Mike Boddicker finished 1987 with a 10-12 record, his lowest victory output in his five years with the Orioles. He suffered a strained back last August, kept pitching anyway and was 5-11 with a 5.58 ERA over his last 20 starts. The O`s finished even worse (67-95), but even that record hasn`t kept Boddicker from maintaining his optimism entering 1988. ”Nobody gave up. We never quit. We never quit one game,” he said. ”That was the positive aspect of it. When you come into spring training, you look at that and say, `We`re not going to give up.` Maybe this is our year.” Last year sure wasn`t, which is one reason why GM Roland Hemond brought in three new faces from the Phillies Monday: third baseman Rick Schu and outfielders Jeff Stone and Keith Hughes.
BOSTON RED SOX
DATELINE: WINTER HAVEN, FLA.
Brady Anderson, the 24-year-old who has at least temporarily taken over center field from the injured Ellis Burks, is uncomfortable with all the commotion he has caused. Already being hailed as the next great Red Sox outfielder, Anderson finds this ”phenom” tag a little silly. ”I don`t think I`m ticketed for Cooperstown or the next phenom,” he said. ”I just want to look at this as a normal spring training. Before, I was just trying to make the team. And I still am.” The left-handed hitter`s leadoff homer Monday off lefty Jim Deshaies helped beat the Astros 6-3. That didn`t hurt his chances.
CALIFORNIA ANGELS
DATELINE: PALM SPRINGS, CALIF.
Johnny Ray still thinks he`s a second baseman. Moving to left field is not an idea he relishes. ”I`m still an infielder. I still feel like an infielder. I`ve played the infield seven years, then suddenly in one spring training I`m an outfielder? No.” But so far, he hasn`t pulled a George Bell. ”Right now, I am being a team player. I`m not causing any waves, because I`m not that type of individual to do that.”
CLEVELAND INDIANS DATELINE: TUCSON
In case you missed it, shortstop Julio Franco is now second baseman Julio Franco. Franco, 26, had resisted moving to second last season. ”I think the team will be better, and I want to have a good relationship with the club,”
he said. ”If I help them, they will help me. I also think this will be good for my career. I`ll have a better chance to make the All-Star team, and I will be able to play in the big leagues longer because second base doesn`t take as much out of you.” The shift means Jay Bell, 22, is the new shortstop. Tommy Hinzo, who made the rapid rise from Class A to the majors last year, faces demotion to the minors and an unpromising future while buried behind Franco.
”He hasn`t played well at all,” manager Doc Edwards said of Hinzo, hitting .158 this spring. ”We know he has the tools, but he hasn`t played like we know he can. He`s looked a little confused.” Bell is hitting just .211, but Edwards has been happy with his defense (no errors in 13 games).
The Indians may offer catcher Todd Pratt back to the Red Sox. Pratt, 21, who caught for Boston`s Class A Winter Haven farm team last summer, was rated a good prospect by most scouts. Boston left him unprotected, and Cleveland snapped him up with the first pick of the December draft. Chris Bando and Andy Allanson are Cleveland`s catchers, and keeping Pratt would mean the Indians could carry only four outfielders. Ron Kittle, John Moses and Carmen Castillo are battling for the No. 4 job, and the Tribe would like to keep two of the three. Boston can reclaim Pratt for $25,000 if Cleveland doesn`t put him on the Opening Day roster.
DETROIT TIGERS
DATELINE: LAKELAND, FLA.
Bill Freehan, the former All-Star catcher who has served for many years as an instructor during training camp, has been working extensively this spring with Matt Nokes. Nokes, who has a good arm but a slow release, has been throwing out roughly one-third of all the runners attempting to steal on him this spring after throwing out only 15 of 81 last year. ”The main thing Bill does is keep you in a positive frame of mind, because he`s seen it all,”
Nokes said. ”We got some videotapes and I saw a flaw in my delivery. If I correct that, it`ll be a big help.”
KANSAS CITY ROYALS DATELINE: ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.
