Peter Gammons

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Blalock readying for the bigs

DIAMOND NOTES: March 23

It's not like we didn't know Hank Blalock was coming as at the age of 20 he hit .380, .327 and .344 in the Florida State, Texas and Arizona Fall Leagues last season. But the fact remains that he was playing in the lost planet of Port Charlotte, Fla. in mid-June and has never played in a game above Double-A.

"How a kid like Hank comes into spring training is something every veteran watches," says Rangers manager Jerry Narron. "So the impression he's made is really impressive."

Hank Blalock
At the age of 21, Hank Blalock is preparing for his first season in the big leagues.

This is Blalock: asked to do a sitdown interview for ESPN about spring phenoms, he shyly asked the direction of the interview. "I don't mean to be rude in any way," said Blalock, who turned 21 in the offseason. "But I don't think I've done anything that would justify talking about myself. I'm a rookie on a team with four Hall of Famers. I've never had a hit in the major leagues. These guys have been great role models for me, they've been great to me. I'm just a rookie trying to prove I belong."

In the eyes of those potential Hall of Famers, Hank Blalock has proven he belongs. Rafael Palmeiro and Pudge Rodriguez compare him to George Brett. Juan Gonzalez says, "This kid is unbelievable." And it's not just because he went into Friday's spring game hitting .393 with a 1.063 OPS.

"I know all these guys had heard about him coming in because he was highly touted," says Narron. "They were all eager to see him. But the thing that's impressed me isn't that he can swing the bat -- because I think we all knew he could -- but that he's played so well defensively. He's clearly worked very hard to make himself a good defensive player."

Once Blalock finished playing in the Arizona Fall League, he went home to San Diego and hooked up with Rangers coach Steve Smith, one of the game's most respected infield instructors. "I took a lot of groundballs, worked on my conditioning and flexibility and did what I could to become a better defensive player," says Blalock, whose uncle was Oakland A's GM Billy Beane's high school coach. "I took a lot of groundballs, a lot of reps and made myself feel a lot more comfortable."

Smith, who has helped develop the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Junior Griffey, Gonzalez and Pudge Rodriguez, believes Blalock can join that class of player.

Is he a baseball rat? "I guess you could call me that," Blalock says. "That's all I like to do."

So, no matter what the offensive numbers may have projected, the respect, work ethic and maturity have made his teammates believe he is an even better prospect than they expected. Which is part of the joy of spring, when scouts and fans ask, "Who have you seen?"

Two years ago, it was Rafael Furcal, coming straight from Class A to win the Braves' shortstop job, where he proceeded to have a .394 on-base percentage and give Atlanta an entirely new dimension at the top of their lineup. Last year, it was Albert Pujols, who except for the Triple-A playoffs had just three games experience above Class A when he walked into Cardinals camp, won a job and went on to what is arguably the second greatest rookie season ever, after Ted Williams.

"I just tried to listen to everyone and improve every day," said Pujols. "I learned something from last spring, and that is that I'd better work harder every spring because there's always going to be someone like me coming along trying to take my job."

"We actually had noticed because the guys in our system like Gaylon Pitts and Mike Jorgenson described Albert from the year before. The kind of things (that Pujols worked on) are what not just good hitters but good players do," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "What I'm talking about is the ability to use the whole field, hit different pitchers, hit different zones; you know, make an out on a slider and then hit the next one to right center, so we all noticed that he could do it, but to have that kind of composure to come into our camp and make an impact. A lot of times you make an impact and then you start getting too excited and you lose your concentration. But he just kept cranking and cranking and cranking. It was in that last week or 10 days we said if you make a claim in the beginning of spring training that the best guys go north and if someone's gonna walk into our club and say Albert Pujols isn't one of the best 25, you're gonna lose your credibility. The whole key was was he gonna get enough playing time to make it worth it?

"One of the beauties of spring training is you can really crank out a lot of at-bats for guys," La Russa adds. "But what happens is some guys get fooled into thinking if the game doesn't start till 1:00, A-game, those are the only at-bats that count. Well, you know you can have a morning game. You can have a split-squad game where the hitting coach or manager's not there. You're always being evaluated. They all count. A guy like Albert, he didn't take one BP swing that he wasn't really concentrating and making an impression."

