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Show aa ee ee ee ee —— ee? ee DAILY > Eero ee ee ee ee Pe ee eeSt Thursday, February 16, 2006 HERALD BASEBALL That warm feeling: Pitchers, catchers si three times NL Rookie of the Year made 10 starts, ended up in the bullpen as an effective reliever and then had TAMPA,Fla. — Aaron Small thought back to October, when he got home to Loudon, Tenn., and put his suitcase in the attic after the New York Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs. “It feels like two weeks ago,” he said. Just 112 daysafter the Chicago White Sox completed their World Series sweepof the arthroscopic surgery Aug. a HoustonAstros, spring train- ing began Wednesday when pitchers and catchers reported toa half-dozen of the 30' major leaguetraining camps in Florida and Arizona. ‘Workouts start Thursday, and the Minnesota Twins becomethe final team to report on Sunday. Position players are due in next week, and before you knowit will come the April 3 opener, when Clevelandvisits the White Sox. Therewill be an interesting twist this year, with the spring split bythe first World Baseball Classic, a 16-team tournament from March3-20 in whichplayers will be on national teams instead of clubs. But for now, teams weresettlingin. While not yet at the San Francisco Giants’ campin Scottsdale, Ariz., Barry Bonds was the big topic of conversation there. The 41-year-old outfielder hit five homersin 14 games last season after recovering from three knee operations. He has 708 homers,six behind Babe Ruth and 47 shy of Hank Aaron'scareer record, “As a manager, T'dlike to see how he is,” Giants manager Felipe Alou said. “One time last spring, he was catching fly balls withthe outfielders, and after thatit was all downhill. He's got to get in shape,but he’s a smart REX ARBOGAST/Associated Press White Sox ier ios Garland throws with Allen Thomas, Director of Strength and Conditioning, at the Sox’s spring training facility in Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday. man and a smart player. The ear- lier he gets started the better.” In Lakeland, Jim Leyland spenthis first day on the job as the Detroit Tigers’ new manager. He walked intohis clubhouseoffice at Tigertown, stopped and pointed at a huge black-and white photo of Ty Cobb on the wall. “I was the only onein baseball to spike Ty Cobb,” Leylandsaid. Leyland was hired Oct. 4 to replace Alan Trammell after Detroit skidded toits 12th straight losing season. How did the 61-year-old spike Cobb, a Hall of Famer whoretired as a playerin 1928 and died in 1961? “I was frustrated after a Florida State League gameback in 1977 and threw my spike up an Vero Beach, Dodgers his a ne from elbow-ligamentsurgery. The former NL Cy Young Award winner, who appeared in just 14 games last year, has thrownoff a mound six times in the past three weeks. “I expect to be the kind of pitcher I was,” he said. “I feel I’m 100 percent to where I should be right now.” In Dunedin, Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells said he wouldn't mind playing a corner outfield spot or designated hitter for the United States in the WEC so that Ken Griffey Jr. can play center. “J don't care.I’m going toget a fair amountofplaying time,” Wells said. In Peoria, Ariz., Japanese catcher Kenji Johjima stood in the lobby of the Seattle Mariners’ spring-training headquarters with his English tutor. “From whatI understand, against the wall,” Leylandsaid. “Unfortunately,it hit the picture.” A 6-inch gougeis evident next to Cobb's left cheek in the he's workedreally hardto learn picture, patched with tape. the language,” Marinerspitcher Even as teams got ready to Clint Nageotte said. takethe field, there was still In Tampa, the Yankees said offseason business going on. Carl Pavanohas lower back In Mesa,Ariz., the Cubs said discomfort thatwill prevent that while Kerry Wood's rehahim from throwing off a mound bilitation from shoulder surgery until around March1. After is progressing,thestar pitcher signing a $39.95 million, fourmightnot be ready for opening year contract, Pavano missed day. the secondhalf of last season “I don't put schedules on rebecauseof a shoulderinjury. hab,” Cubs pitching coach Larry “You certainly don’t want to Rothschild said Wednesday after getto this point of taking this Wood made about 75 throwsoff muchcare and then decide that flat ground. “That will be deterjust because the season opener mined as wego. He's where he is coming that you've got to should be in a rehab from the sur- hurry up and do something,” gery. No setbacks or anything. As manager Joe Torresaid. Sammy Sosa, above at a 2005 news conference after being tradedto the Orioles,is likely to retire. Sosalikely to retire; Weaveragreesto deal NOTEBOOK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sammy Sosa probably will retire after rejecting an offer from the We fon Nationals. “It's more than likely we haveseen him in a uniform for yThe 37-year-old outfielder ranks fifth on the career home run list with 588 but batted .221 with 14 homers and 45 RBIs last yearin his only season with the Baltimore Orioles. Washingtonoffered Sosa a non-guaranteed contract that would haveincluded performance bonus opportunities. “It wasn’t about the money and it wasn’t about No. 600,” Katzsaid.