Thad Bosley, who will sing the national anthem at the Royals` home opener but probably won`t be in the starting lineup, had himself a fine time Monday. The former White Sox and Cub outfielder had three hits and drove in three runs in a 5-3 victory over St. Louis. His third hit, a two-run, eighth-inning single, snapped a 3-3 tie.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
DATELINE: CHANDLER, ARIZ.
The Brewers split their squad and came up double winners. In Chandler, right-hander Mike Birkbeck, trying to regain his spot in the starting rotation after undergoing shoulder surgery last year, allowed four hits and two runs over five innings in a 4-2 victory over the Giants. And in Tempe, 19-year-old shortstop Gary Sheffield continued to make an impression, delivering a bases- loaded triple in the 10th inning off Seattle`s Dennis Powell to give Milwaukee an 8-4 triumph.
MINNESOTA TWINS
DATELINE: ORLANDO
Shortstop Greg Gagne had two hits and three stolen bases in Monday`s 4-3 decision over the Reds. Frank Viola threw six innings and allowed three runs and eight hits. . . . Knuckleballer Joe Niekro, fighting for a roster spot, is experimenting with pitching more from the stretch, even when there are no baserunners. ”Dick Such (pitching coach) thinks I have better command of my knuckler when I throw from the stretch,” said Niekro. ”When I go from the stretch, it puts my arm in better position to throw the knuckler.”
NEW YORK YANKEES
DATELINE: FT. LAUDERDALE, FLA.
Manager Billy Martin on 22-year-old lefty Al Leiter, who has given up only 2 runs in 16 innings this spring: ”The arm is there. We`re working with his mind more than anything else-building his confidence, not putting too much pressure on him, patting him on the back a lot.” Last season, after he was called up Sept. 10, Leiter struck out 28 in 22 2/3 innings. His fastball was clocked at 94 miles an hour.
OAKLAND A`S
DATELINE: PALM SPRINGS, CALIF.
Someone finally had a big inning at the expense of Bob Welch, although it took an error by rookie shortstop Walt Weiss to get it all started. Devon White`s two-run triple highlighted a five-run third inning in the Angels` 5-4 victory Monday. Weiss booted Dick Schofield`s leadoff grounder, and Mark McLemore walked after Schofield stole second. Chili Davis singled for one run, Wally Joyner doubled for another before White tripled for two more.
SEATTLE MARINERS
DATELINE: TEMPE, ARIZ.
Manager Dick Williams thinks a lot of 23-year-old lefty reliever Bill Wilkinson. ”He`s got more pitches than the guy I had as a baby when I was in Boston, a guy who turned out to be a Cy Young Award winner. I had Sparky Lyle as a first-year man (1967). They`re similar, but all Sparky threw was a hard slider. That was his only pitch. This guy has a straight change, a good breaking ball and good riding fastball.” Wilkinson (10 saves, 73 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings in `87) figures as the left-handed closer. But, said Williams, ”if the other guys (right-handers Ed Nunez and Mike Jackson) don`t work out, I would not be afraid of using him as my total stopper.”
TEXAS RANGERS
DATELINE: BRADENTON, FLA.
First baseman Pete O`Brien has been an offensive leader with Texas the last four seasons, and last year was no exception. He hit 23 homers, tying his own club record for home runs in a season by a left-hander, hit .286 and drove in 88 runs. But O`Brien is no longer happy with just good seasons: ”I`ve
`plateaued` a little, and I`d like to put up a great year and make that the level that I can attain each year.”
TORONTO BLUE JAYS
DATELINE: DUNEDIN, FLA.
The Blue Jays have initiated talks with the Yankees involving a trade for Dave Winfield. They are talks that might even involve Toronto`s disgruntled George Bell, if and when they reach a more serious level. Why would the Jays, who have so many good young outfielders that they are forcing Bell to become a DH, be interested in Winfield, who is 36 with three more years left on his $2 million-a-year contract? ”Because,” one source said, ”they feel the one thing they have been lacking to put them over the top is a veteran player with leadership qualities. They feel Winfield might be that guy.” Sources say the Jays would be willing to deal either Bell, Lloyd Moseby or Jesse Barfield to get Winfield and another player from New York. Newsday also said Toronto is interested in a Bell-for-Cal Ripken Jr. deal with Baltimore.