What La Russa watched for in Pujols is what Narron has watched for in Blalock -- with suspicion. "If it's early in the spring and you've been playing winter ball is a classic example," says La Russa. "Your timing is really good and pitchers' location are really bad, so you're out there getting three hits a day for the first two weeks and you gotta be like 'wait a minute now' because when the game is over you're thinking 'he hit two hanging breaking balls and a nothing fastball.' But as you start seeing big outs on tough pitches, which you're going to see more and more in the big leagues, and the guy has no obvious weakness -- because the big leagues will exploit -- if you can hit one side of the plate, you can hit everything on the other side of the plate. If you can see a guy have no obvious weakness, handle tough pitches and make adjustments, and then last but not least, when he starts going good not get carried away, not start buying a condominium or something -- but just renting -- you got a chance to have something. And Albert was perfect that way."

And so has Blalock. "It's almost as if he's made every adjustment necessary," said Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. "He's not only got the great swing, the mechanics (love those short-armed hitters) and discipline, but he's shown he can adjust."

Welcome to Opening Day, Hank Blalock. It's a long way from Port Charlotte.

Around the majors

As we get within a week of Opening Day, trade discussions have increased. The Rangers, of course, are leading the way, involved with the Orioles on Scott Erickson and, to a lesser degree, Sidney Ponson, with Rangers outfielder Kevin Mench and right-handed pitchers Rob Bell and Luis Vizcaino involved in the talks.

Hernandez
Hernandez

There have been Orlando Hernandez-Gabe Kapler rumors that go back to talks three weeks ago, a major deal with Florida involving Brad Penny (and possibly 2B Luis Castillo). Attempts at a Mets deal with Kapler and Vizcaino for Bruce Chen and Jay Payton don't appear to be going anywhere and there are even more Chris Carpenter rumors. The El Duque deal isn't happening right now.

"I'm not looking to move him, especially with our injuries," says Yankees GM Brian Cashman, meaning the DL time for Sterling Hitchock and Ramiro Mendoza and uncertainty on Andy Pettitte for the first week of the season. Yes, Cashman did ask about Shannon Stewart (if you know Cashman, he and Mets GM Steve Phillips inquire about everyone good), but when Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi asked for Nick Johnson in return, that was the end of the discussion.

"If Rondell White isn't ready to start the season in left field, I'll be happy to play Juan Rivera or Marcus Thames in left field," says Cashman, who, by the way, does not want Juan Encarnacion from the Reds. Repeat: the Yankees already have Gerald Williams, they don't need another player like him.

Going into the weekend, there were a few players available for the $20,000 waiver price -- LaTroy Hawkins and Travis Miller from the Twins, Mike Magnante from Oakland and Jose Offerman from Boston. The Red Sox coaching staff would like owner John Henry to eat all of Offerman's $8.5 million contract (to keep Lou Merloni), unless they can find a team to trade salaries for the second baseman.

The Cardinals are also trying to move either Dave Veres or Mike Timlin to clear payroll to try to make a deal for another outfielder to solve questions about left field; the Red Sox would love to do Offerman -- who could probably play left -- for Veres and give the Cardinals $3 million, but that is the light of a distant fire.

The Marlins, who clearly want to pare payroll, are also shopping Eric Owens, Matt Clement and Antonio Alfonseca. The Dodgers have interest in Alfonseca, but the interest is stronger from the Florida side, and reportedly the Cubs and Orioles are more involved than L.A. at the present.

The Dodgers have backed off a possible deal for Bobby Howry of the White Sox because he isn't throwing well.

Before the latest injuries, Yankees people claim their deal with the Giants (Orlando Hernadez) would have netted them San Francisco top pitching prospect Jerome Williams, but it was killed by owner George Steinbrenner.

The Dodgers this week released another of their failed No. 1 picks, first baseman Glenn Davis (brother of Mariners catcher Ben). That leaves the board at 19 years where only four first-round picks have made it to L.A. -- Paul Konerko, Chris Gwynn, Tom Goodwin and Darren Dreifort.

Twins readying for battle
John Hart was quoted as saying the Twins "will not be a factor" in the AL Central. Someone had better tell the Twins, because they believe they're going to be in it all the way this season. "We learned a lot from what happened to us from July into September (last year)," says Twins third baseman Corey Koskie. "We know we can't do things individually. But we came back at the end after Sept. 11 and proved some things to ourselves."

"Just don't overlook us," says infielder Denny Hocking. "We're a lot more mature."