“It was a function of Sammy’s expectation of his own performance. He didn't wantto go out there and underperformlike he did last year becauseit was just too painful for him, and it’s just something he doesn’t wantto go throughagain.” Sosa becamea free agent afterlast season and will not go on a formal retirement list. D Weaveragrees to $8,325,oe. one-year contract Angels:At Tempe, Ariz., pitcher ‘ett Weaver became the last major free agentto find’a team, agreeing Wednesday toa one-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels worth Hejoins his younger brother, Jered, a formerpitching star for Long BeachState, who is a prospect in the Angels’ organization. “It’s another quality arm that we're getting in here,” Angels pitcher John Lackey said. “You never can have too muchpitching.” Weaver, scheduled to report Thursday, can earn an additional $600,000 in performance bonuses:$300,000 each for 200 inningspitched and 32 starts. Eight burning questions as spring training gets under way Jon Heyman of course,that’s exactly when I knew for surehe will return. Thebrothers Hendricks must Can't wait to get to Port St. Lu- sense the Rangers, Yankees and cie to see whatpearls of wisdom even the panting Red Sox — or Rickey Henderson has dreamed is it Beg Sox? — aren't enough upfor the boys.Forinstance, leverageto extract a few mil whena Metpulls offthe first sto- more from hometown Houston. len base ofspring training,will So presumably, they've decided Hendersontake a break from his to extract it via threat of retirecard game,run ontothe field and ment. Or to be precise in Roger's hoist the bag abovehis head to case, re-retirement? declare, “I am the Sreatest spring The smart money says Cleminstructorofall time.” ens pitches until he breaks WarNo,it won't be long now beren Spahn’s recordfor victories fore we can begin in earnest to by a pitcherin the modern era answerbaseball's most pressing (he's 22 short) or Astros Owner questions. In the day or two Drayton McLaneruns out of before spring training starts money. Expect Clemens in an up, here are our best guesses Astros uniform come May 1. regarding the issues onall our 2. Will Barry Bonds make good minds (notjust Rickey): on his stated threat to drop 25 1. Will and for whom will pounds, then stay healthy long Roger Clemensreturn? enoughto eclipse the home-run For a while, I was almost sure marks of Babe Ruth and Hank Clemens was coming back. Then Aaron? And, does anyonecare? his agentpublicly said Clemens Bonds is way morelikely to probably will retire (again)... and, surpass both the Babe and Hank NEWSDAY than to beat Jason Giambi's 2004 startling spring weight-removal recordof 4 pounds (translation: uplooking likea foul pole,he cer- specially designed pitching cleat, his specially designed feet pajamas and whateverelse he needs,Pedro should be Pedro. The man has managedto pitch tainly won't attributeit to cutting with a shoulder hanging by out In-n-Out burgers, as Giambi did, but insteadwill surely bore us to tears with endless brags about some killer Pilates program. Although Rafael Palmeiro and SammySosa appear tofinally havecrashed and burned, the belief is Bonds is such a remarkablehitter/athlete he can legitimatelyhit the 48 dingers needed to overtake Aaron.It may take him into next season, and Major League Baseball will probably pretendit didn’t happen when it does. But don’t expect him to back downorslink away. Bonds’egoisn't slimming down dentalfloss, so there’s no shot a small thinglikepod a problem will derail him. 4. Can Mike Piazza find happlness in San Diego? Piazza had a rough winter, maybe 40). If Bonds does show any timesoon,evenif he does. 3. Will Pedro Martinez’s right big toe be fit enough to allow him to be the ace the Mets need? Oncehe'sall set with his failing to landthe DH spot he Probably not.If you could form a robo-pitcher using Wright's heart and head and Pavano’s arm,you might-really have something. But for now, all you have are two candidates for the trading block. Instead, welike Aaron Small to repeat as baseball's most cost-efficient spot starter until the Yankees get someonereally special come July .... can you wanted, being dissed by the Mets and Yankees and having tosettle ‘for a 92-percent pay cut, another notable record to go with home runs by a catcher. One thing we like about Mike,he tends to take these setbacks personally. Don't be surprised by a decent year. Or at the very least, a better one than Paul Lo Duca, who's now followed Piazza in three locales andhas yet to makefolks forget him. 5. Can Pavano or Wright be the pitcher the Yankees need? Sox repeat as champiot Why not? They had the best starting pitching last year, and they improved onit. Ozzie and pitching coach Don Cooper solved Mel Sottlemyre's personal Rubik's Cube,Jose Contreras, so there's noreasonto think they can’t squeeze 13 to 15 wins out of yet another bad Bronx pitching tale, Javier Vazquez. 