ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Obviously, Anaheim Angels general manager Bill Bavasi is a student of the great 19th century British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli.
Disraeli is often credited for the famous indictment of statistical analysis, proclaiming that there are three kinds of lies -- "lies, damn lies and statistics." It was Bavasi who ignored the numbers on Wednesday and designated first baseman/designated hitter Cecil Fielder for assignment.
Strange but true: Fielder was tied for the club lead with 68 RBIs, but the Angels had to move someone off the roster to make room for the return of catcher Todd Greene. Fielder -- despite the numbers -- was an obvious choice because of his lack of speed and versatility.
The Angels got younger and quicker. The departure of Fielder allows manager Terry Collins to play veteran Dave Hollins at first base and top prospect Troy Glaus at third. Tim Salmon, hobbled by a foot injury, had moved into the full-time DH role, reducing Fielder to a large presence in the dugout.
Though he was more productive than Hollins at the plate, he was more expendable because he was signed only through the end of the 1998 season. Hollins had recently satisfied the statistical requirements to lock in a 1999 option year, so he isn't going anywhere.
Fielder probably deserved better. He was the driving force in the Angels' early summer surge, driving in 29 runs in June to carry the Angels to the best month (22-6) in franchise history. But he had hit just .214 with 11 RBIs over the past six weeks.
He probably will catch on with someone after the 10-day assignment period expires. The Angels, after all, will be responsible for almost all of his remaining salary, even if he is picked up by another club.
San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker wanted Joe Carter and Shawon Dunston, two veterans that he felt would provide veteran leadership, balance his roster and allow him more flexibility down the stretch.
Neither one of them, however, has been particularly productive so far.
Carter is batting .167 with just five hits and one RBI since the Giants sent a prospect to the Orioles for him. Dunston had just two hits (including a homer) in his first 14 at-bats in a Giants uniform, entering last night's game against the Braves.
Brother act
There were no recriminations after the Los Angeles Dodgers traded second baseman Wilton Guerrero to the Montreal Expos in the deal that brought them pitcher Carlos Perez.
Quite the contrary. Guerrero thanked the Dodgers for the opportunity to play in the major leagues and -- more importantly -- for the opportunity to go to the struggling Expos.
The trade was a dream come true for Guerrero, who has been reunited with his brother, Vladimir, in Montreal.
"I feel very good to be in Montreal and very good about being with my brother," Guerrero told the Los Angeles Times. "I learned lot with the Dodgers, and I appreciate the opportunity, but I think Montreal is the best place for me now. I think it is something I need now."
Guerrero had trouble following up on his strong rookie season in 1997 and apparently was slow to adjust to pennant-race pressure. Now, he'll get the chance to develop along with the rest of a young Expos club and have the added comfort of playing alongside his brother.
"This was something we both wanted for a long time," Vladimir said. "When you have a chance to play in the big leagues with your brother, that is a very special thing."
Wood not brittle
Chicago Cubs pitching phenom Kerry Wood took such a beating at the hands of the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks last week that concern surfaced his talented arm might be wilting under the wear and tear of the long major-league season.
He doesn't think so.
"There's nothing wrong with my arm. There's nothing wrong with my arm. Print that. There is nothing wrong with my arm," Wood said.
If Cubs manager Jim Riggleman is worried about his new franchise pitcher, he isn't letting on.
"Some days you just get hit," Riggleman said. "They hit him hard today, but he battled through it."
Expansion derby
The true impact of expansion on the quality of major-league pitching may not be measurable, but there is some clear evidence that one of the new teams has already had an impact on the multi-player assault on baseball's single-season home run record.
The game's three top home run hitters -- Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey -- all have padded their outstanding numbers against the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks.
Sosa completed the season series against the Diamondbacks with a .319 average, 15 hits, five home runs and two grand slams in 12 games. McGwire appeared in eight games and had four homers (one grand slam) and nine RBIs. And Griffey hit two home runs in a three-game interleague series.
"I gave up a bomb to Mark McGwire earlier in the year. Now I gave up one to Sammy," said pitcher Andy Benes, who gave up a two-run shot to Sosa on Wednesday. "There is no prejudice on my part who breaks the record. I helped both of them."
Unenviable understudy
If you think McGwire feels like a "caged animal" when he takes batting practice, just think what it must be like to go to the plate in his place.
St. Louis Cardinals reserve first baseman John Mabry was booed on Wednesday night when he came to bat for McGwire, who was given the night off by manager Tony La Russa.
