Pitcher Paul Assenmacher made the jump last season from Double A and took the majors by surprise. ”This year, I feel like the hitters know me now,”
Assenmacher said. ”They know I like to go to my curve ball when the game is on the line, so I`m working on improving my other pitches.” Assenmacher, who gave up a run in one inning of work Wednesday in a 6-4 loss to the Orioles, had a 7-3 record with seven saves and a 2.50 ERA in 1986 as a left-handed late reliever. Manager Chuck Tanner said he would give several players a try at becoming a fifth starter, including Assenmacher.
— CINCINNATI REDS DATELINE: TAMPA
Manager Pete Rose isn`t ready to award the first-base job to nonroster player Terry Francona, even though Nick Esasky is out with a broken wrist. Rose wants to give Dave Concepcion, one of the last survivors of the Big Red Machine, and minor-leaguer Lloyd McClendon a chance. Francona, a Cub last season, is batting .316. ”This just means more playing time for Davey, Francona and Lloyd McClendon,” Rose said. He`ll keep two other possibilities, Tracy Jones and Paul O`Neill, in the outfield. ”He`s a pretty good outfielder, isn`t he?” Rose said of O`Neill. ”Best arm in camp.”
— HOUSTON ASTROS
DATELINE: KISSIMMEE, FLA.
Shortstop Dickie Thon finally surfaced at his home in Dorado, Puerto Rico, after the Astros fined him $500 and threatened $1,000 a day until he returned. He walked out of camp Saturday in frustration with a hitless but not errorless spring. ”I need to see the doctor,” Thon said. ”My eye has been bothering me. I needed some days off. I couldn`t see the ball well.” Thon was struck in the head by a pitch five games into the 1984 season and has complained of blurred vision since. He will travel to Houston for an examination by an eye specialist. ”No one but me knows how I feel or what I see,” Thon said. ”People who try to advise me mean well, and I know they are concerned, but I have to decide for myself what`s best. Right now, I don`t know.”
— LOS ANGELES DODGERS
DATELINE: VERO BEACH, FLA.
Since 1984, when Rick Honeycutt had shoulder surgery, he has started 53 games for the Dodgers and finished one. In nearly all of those starts, he reached a point where pain set in and lost his effectiveness. ”It was like a light switch, what happened,” he said. ”When it hits, it hits. It starts grinding, a pain in the joint. My wall was about the seventh inning. A complete game for me was seven or eight innings.” Honeycutt, 11-9 with a 3.36 ERA last season, said: ”I`m stronger than I`ve been. I`ve worked as hard as I ever have. There`s no reason for me not to have a good year.”
— MONTREAL EXPOS
DATELINE: WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.
George Wright, trying to land a job in the Expos` outfield, has a broken bone in his foot. It will be in a cast for six weeks. Wright, 28, a nonroster player, was injured while running the bases Tuesday. He had six hits in 18 at- bats and had made an impression with manager Buck Rodgers. Center-fielder Mitch Webster is the only player certain to start in the outfield with Andre Dawson and Tim Raines gone as free agents. The Expos had planned to platoon four players in left and right.
— NEW YORK METS
DATELINE: ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.
The Mets have had 80 third basemen in 25 years, but just two this spring. Manager Dave Johnson has said the job belongs to Howard Johnson, but he has played mostly at shortstop while rookie Dave Magadan has manned third.
”That`s my main push in the spring, to look at Magadan and Johnson,” the manager said. Magadan could start at third and Johnson at shortstop. Rafael Santana would be odd man out. Johnson, who hit a home run in Wednesday`s victory over the Red Sox, is batting .304 this spring. He never has hit above .250 in the majors. When last season began, he was platooned at third with Ray Knight. Johnson slumped and Knight got most of the playing time after the All-Star break. ”Psychologically and mentally, last season was probably the toughest year I`ve had,” Johnson said. ”I sat last year, and I never want to sit again.”
— PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
DATELINE: CLEARWATER, FLA.
During his 15 seasons, Mike Schmidt believes he has developed an image. With his retirement coming after this season or the next, Schmidt offered how he wants to be remembered: ”I`m a thinking man`s ballplayer. I`ve tried to take an intelligent approach to the game. At the end of 15 years, I`ll have no regrets. I can quit and find something else to be consumed by.” Schmidt said he has had to approach the game thoughtfully. ”The ego thing that comes from hitting a ball 500 feet is too much for some people,” Schmidt said. ”Now, all those people who said I held myself back by thinking too much are asking me about the adjustments I made.” He`s five home runs short of 500.
— PITTSBURGH PIRATES
DATELINE: BRADENTON, FLA.
The Pirates want progress. Nobody expects a division winner, but the fans would like to see the team climb out of the NL East coal bin. Is it possible? ”This year I know what we have and don`t have entering spring training, and the players know what to expect from me,” manager Jim Leyland said.
”This gives us a lot of pluses going in. We`re a better team by far than we were last spring.”
— ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
DATELINE: ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.
Add pitcher John Tudor to the list of players who don`t understand why free agents aren`t being signed, especially by a team like the Cardinals that finished 28 1/2 games behind the Mets. The Cubs, another NL East team, signed Andre Dawson. The Mets traded for Kevin McReynolds. The Cards have made no moves. ”It`s hard to figure out what they (the front office) are trying to do,” Tudor said recently. ”Apparently, last year did not teach them anything. It`s hard to believe they`re saying we`re good enough right now with the same team we had last year.” . . . Whatever, the Cards are 9-2-1 this spring. . . . Danny Cox pitched four innings and allowed only two hits during a 6-6 tie with the White Sox.
— SAN DIEGO PADRES
DATELINE: PHOENIX
Ed Whitson leads the Padres` starters with a spring ERA of 4.50. Storm Davis is at 8.00 and Andy Hawkins 10.00. Eric Show was at 5.40 going into Wednesday`s game against the A`s. Show gave up three runs on five hits during his 4 2/3 innings, but the Padres won 10-8. Garry Templeton and Tony Gwynn each had three hits, and John Kruk slugged a three-run homer. Benito Santiago, the heir to Terry Kennedy at catcher, had a two-run double.
— SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
DATELINE: TUCSON
Good glove, no hit; that`s shortstop Jose Uribe. Only this spring, Uribe is hitting .539 with three doubles a triple and a homer. He has a slugging average of .846. After Uribe hit .223 last season and .237 the year before, manager Roger Craig turned loose coach Jose Morales on him. ”We took away Jose Morales` duties as first-base coach so that he could concentrate solely on instructing our hitters,” Craig said. Morales changed Uribe`s stance so he shifts weight better and suggested a lighter bat. ”They want me to hit more, and I want to hit more,” Uribe said. ”I would like to bat .250. That is my goal this year.” Uribe was hitting .700 going into Wednesday`s game, and the Indians` Phil Niekro said: ”How do you pitch to a .700 hitter? I`ve been in the majors a long time, and I`ve never faced one. Even for spring training, that`s impressive.”