7. Who will be baseball's newest stars? The Tigers’ Justin Verlander, the Twins’ Francisco Liriano, the White Sox’s Brandon McCarthy and the Red Sox'strio of Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester and Craig Hansen are among possible pitching sensations. But the biggest impact by any relative newcomerwill be made by relative: Prince Fielder, Cecil Fielder’s “little” (he’s as wide as Cecil, thougha tad shorter) kid. One scout eventually foresees 40 home runs anda .350 batting average, no surprise to those of us who witnessed his hitting exploits as a 13-year-old in "Yankees camp. 8. Can Drayton McLaneforce Jeff Bagwellto retire? Are you kidding me? Not with MoneyBags’$17-million salary onthe line.If there’s any justice, McLane, who once was mockingly presented with a lockerstall adjacent to Bagwell, gives up his quest to shamelessly push the Astroicon out the door. AUTO RACING Driversleery of NASCAR playing top cop in bump drafting Jenna Fryer wedon't do something,” Mark head. But when theysit down Martin said. “Something has to andthink it through deeper, happen andI applaud NASCAR they mayfind thatit’s not the for taking the first step. But we right solution.” — Across the garage, only one still have majorissues.” Bumpdrafting is a common thing is agreed upon: Tony Bumpdrafting is an aggrespractice at Daytona andTalStewart wasn't exaggerating sive rear-ending maneuverthat ladega,the only two NASCAR whenhe warnedthat aggrescalls for one driver toslaminto tracks where horsepowersive driving could killsomeone the back bumperofthe car in sapping restrictorplates limit during the Daytona 500. front of him to maintain mospeeds. There's isn't muchroom Whatisn't so clear is how mentum.It was used heavily for separation between the NASCARcan fix the dangers of during last weekend's exhibicars, which form a large pack bumpdrafting. tion race, prompting Stewart to of bumper-to-bumperracing. There were mixed reactions issuehis dire prediction. In addition to the numerous Wednesday over NASCAR'sdeEven though Stewart admitaccidentsit causes, frustration cision to police the racing techted he was one of the culprits, he builds on the race track and nique in Sunday's season-opentook his argument toNASCAR _leads drivers to bump-draft to ing race. The sanctioning body in a 20-minute closed door meetmaketheir way throughtraffic. has been vague about where ing to express how out of control “I think bump drafting is and when bump drafting will be it was. NASCAR listened caresomething that drivers have defprohibited, and they haven't iney » the twotime kel cham- initely takentoomuch freedom dicated what penalties the violahen announced it with,” pole-sitter Jeff Burton tors would be subjected to. Lo ‘officals around thetcae to said. “It used to used ina special NASCAR'sfirst attempt to monitor the practice on Sunday, situation — an every now and monitor the practice comes “If this makes it better for us, then kind of thing. It usedtobe Thursdayin the twin 150-mile makesit safer for us, I'm all for .when people run up behind you qualifying races. it,” Stewart said. “I don't know and gently push you. “Look, Tony is 100 percent if (policing)is the solution.It “But now they just knock right — we are going tomaim seems likethe logical solution the hell out of you andits used orkill somebody. real soonif right off the top of everybody’s every lap.” DAYTONABEACH, Fla. Every family has a crazy aunt. Help thousands find theirs | YOUNGILIVING MATZ FAR WIsToRcenTes Spey oaty __EXCEPTSUNDAY + Distillery & Greenhouse Tours «Picnic Area + Wagon Rides « Paddle Boats + Medieval Village « Climbing Rock Wall Now Hirinc! www.myfamilyine.com arbitrarily decide when bump drafting is OK and whenit shouldn't be done. The drivers alreadyfight that battle here with a rule that prohibits them from going below the yellow line on the bottom of the race track. Drivers can be penalized for it regardless if their trip down to the apron was necessary to avoid an accident. So Ryan Newman doesn't want to see NASCAR making more judgmentcalls in the biggest race of the season — especially when he thinks bump drafting could have been resolved betweenthe drivers. “NASCARheeds to control the drivers, not control the rules,” Newman said. “If they want to stop bump drafting, thentake the drivers that are screwing up out back — the way they usedtodo things around here.” Martin doesn'tbelieveit’s that simple. Daytona 500 sitter Jeff Burton, left, talks with car owner Richard Childress in the gc at Pons International Speedway afterpractice Wednesday. “I don't think you would have any onyotethe Kyle Pettys andthe Joe Nemecheks —_and the Dale Jarretts, we're not causing the wrecks anyway, Martin said.“Its the wenger or newer guys, and sometimes its the older guys who aren't veter- ans of the series, “And its an unfair statement _to sayit’s in the drivers hands luse once one driver starts driving reckless to fe, we all need to drive that way.It’s a weeSpeenTn no aly Fun|FUR IS is Where where the te Farm ate ie Farm is! Is: LAUSUAROG 0 MyFamily.com 801-705-7676 What makesdrivers nervous is giving NASCARthe right to * Special Events through the Summer (Call for dates & times) 3700 N. Hwy 91 - Mona Utah : 800-371-0819 pepStarting heticninphalanges at $1,375 INSTALLED! Heating & Air Conditioning . Turn to the Experté _ Safety and Filter nnnn.$88 © Green StickerCertifaton....$79 ga 2 4 , ee |