Right-hander Mike Morgan, acquired from Seattle in December for another right-hander, Ken Dixon, is tired of moving around. ”This is my fifth team in 10 years,” he said. ”It`s getting old. It`s getting very old.” Morgan, however, is still young-just 28. He`s the same guy who was drafted in the first round out of high school by Oakland in June, 1978. Owner Charlie Finley had him starting a big-league game a week later. Maybe that wasn`t such a smart move. Morgan`s had just two winning seasons in the minor leagues since
`78 and has a 33-62 mark in five years in the majors.
BOSTON RED SOX
DATELINE: DUNEDIN, FLA.
Mike Smithson is back in the race for a spot on the pitching staff. Working Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins, the team that cut him loose last fall, he allowed just three ground singles in four shutout innings. He struck out one and didn`t walk a batter. Said Smithson, 33, who`s battling Ed Lynch and Dennis Lamp for a job: ”Throwing the way I am right now, nobody can beat me out. I`ve never really doubted I`d make this club. I had to have that attitude, to feel that way. If I had any doubts, I`d only put additional pressure on myself.”
DATELINE: WINTER HAVEN, FLA.
Outfielder Mike Greenwell, struck by his own foul ball during an 8-2 loss to Toronto, feared a fracture on the bone on the inside of his right ankle until team physician Dr. Arthur Pappas checked over X-rays Thursday night.
”Dr. Pappas said he couldn`t see any fracture, but because of the swelling he wants to make sure with more X-rays on Monday,” Greenwell said. ”It`s still sore and very tough to walk on, but hopefully everything is okay.”
Greenwell, who hit .328 with 19 homers as a rookie last season, went down when he fouled off a Mike Flanagan pitch in the third inning. ”I couldn`t move my foot for 10 to 15 minutes. It was scary. The ball hit right off the bone.”
CALIFORNIA ANGELS
DATELINE: PALM SPRINGS, CALIF.
Stu Cliburn`s three innings of scoreless, hitless relief Wednesday against Oakland enhanced his chances of sticking with the club. For the spring, Cliburn, brilliant as a rookie in 1985 (9-3, 2.09 ERA) but sidelined repeatedly by arm injuries ever since, has allowed five hits and two runs in 8 1/3 innings. ”I know I have to earn the job. I still feel like that,” he said. ”I`m pitching as well as I can. I realize I have to show some flashes. I have to impress people all over again.”
CLEVELAND INDIANS
DATELINE: TUCSON
Everyone knows how well Joe Carter has done since he left the Cub organization in the June, 1984, deal that brought Rick Sutcliffe to Chicago. But people tend to forget about Mel Hall, the other young outfielder who went to Cleveland in the trade. He hit .296 and .280 the last two years, with 18 homers each time. But he has yet to get more than 485 at-bats in a season. In 1988, though, manager Doc Edwards says he`ll play Hall against lefties as well as right-handers. How`s it working so far? ”He has not been overmatched by anyone,” Edwards said. Hall agrees: ”I`ve held my own.” Hall believes he`ll drive in 100 runs playing every day. He`s had 77 and 76 RBIs the last two years. ”I don`t want to sell myself short,” he said. ”Down the line, maybe I`ll get rid of that platoon label, and it could mean something to my salary.” Not that he`s being paid poorly: He has a two-year deal worth $1.5 million.
DETROIT TIGERS
DATELINE: LAKELAND, FLA.
Ballplayers have their likes and dislikes. A few, but not all, even admit to having heros. Several of the Tigers were asked which players they would pay to see play. Some said Mike Schmidt, others Don Mattingly. Still others said they`d have paid to watch Babe Ruth. But then the interviewer asked the question of Jack Morris, and he replied: ”Nobody. I`ve seen all I want to see.”
KANSAS CITY ROYALS
DATELINE: HAINES CITY, FLA.
