half that somehow earned a spot on Felipe Alou’s National League All-Star team has made him an easy target. Offerman has been the poster boy for the Dodgers’ national image as underachieving, overrated, fundamentally unsound players more concerned with personal statistics than team success.
It is an image Offerman will never shake as the Dodgers’ shortstop.
And since Fonville’s ascendancy to the starting role in the heat of a pennant race proves manager Tom Lasorda believes his team cannot win with Offerman playing the key position, two choices remain: Offerman should be shipped elsewhere to play shortstop, or Offerman should be moved to the Dodgers’ outfield.
The first option would be best for Offerman and the Dodgers. He needs nothing so much as a fresh start, away from Lasorda, distrusting teammates, and Los Angeles fans and media at whose patience with the erratic infielder is exhausted.
If executive vice president Fred Claire can get anything for Offerman, he should make the deal and be done with it. Fonville has shown he can handle the position, at least until minor-league standout Wilton Guerrero is ready to take his try.
But stubborn as Claire can be (Darryl Strawberry, Eric Davis, Mike Busch, et al), he has supported no project in the face of poor results as long as he has with Offerman. Sometimes such loyalty can be admirable. But Offerman turns 27 in November and made his big-league debut in 1990. He should be in the prime of his career. And if this is it, it’s time to move on.
Offerman has enough raw ability to compete at this level. He has a strong arm, decent running speed, adequate batting skills. Some scouts believe he would be better suited as a left or center fielder. Notions of trying him at third or second base are greeted with more skepticism.
But when the head - combining concentration, attitude, enthusiasm and baseball smarts - generally is the biggest knock against Offerman, how excited would he be about being asked to learn a new position at this age and point in his career?
“I never thought about that,” Offerman said when asked about a conversion to the outfield. “I guess I would if I had to. I don’t think I’ll be in the lineup (at shortstop) anytime soon.”
Lasorda admitted the idea has been discussed.
“We thought about it,” he said. “There’s nothing we haven’t thought of. But it’s hard to put a guy out there who hasn’t been out there.”
Sometimes it’s hard with a guy who has been out there, such as Billy Ashley. Offerman conceivably could make him look like a Gold Glover in left.
Or maybe Offerman would thrive as an outfielder. Maybe such a move would be an effective wake-up call, the last one he is likely to get from the frustrated Dodgers.
Or maybe that final alarm has sounded already, and it’s time for Offerman to pack up and move on.
Decision time in Seattle
King County voters go to the polls Tuesday for a ballot measure that could determine whether the Seattle Mariners stay or move. At issue is a .1 percent sales tax increase to fund construction of a new, open-air ballpark for the team. Estimates say the tax hike would cost each of the county’s registered voters about $7.50 per year, about the cost of one game ticket.
The club’s ownership group has done everything short of getting Ken Griffey Jr. a guest shot on “Frazier” to get people excited. The decision to trade for San Diego pitcher Andy Benes was made specifically to help the team stay in the A.L. wild-card race at least until Election Day. Now the owners are resorting to threats.
“This is a simple issue,” said Howard Lincoln, one of the team’s owners. “If you vote no, Major League Baseball is gone from Seattle forever.”
Team owners said without the approval for a new stadium, they will put the team up for sale immediately. The team’s Kingdome lease expires after next season.
Sosa for MVP
Cubs manager Jim Riggleman has begun soliciting favor for outfielder Sammy Sosa as a National League MVP candidate. Entering Friday, Sosa was batting .278 with careerhighs of 34 home runs and 110 RBI.
“If we do get in (the playoffs) through the wild-card, Sammy certainly would be a top guy,” Riggleman said. “He’d have to get a lot of attention for how and why we got there. He carried us early and now he’s carrying us late.”