"I didn't pay $80 to see you hit," shouted a heckler, who apparently got his field box ticket from a scalper.
Mabry silenced his critics, however, with a first-inning home run and a run-scoring single in the Cardinals' 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Still in demand
If you need any more evidence that the overall quality of major-league pitching is thinner than ever, you need only look at the decision by the first-place Braves to sign former Orioles reliever Norm Charlton and former Brewers pitcher Paul Wagner to Triple-A contracts.
Even the best clubs need pitching depth badly enough to fool themselves into thinking they can catch lightning in a bottle with a pitcher such as Charlton, who had a 7.27 ERA in Seattle last year and wasn't much better in an Orioles uniform (6.94).
"If we can get him in a groove, he could help us the rest of the year," general manager John Schuerholz told reporters. "He's left-handed and we have one left-hander in the bullpen.
"We hope that by going there and working with [Triple-A pitching coach Bill] Fischer we can get [Charlton] back on track to his effective days as a reliever," Schuerholz said. "We'll just wait and see. That's the luxury we have right now."
Mo may not go
Despite the pessimistic predictions of power-hitting first baseman Mo Vaughn, Boston Red Sox officials do not think it's a foregone conclusion that he will not be in Boston next season.
CEO John Harrington said earlier in the week that the club still wants to sign Vaughn to a new contract and denied the big first baseman's contention that the club has had private investigators following him.
"When the year is over, we will lock in on getting Mo signed," Harrington said. "Right now, he wants more money and more years on his contract than we are willing to pay.
"We have had Mo for 10 years. If we don't know what Mo is like by now, we are in the wrong business. I don't know where [he] gets this stuff about being tailed by a private eye, but it is dead wrong."
Though Vaughn feels that the Red Sox are not serious about bringing him back, he also has made it clear that he wants to stay if a deal can be worked out.
Irabu for real
Pitcher Hideki Irabu didn't live up to the hype when the New York Yankees brought him to the majors last year from Japan, but he continues to make up for lost time. The quality of his 1998 performance was evident even in his most recent loss, when he gave up only two hits over eight innings only to come up short to veteran Tom Candiotti on Wednesday in Oakland.
Candiotti pitched a complete-game four-hitter, but remains one of the losingest pitchers in baseball at 7-13.
Double standard?
Detroit Tigers manager Buddy Bell still feels that his young team gets no respect from American League umpires, but he may have picked the wrong game to make his case.
Why would anyone suspect umpire John Hirschbeck of favoring the Orioles?
Blue Jays reboot
Toronto Blue Jays GM Gord Ash insists that the deals the club made last week were not completed to reduce the club's payroll, though the departure of Juan Guzman, Ed Sprague and Mike Stanley reduced the club's annual payroll by about $9 million.
"Interbrew has not told us to get rid of salary," said Ash. "We're making baseball deals, we're not making financial deals."
Still, the decision to dump several big-name players did not sit well with some of the club's remaining stars. Pitching ace Roger Clemens even complained that the club had gone back on its commitment to build a contending club -- a commitment that contributed to his decision to sign with the Blue Jays before the 1997 season.
Ash said earlier this week that the club is committed to winning, but decided to start stockpiling young prospects for next year when the team slipped out of realistic wild-card contention with a 2-7 slide after the All-Star break. "The long-term plan hasn't changed, but I think the short-term plans had to be put off to the side," Ash explained. "We felt there were players we could move around."
Bobby's back
The Dodgers activated outfielder Bobby Bonilla on Thursday, just days after he campaigned to be sent home for the remainder of the season to rehabilitate his sore left wrist.
Go figure. Bonilla says that his wrist feels fine now, so the Dodgers are going to throw him back in action and hope that he can help them win the National League West wild-card derby.
It could happen. Bonilla was a key player in the Orioles' second-half resurgence in 1996, but the Dodgers will have to hop over three competitive teams to sneak into the playoffs.
Strange injury of the week
Cleveland Indians outfielder Brian Giles missed the three-game series against the Angels after he was bitten several times on the left leg by an insect -- probably a spider. His leg swelled so much that he had to get injections for three consecutive days to reduce the inflammation.
Stranger things have happened. Outfielder Glenallen Hill once showed up at the ballpark with cuts and bruises he said he suffered in a panicked reaction to a nightmare about spiders.
Pub Date: 8/09/98