Feb. 15

Tempe, Ari. -- Here where El Nino has splashed down upon the arrival of pitchers and catchers, there is no better indication of the volatility of the managing business. Twelve teams opened spring training here in Arizona, four of them with the same manager that was in place last February.

The holdovers are the last two world champions, Mike Scioscia of the Angels and Bob Brenly of the Diamondbacks, as well as Jerry Manuel of the White Sox and Bruce Bochy of the Padres. Tony Pena of the Royals and Clint Hurdle of the Rockies begin their first spring trainings after taking over in mid-season, while Dusty Baker (Cubs), Felipe Alou (Giants), Ken Macha (A's), Bob Melvin (Mariners), Ned Yost (Brewers) and Buck Showalter (Rangers) are new to their teams.

	Bob Melvin inherits a veteran team in Seattle.

"Someone suggested that I sit out a year," says Baker. "Why? I don't want to be the next Cito Gaston. He won two world championships, took some time off after losing his job and hasn't managed again, and he was a great manager. This is a funny business."

"When I turned down the Boston job, I thought there was a good chance I would never manage again," says Alou. "But I thought I had to take the chance. They offered me a lot of money, but it was only to manage for a short time, then work for the organization.

"(Former Red Sox GM) Dan (Duquette) should know it never was all about money with me. I didn't know who was going to own the team; if I knew John Henry was going to end up the owner, I would have gone to Boston in a second. Then when this came up ... (Giants owner) Peter Magowan had always gone out of his way to speak to me when I was in town. I knew he liked me as a Giants fan. But this is a wonderful opportunity. But, believe me, I had doubts about whether or not I'd ever work again. That's the nature of the business."

Macha worried that his time would never come, especially after he was denied permission to talk to the Red Sox last spring when Joe Kerrigan was fired by the new ownership. Melvin is only 41, but he wondered, as well; he turned down the Milwaukee job last summer, then when he re-interviewed was rejected, then interviewed in Seattle as a virtual afterthought and walked away with the job.

Here are some thoughts from the first week on the new jobs from a number of the new managers:

Dusty Baker
It was as if there was a cloud that preceded Baker into the Cubs' camp.

"It's a dream of every player to play for Dusty Baker," says Cubs catcher Damian Miller. "He's a players' manager, yet there's so much more to it. He's just special."

"I've had numerous players ask me, 'is he as special as we think he is?' " says Rod Beck, slimmed and balded from his days as Baker's closer in San Francisco. "I tell them he's better. He's the best. He has two rules: be on time and don't lie to me, because I've done everything you might have done. He treats people with respect and honety and he gets it in return."

	“	It's a dream of every player to play for Dusty Baker. He's a players' manager, yet there's so much more to it. He's just special. ”
		— Damian Miller, Cubs catcher

In both Baker and Alou, there is a duende that players feel. When Stan Javier played for the Giants, he lost a ball in the lights in the ninth inning to lose a game. Afterwards, he sat in front of his locker, head down, and Baker came by, handed him a beer and said, "did I ever tell you about the time I had that happen to me twice to lose a game?

"It was one of the great moments of my career," said Javier.

Make no mistake about it: the Cubs players believe they are going to rinse away their past, the 95 losses in 2002 and all those reminders of their last first-place finish in 1989, their last pennant in 1945, their last world championship in 1908.

"He projects the feeling of winning," says Kerry Wood.

Baker projects it because he's almost always won. In his first season in San Francisco in 1993, the Giants won 103 games. After his team was stripped preparing for Pac Bell, in his last six seasons the Giants played a grand total of 10 meaningless regular-season games and finished first or second every year.

"I don't really know why people feel the way they do about me," says Baker. "I am who I am. I have been a kind of rebel in many ways. I am my own man. I am very direct with people. I laugh when I hear people say that I am sensitive to pressure. No one who knows me would think that. I've been on the line all my life."

Baker is a highly intelligent man from a strong family, a very successful father, a mother who was an educator and brothers and sisters who were educated and went on to be businessmen and missionaries. Dusty was not only a very good player, but was regarded as a leader, then successful in business.

"It still kills me that we didn't win the World Series," Baker says of last year with the Giants. "We were so close ... I want to win at everything. I hate to lose. I come to the park thinking about nothing but winning. And, beyond winning and the players, I wanted to win to be the second African-American manager to win a world championship, to be Cito's successor."

Another thing about Baker is that he doesn't forget, and when he was sent to Little Rock, Ark. as a teenager and was taunted by fans, Gaston was there to stand beside him.

Baker doesn't predict that the Cubs will go from 95 losses to 103 wins, but he does say, "I believe we will have a winning team. Just look at the pitching. These starters remind me of those great Houston staffs, or the '69 Mets, or the Dodgers with Don Sutton, Bobby Welch ..."