Oak Park`s Joe Citari is in camp after hitting .281 with 22 home runs for Triple-A Omaha last year. But the 24-year-old first baseman has a little bit of an obstacle ahead of him: The obstacle is named George Brett.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
DATELINE: TEMPE, ARIZ.
Here comes Gary Sheffield: The organization`s No. 1 prospect, a late insertion into Thursday`s starting lineup because of regular shortstop Dale Sveum`s sore right shoulder, singled, doubled and tripled in a 5-3 victory over Seattle. The 19-year-old cousin of Dwight Gooden hit .277 with 17 homers, 103 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in the Class A California League last year.
MINNESOTA TWINS
DATELINE: ORLANDO
Switch-hitter Gene Larkin, who batted .266 as a rookie last year, left Columbia University with a degree in economics. So naturally, he is quite capable of simplifying potentially complex issues. Like the other day, when he was told that manager Tom Kelly had said he likely wouldn`t settle on one designated hitter because it would give the Twins too set a lineup. Larkin thought about that one for a bit and then said: ”I don`t know what T.K.`s plans are. But it`s very simple: If I hit, they`ll play me. If Randy Bush hits, they`ll play him. One thing that never changes in this game is that if you hit, they`ll find a place for you.”
NEW YORK YANKEES DATELINE: MIAMI
Here we go again: Jack Clark suffered a torn tendon in his left calf during Thursday`s game with Baltimore while running out, of all things, a home run. He`ll be out three weeks. The injury occurred when Clark led off the second inning with a line drive that stayed just inside the left-field foul pole for a homer. Clark ran hard toward first base and appeared to slow up as he neared the bag. He trotted slowly until he neared third base, when he slowed to a walk. He resumed trotting, but walked much of the way between third and home. ”It happened going down the line,” he said. ”I ran three or four steps real hard, because I thought it might hit the wall, and I felt something.” Clark, who signed a two-year, $3 million contract after playing out his option with the Cardinals, is also recovering from a torn ligament in his right ankle suffered last Sept. 9. . . . Billy Martin wants to bring Mike Norris and Rick Langford, two of his former Oakland aces, into camp for tryouts. Last year, Norris, 33, was 6-2 in the Mexican League. Langford, who turns 36 Sunday, has won four big-league games since 1982.
OAKLAND A`S
DATELINE: PHOENIX
The club`s No. 3 starter, lefty Curt Young, was rocked for six runs in five innings in Thursday`s 10-0 loss to San Diego. The only bright note:
Outfielder David Henderson, the former Red Sox and Mariner, had two hits and now has 10 in his last 21 at-bats.
SEATTLE MARINERS
DATELINE: TEMPE, ARIZ.
At least you know that one of Thursday`s 11 squad cuts will be back someday. Outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., the first player chosen in last June`s amateur draft, is probably headed for Class A ball. He hit .320 with 14 homers, 40 RBIs and 13 steals in just 53 games in the Northwest (Rookie)
League in `87. . . . Among those cut was third baseman Dave Cochrane, once with the White Sox.
TEXAS RANGERS
DATELINE: BRADENTON, FLA.
In a 3-2 victory over the Pirates, Bobby Witt pitched six scoreless innings and-believe it or not-walked only two batters. True, the smokeballer struck out only one, but two walks in six innings is progress. Last year, Witt walked 140 men in 143 innings.
TORONTO BLUE JAYS
DATELINE: DUNEDIN, FLA.
If you were thinking that George Bell was quietly accepting his new role as designated hitter, think again. Bell was penciled into the lineup as the DH for Thursday`s game against Boston, but he refused to play and stayed in the clubhouse. That won him a one-game suspension, and the Jays also announced that he would be fined. Bell, the club`s left-fielder the last four seasons and the American League MVP in `87, has had a running feud all spring with manager Jimy Williams over the shift to DH. Said Williams, who stormed off the field in pursuit of Bell: ”He kind of backed me into a corner and gave me no other alternative. He will have to make an adjustment. I`m the manager. I`ll get my way. All I`m interested in is what is best for our club. Period.”
