Spring Arrives Early Baseball’s Camps Lure Long Shots, Real Deals

Early candidate for wackiest story of spring comes out of Tampa, where the expansion Devil Rays hope to sign a player who won a tryout with the team through a Japanese TV show. The Rays hope to sign Osamu Tsujita, a 20-year-old infielder from Nara, Japan, who first came to the team’s attention after a Japanese television show called “Asayan” - the Tampa Tribune likened it to a “Star Search” for Japanese sports - picked him as one of about 50 players to try out for the Devil Rays.

Orestes Destrade, the Devil Rays’ community development director and a former star in Japanese baseball, flew to Japan last week and narrowed the final group to four. That group was flown to St. Petersburg and had its tryout Thursday at the Rays’ spring training complex. Tsujita apparently was impressive enough that the Rays now plan to sign him to a minor-league contract and invite him to spring training.

“He’s a sleeper … a real sleeper,” Destrade said. “A lot of guys slip through the cracks over there and they play college ball or in an industrial league. (Dodgers pitcher Hideo) Nomo played in an industrial league.

“He has great tools around the bag. He could probably play the outfield, although foot speed is not his biggest suit. He has good bat control and a little bit of power, and if he develops strength-wise, he could be a real prospect.”

The White Sox are sharing a new facility with the Arizona Diamondbacks in Tucson that is drawing praise as a desert palace. The White Sox have 10 batting cages for themselves (four covered), a 27,000-square-foot clubhouse, a rehabilitation area with several rowing machines and a huge weight room. The ballpark’s color scheme has a Southwestern feel, with tan facing and rose-colored split-faced masonry to provide a rough texture. There are 8,000 seats ranging in price from $6 to $14, plus room for 3,000 fans to lie out on the grass beyond the outfield wall.

The Braves move into their new digs at Walt Disney World in Orlando, with four-year vet Javy Lopez now the leader in seniority among position players. That’s a stunning turnover for the perennial N.L. East champs, who this spring are welcoming ex-Rockies Andres Galarraga and Walt Weiss to the fold. “There’s a feeling, I think, not of uncertainty but of wonderment how the new mix works,” said GM John Schuerholz. “I don’t think anybody anticipates that it won’t work. I just think there’s an element of curiosity about it, how this team will look.”

Hope is abundant in Lakeland, Fla., too, where the Detroit Tigers have made major strides in the standings without even taking the field. The Tigers switched from the A.L. East to the A.L. Central. Had they made the change last season, they would have finished 7-1/2 games back, not 19. “I’m not saying it’s the most excited I’ve ever been about a spring,” Detroit GM Randy Smith said, “but it’s right up there. I like what we’ve done this winter. I’m eager to get going and see how it looks.”

Marlins fans this weekend get their first real chance to show their feelings about the demolition of their World Series champions. The club is staging its FanFest, which drew around 40,000 fans over two days last winter. No one is daring to predict what kind of crowds they’ll get this go-round.

Among the 27 roster and nonroster pitchers in camp for the Marlins, only four - Antonio Alfonseca, Felix Heredia, Livan Hernandez and Jay Powell - were on last year’s Series roster.

Brewers GM Sal Bando isn’t wild about losing five of the 11 pitchers he had on his big-league staff last season. But Bando concedes a price had to be paid to land a center fielder of Marquis Grissom’s quality. “In this business, you have to give up something to get something,” Bando said. “What we’ve lost is our pitching depth that we had last year. And you always are concerned about depth. But I’m not going to say we’ve downgraded our (pitching) talent until I see how our other people develop.”

Milwaukee management has put together the highest payroll in club history. After paying some $22 million in salaries last season, the Brewers will open the ‘98 season with a payroll of approximately $35 million, a whopping 59 percent increase. “We have a better chance of keeping our roster intact,” said Brewers negotiator Tom Gausden, “but it takes money. We’re really stepping up as a club. We feel good about what we’ve been able to do this winter.”

Yankees manager Joe Torre says that with the addition of Chuck Knoblauch as his second baseman and leadoff man, this will be the best offensive team he has ever managed. But Torre has concerns about his pitching, especially until he sees whether David Cone has recovered from his shoulder woes. “As excited as you want to get about solidifying your infield and your leadoff hitter and all of that with Chuck Knoblauch, pitching is still what winners are made of,” Torre said.

One encouraging sign is the early arrival of Hideki Irabu, the Japanese import who was a bust last summer but appears to have reported nearly 20 pounds lighter, “He wasn’t in shape last year and he had come into New York as this superhuman person who was going to do all these great things,” Torre said. “That’s a hard thing to deal with. But he’ll definitely get the first opportunity to win a starting job.”

Mets pitcher Rick Reed, the rare replacement player who became a certified success story, expects that he’ll receive a warmer reception in the Mets’ clubhouse than the freezeout he experienced last spring. That’s one of the rewards for going 13-9 with a 2.89 ERA. “It’s good when you walk by someone and they say ‘Hi,”’ Reed said. “Not that that didn’t happen. But there might be a few more golf invitations, and a few fishing outings.”

Former Mets’ No. 1 pick Jay Payton, still bothered by discomfort in the right elbow he twice has had surgically reconstructed, is taking ground balls at first base in the hope of shifting from the outfield. At one time the Mets’ top hitting prospect, Payton has his sights set on the first base job at Triple-A Norfolk. “I just want to play,” Payton said. “I don’t care where.”

An old face returned to the Phillies’ training camp in Clearwater, Fla., for what will either be a short-lived stay or a last hurrah. Lenny Dykstra, last survivor from the ‘93 World Series team, will compete with Doug Glanville for the centerfield job.

Determined to prolong his career and cash in on a $6 million option for 1999, Dykstra says he won’t retire.

Another survivor is Tom Pagnozzi, who reported to the Cardinals’ new camp in Jupiter, Fla., as the incumbent catcher, after much speculation that he would either be traded or lost in the expansion draft.

The Blue Jays come to camp with a new manager, Tim Johnson, and in search of a new leader.

“Right now, the pitchers are the leaders,” said new hitting instructor Gary Matthews, who was known as the “Sarge” when he starred for, and led, the Phillies. “I want to change that. An everyday player has to be the leader. We have two Cy Young award winners (Roger Clemens and Pat Hentgen). You’ve got Randy Myers coming over. But we’ve got to have leaders out there on the field.”

A Boston payroll that is now just under $50 million will shatter that barrier, perhaps within a week, as the Red Sox close in on signing Nomar Garciaparra, the American League Rookie of the Year, to a long-term deal that is certain to set a standard for players with only a year’s service.

It will take megadollars to persuade Garciaparra to give up his right to salary arbitration, which would come after his third season, and perhaps even a year or two of free agency, which comes after his sixth season. The Red Sox and Garciaparra are discussing a seven-year deal - five years guaranteed, with two option years.