Wood, Matt Clement, Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano struck out a combined 672 batters in 643 2/3 innings last season, and Baker and pitching coach Larry Rothschild each feel that will go up a level in 2003. In addition, where the bullpen blew half its opportunities last season, GM Jim Hendry has, in Baker's words, "done a tremendous job. He got two good lefties in Mike Remlinger and Mark Guthrie, he added Rod Beck and Dave Veres in front of Antonio Alfonseca (he, like Beck, lost 20 pounds, but unlike the shaven Beck showed up with flaming red hair). We have some good young arms (Juan Cruz, Francis Beltran). We've got what it takes to win."

The players believe they will win.

Felipe Alou
Alou in many ways is Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea. He is mystical, talks sometimes in parables, and spends his off days fishing. Ever since Giants GM Brian Sabean went to Florida to meet and recruit him, Felipe has joked about not knowing what it's like to manage a team where they go get players. But any job had to be the right one after his experience with his former Montreal owners/bosses.

"This job," he says, "is right."

Only the Giants' pitchers and catchers reported Saturday. Robb Nen can't throw yet after postseason shoulder surgery -- an operation similar to the one Trevor Hoffman has yet to recover from and may be out for the season but insists he "will be ready by the time the season starts. There's no doubt in my mind that I'll get in two or three games before the season."

That is a huge concern, considering that Nen recorded all 43 of the Giants' saves last season. Alou has Damian Moss to replace Russ Ortiz in the starting rotation, and has to determine which of his young pitchers -- Jerome Williams, Kurt Ainsworth or Jesse Foppert -- can help right away.

But while he is looking only at pitchers and catchers, Alou is thinking about his lineup, building around Barry Bonds.

	“	I am very excited. I have been through some experiences that weren't fun. I feel so much younger now. ”
		— Felipe Alou, Giants manager

"We will have a lot more speed," says Alou. "And to tell Ray Durham, Edgardo Alfonzo, Marquis Grissom and Jose Cruz not to run because of Barry or something else would be to take away one of the reasons we signed them."

Alfonzo will step in and hit behind Bonds, although Alou says he doesn't know whether Barry will hit third or fourth.

"I think Alfonzo will get the big hits and the big RBI that win games. In many ways, the most important spot in the order is the spot behind Alfonzo, because that batter is going to come up with a lot of men on base."

Durham obviously will bat leadoff, and Alou is waiting to look at Grissom ("I like his speed, but he's not really an on-base guy) and Cruz batting around Rich Aurilia.

"Cruz is a very good right fielder," says Alou, stepping onto the field in his familiar Giants No. 23 uniform. "I have to find out why he's struck out so much in the past. That may determine where he hits.

"I am very excited. I have been through some experiences that weren't fun (the Montreal experience and the nightmare that was the Detroit clubhouse last season). I feel so much younger now."

Buck Showalter
Rangers GM John Hart knows that this is a new era in Rangers history.

"John did a great job getting us a deep, strong bullpen," says Showalter, who makes no pretense about knowing he has to build the pitching staff around Ismael Valdes and Chan Ho Park with John Thomson, Doug Davis, Joaquin Benoit and Colby Lewis.

Showalter doesn't know if Carl Everett's knee can take the big center field in Arlington, but says "Carl will be in our lineup." He is looking at Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira at the infield corners, in time, but for now has talked to Rafael Palmeiro about finishing his career a Ranger.

What Showalter left Joe Torre and Brenly were deep teams that had role players with character and appreciation for those roles and respect for the game.

"In our meetings, we talked about wanting to find players who we can visualize jumping on the pile," says Showalter. "We're looking for pile jumpers. The Angels had a lot of them. So did the Diamondbacks, and that's one of the reasons both of them won.

"We're lucky because there's no better example of a pile jumper than Alex Rodriguez. This guy loves baseball. Maybe I shouldn't give him up, but he called me from his honeymoon to talk baseball and the Rangers (A-Rod stayed up until 4 a.m. the morning of his wedding talking ball with Cal Ripken and his agent Scott Boras).

"I think Bob Melvin is going to be a great manager, because he understands about teams. My advice to him would be to watch, that players will tell you everything by what they do.

	“	In our meetings, we talked about wanting to find players who we can visualize jumping on the pile. We're looking for pile jumpers. The Angels had a lot of them. So did the Diamondbacks, and that's one of the reasons both of them won. ”
		— Buck Showalter, Rangers manager

"Let me tell you about Alex. We were playing golf, and he went to flip a little piece of paper in a trash barrel and walked on to catch up with me. He stopped and looked back to see if it went in. It didn't. The wind caught it. So he ran back to the trash barrel, picked up the paper and carefully put it in. The guy's making $25 million (per season) and he cares enough to go back and make sure the piece of paper's in the trash can.