The Twinkies are encouraged that Cristian Guzman's shoulder will be fine, and to a man insist that he and Luis Rivas comprise the best double-play combination in the league now that Roberto Alomar has skipped leagues (although you might want to check out Omar Vizquel and John McDonald). They see big improvement in Jacque Jones, David Ortiz (who is having a monster spring) and right field, especially if Mike Cuddyer wins the right-field job. They have solid starting pitching and as they cast LaTroy Hawkins aside, hand the closer role to Everyday Eddie Guardado, with J.C. Romero, Mike Jackson, Jack Cressend, et al setting up; and don't discount Romero being a big player by the middle of the season as he has great stuff.

Minnesota is deep in pitching at the top of the organization, although former No. 1 pick Adam Johnson may be a leading candidate to be traded (his shredding of his option papers in manager Ron Gardenhire's face was, in one coach's view, "Typical of his behavior from the day he signed, not the type of person the Twins tolerate"). GM Terry Ryan now has four top young hitters on the horizon in Cuddyer, outfielder Mike Restovich, first baseman Justin Morneau (one of former manager Tom Kelly's favorite players) and catcher Joe Mauer. With indications that they will get their new park, Ryan has this team in place to be good for years to come.

This and that

Despite the gaudy talent on the Rangers, there are some concerns:

1. Pudge Rodriguez's knee. "There will be some stuff coming out soon about it," says an associate of the superstar catcher. "And it's not good."
2. The bullpen. Jeff Zimmerman's elbow is still bothering him and John Rocker hasn't had a good spring, although in Rocker's defense, he's trying to build up his arm and use three pitches at the same time

Dan Miceli and Hideki Irabu will also both likely earn spots in the Rangers' bullpen. Miceli will thus cost Texas a sixth-round draft choice, which means they will not have a pick in the second through sixth rounds of the June draft. One baseball executive points out, "Down the line, the Rangers will pay for having three picks in 10 rounds (rounds 1-5) in 2001-2002, while Oakland in those rounds has 17 picks."

Whoops. Here commissioner Bud Selig makes a big deal out of his 60/40 rule, and one of his kitchen cabinets, Kansas City's David Glass, comes out in the Kansas City Star and says, "It's a drag on salaries to those teams that overspend." In other words, Glass is admitting that the threat is a ruse to put a damper on salaries, which will not be lost on Donald Fehr. Of course, since Glass is part of the kitchen cabinet, he won't be fined. Selig once fined Pat Gillick for saying he feared for the future direction of the game -- a thought shared by 30 general managers and at least half the owners -- but he won't fine Glass for admitting that Selig is trying to gag salaries.

Oh yes. One of the first questions asked of prospective owners is whether or not they will be "team players." They say they can't find owners, yet the requisite isn't money or creativity or positives for the game, only whether or not the group will blindly vote with Selig in his war against Fehr.

Here's a great point from Rangers bench coach -- and former Phillies manager -- Terry Francona on why so many American League teams lust for left-handed pitcher Randy Wolf: "He makes hitters miss, and in the American League that's crucial."

This elbow surgery business is getting ridiculous. Ten months after his surgery, Garrett Stephenson will be the Cardinals' starter in their second game of the season, and catcher Mike Matheny says, "his fastball is better than it was two years ago." That's when he was 16-9.

Benson
Benson

The Pirates privately believe that Kris Benson will be back no later than May 1 and is throwing as well as ever. "We're going to be better than people think," says Bucs manager Lloyd McClendon. If Craig Wilson can play right, shortstop Jack Wilson makes strides and pitchers like Kip Wells, Josh Fogg (a big-time sleeper in McLendon's eyes), Dave Williams and Jimmy Anderson make improvements, with Benson out front it is a much-improved team. Funny, when one is around the Pirates, there is a legitimate energy, but one name one never hears discussed when they talk about players is Derek Bell.

Tom Kelly decided not to interview for the Red Sox job for one reason -- he didn't know who is in charge. And still doesn't.

Giants teammates will tell you that Jeff Kent will ride his motorcycle 100 mph and tell people he doesn't care what anyone thinks about it. That daring is part of what makes Kent such a great player, but it may hurt him on the free-agent market, and certainly hasn't exactly endeared him to GM Brian Sabean and owner Peter Magowan.

Scouts in Arizona keep saying they can't believe how badly Mike Hampton is throwing. But it's only spring training.