"I think we all know that someday he'll be jumping on the pile, because after getting to know him, I know that's all he cares about. He's the all-time pile jumper."

Bob Melvin
Showalter managed Melvin in 1994. He knew he hit Randy Johnson, and had him DH against Randy (Melvin homered). Buck remembers that Melvin listened to everything, but seldom spoke.

"I learned from every manager I played or coached with," says Melvin.

Roger Craig? "Always positive, energetic, saw the best in everyone."

Showalter? "Incredible preparation. We were prepared for everyone. And he really understood the 25-man roster, and how to use your bench. He'd tell a player two days in advance, 'you'll be in there against so and so two days from now.' "

Phil Garner? "A tremendous competitor. Fiery. Emotional."

Brenly? "He is amazing. He taught me that every day it's all about winning. That man will do anything to win. He's a great man, and he, too learned from Roger Craig."

"Bob Melvin," says Damian Miller, "is the Dusty Baker of the American League. He is a special man, and will be a great manager. What he did with Arizona was respected and known by every player. I'm lucky. I'm now with Dusty, but I got to work with Dusty The Second."

Miller knows Melvin as a coach. But there are four pitchers on the Mariners staff who know him as a hitter. Melvin might have been a .233 lifetime hitter, but he was 7-for-16 with a homer against Jamie Moyer, Arthur Rhodes and Norm Charlton. "But," says Melvin, "I was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts against Jeff Nelson."

"Honestly, I don't remember him as a player or that he got a hit off me," says Charlton. "But now that I know, if he steps into the cage, I'm going to jump out and drill him."

Rhodes remembers Melvin well. "He caught my major-league debut in Baltimore," says Rhodes. "I remember I was very nervous, and he was calm, very positive, very helpful. Now he's my manager."

The addition of Randy Winn and Gregg Colbrunn enable Melvin to have a much stronger bench than Lou Piniella struggled to create last season.

"We will play a National League style," says Melvin. "Speed, defense, pitching. Our pitching has a chance to be very good."

Now that Kazuhiro Saksaki had three or four huge bone chips taken out of his elbow, he anchors a deep, powerful pen with Nelson and Rhodes. Melvin and pitching coach Bryan Price expect Freddy Garcia to bounce back from his 5.66 second-half ERA last season to go with Jamie Moyer and Joel Pineiro at the front of the rotation. Ryan Franklin gets first crack at the four hole, but the talk of camp as been the way Gil Meche has thrown.

"He has electric stuff," says Price. "This isn't just a young pitcher, he's got a chance to be a star. I'm not worried about the shoulder. He took more time because it needed to be cleaned up, but I think he'll be fine now. With Rafael Soriano and Ryan Anderson coming back, we have a lot of really good young arms that we can mix in as the season progresses."

Then there's this story:

125 IP, 94 H, 36 BB, 153 SO

OK, it was for the Winnipeg of the Northern League, but the line doesn't tell you that this left-handed pitcher named Bobby Madritsch also was 0-3 in his first three starts and didn't allow a run in 20-something innings in the playoffs ... and now is on the 40-man roster of the Mariners with a chance to be the second left-hander out of the bullpen after Rhodes. Or something better, in time.

And you thought Italian Olympian Jason Simontacchi was a great story? Brendan Donnelly? Madritsch was an eighth- round pick of the Reds in 1998 who had reconstructive surgery in '99, pitched 32 innings for Dayton and got released in 2000, was released in the Nothern League, went to the Texas-Louisiana League and was traded to the Western League and got released. Then the arm came back last summer in Winnipeg, where manager Hal Lanier called him the best prospect ever in the league.

The Mariners won the signing war, and after he pitched in the Arizona Fall League put him on the 40-man roster in order for him to avoid the Rule V draft.

When you see him, you'll immediately notice the tattoos. Madritsch, a Native American, is an artist and has designed his own tattoos, which are Native American symbols. That resulted in some Northern League fans razzing him because one symbol resembled a swastika, but that was explained. And now he's on his way to the big leagues, throwing 95 miles per hour.

"He's something," says Melvin. "But we have a lot of special arms here. That's the way we're building this team. I'm lucky to be in this job. A lot of first-time managers have to go through a lot. I'm with a great organization with a lot of talent."

"I talked to Bobby Witt about Melvin," says Charlton. "He told me this is one of the really good men in the game, and that one thing about him is that he'll always be straight and never lie. The veterans on this team accepted him right away, because the first time you meet him, you know he's straight and he's a good man."