Braves GM John Schuerholz and manager Bobby Cox wanted to make sure that Eddie Perez landed in the best situation for him, which is why they essentially gave him to the Indians for nothing. If Perez's shoulder doesn't come back all the way, throwing is less of a problem in the American League, but Eddie's guile and presence can only help Bartolo Colon -- whose move to the third-base side of the rubber could have a definite impact -- and Danys Baez. Ryan Drese, with his nasty slider and supreme confidence, has sure looked like the real thing in spring training. With the split David Riske has added, scouts call him "the second coming of Keith Foulke." High praise, indeed.

Feelin' the heat
Seldom has a season opened with so many managers on some kind of hot seat, justified or not. Here's a list of those feeling the heat:

Davey Lopes, Milwaukee

Buddy Bell, Colorado

Buck Martinez, Toronto

Tony Muser, Kansas City

Phil Garner, Detroit, although if Matt Anderson has physical problems, the 86 mph rookie Nate Cornejo we saw this spring is the real Nate Cornejo and Craig Paquette and Dean Palmer break down, GM Randy Smith may be in more trouble in team president Dave Dombrowski's watch.

Jerry Narron, Texas. Just because he isn't the new guy.

And those managers feeling the heat to a lesser extent:

Bob Boone, Cincinnati. In extreme circumstances.

Larry Bowa, Philadelphia. If the Scott Rolen situation gets out of control. Crazy?

Lloyd McClendon, Pittsburgh. But only in the worst-case scenario.

Hal McRae, Tampa Bay.

Even Art Howe, Oakland. But only if the A's suffer through another 10-21 start.

In case you missed it ...

Dye
Dye

A's GM Billy Beane, who despite recently signing a new contract can still get out of his deal if and when the A's are sold or moved, says "what's happening with Jermaine Dye is exactly what the doctors told us would happen. The break is healed, but the doctors told us he would have trouble with the muscles around the injury. We don't know when he can run full speed, but because he's been doing everything else, when he's able to run, it shoudn't take him more than four days to be in the lineup."

In the meantime, the A's are heavily left-handed. And Carlos Pena (.160) has struggled this spring, although he's taken walks and the staff feels he is pressing. Scott Hatteberg, meanwhile, is having a monster spring as a first baseman/DH, now that he's able to concentrate solely on hitting. This is what Jimy Williams wanted last spring, but between talk shows and Dan Duquette, he got pushed into using Dante Bichette, who after a poor spring training this year with the Dodgers decided to retire. Yes, Williams was dead right on Hatteberg, as he was on most players.

Yes, Joey Hamilton is the Reds' Opening Day starter, and Don Gullett claims the veteran righty is throwing as he did in the late '90s. Of course it helped that after being released, Hamilton decided to try to get in shape, a novel concept.

Yes, Carlos Baerga is probably going to make the Red Sox, and Trenidad Hubbard is going to make the Padres.

And yes, there are several folks in Rangers camp pushing to get Ruben Rivera signed. "Put him with (hitting coach) Rudy Jaramillo and the influence of people like Juan Gonzalez," says one Ranger official, "and he might put those five tools to use."

The Red Sox are expected to keep interim GM Mike Port in place the remainder of the season, with the recently hired Theo Epstein as the assistant GM. The Red Sox reached a contract agreement with Epstein, who formerly worked with the Padres, on Friday. The Red Sox also hired Sam Kennedy away from the Padres and named him their VP of Corporate Development. Though the Padres balked at the idea of letting both Epstein and Kennedy go, in the end they decided to do so as both are natives of Brookline, Mass.

Boston's GM search may take awhile; Doug Melvin is evaluating the farm system for Larry Lucchino and certainly will have a shot at the position, as will Beane, Brian Sabean and Mets assistant GM Jim Duquette. Other names that have surfaced: Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy, whose judgment on talent and character is uncanny; Ron Schueler, who did such a superb job with the White Sox and may be interested in getting back into the arena; and former Expos GM Jim Beattie.

Believe it or not Mel Rojas is trying to hook on with the Red Sox's Triple-A club in Pawtucket.

The Reds love the Juan Encarnacion/Ruben Mateo tools guys, but several teams have inquired about outfielder Brady Clark, who at 29 has yet to get big-league playing time opportunities.

Miami's legendary talkmaster Hank Goldberg made a brilliant point about baseball attendance problems in Florida by saying too much of the audience goes North for the summer.

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