Baseball : Giants Had Several Reasons for Trading Leonard to Brewers

First, Chili Davis. Now, Jeffrey Leonard. You can’t accuse the San Francisco Giants of resting on their laurels in the National League’s Western Division.

Why was Leonard, voted the most valuable player in last year’s playoff series with the St. Louis Cardinals, traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for infielder Ernest Riles?

Only part of it was a desire to play Mike Aldrete full time in left field.

Only part of it was a desire to get backup protection for shortstop Jose Uribe, who is scheduled to come off the disabled list Wednesday.

Uribe has been recovering from the emotional stress of his wife’s death after childbirth two weeks ago. He has been left to bring up three children, the oldest only 2.

The biggest factor in the Leonard trade was his eligibility for free agency at the end of the season. The Giants were convinced that he would seek greener pastures, as Davis did, and they wanted to get something for him while they could.

As it is, it was almost too late. Riles, according to sources, was the best they could do.

Of course, if Leonard had displayed some of his previous power, the Giants might have overlooked his impending free agency. But injuries have seemingly diluted his strength. He failed to hit a home run in 53 at-bats during spring training and hit only 2 homers in 160 at-bats during the season.

Aldrete had hit 1 in 113 at-bats and was batting .284 through Thursday. He is 27, Leonard is 32. The Giants are talking potential in more ways than one.

There is a thought that if Uribe returns successfully, the promising Matt Williams, who has been playing shortstop in his absence, will move to third base, and Kevin Mitchell will move to left field, platooning, perhaps, with Aldrete.

Williams, the Giants’ No. 1 choice in the 1986 June draft, drove in eight runs with his first three hits--a grand slam, a three-run double and a solo homer--as Uribe’s replacement.

In the meantime, trading the verbose Leonard was similar to removing a stereo from the Giants’ clubhouse.

“It will be a lot quieter around here now . . . and sometimes quiet is good,” first baseman Will Clark said.

There was no response from Leonard, who left without firing any of his patented salvos. He had nothing but praise for the Giants, who were paying him $900,000 in salary and now must pay him another $100,000 as part of a contract clause dealing with trades.

Will Milwaukee be purgatory for Penitentiary Face? Leonard said all he knew about the Brewers was that Robin Yount and Rob Deer are two of their outfielders. He reflected on where he has been and where he is headed and said:

“The Giants may miss my leadership, and they’ll also miss my mouth. Hopefully they’ll have memories of my hard work and dedication, and some of that will rub off. Hopefully I’ll be able to play every day in Milwaukee--wherever that is.”

Leonard would not seem to fit the conservative Brewer image, what with his drug history, his salary, his free-agent eligibility and his penchant for controversy. But there is also his offensive potential--he hit .319 in his final 13 games with the Giants--and that’s primarily what the inconsistent Brewers are concerned about.

Said Riles, who had only 1 hit in his last 28 at-bats with Milwaukee: “I’m surprised they were able to trade me heads up for Leonard. It sounds like a good trade for the Brewers.”

Said General Manager Harry Dalton, referring to Leonard: “He’s an established major league hitter. He’s somewhat streaky, but when he gets hot, he gets very hot.

“It would have been silly to worry about his free agency right now. There’s four months left in the season. We’ll get a chance to know him, and he’ll get a chance to know us.”

The Brewers batted .276 and averaged 5.3 runs a game in going 91-71 last year. They were batting .258 and averaging 4.2 runs a game through Friday. Leonard will join an outfielder-designated hitter rotation of Deer, Yount and Glenn Braggs. The Brewers have been consistent only in their inconsistency. They have had five winning streaks of three or more games and six losing streaks of three or more.

“Teams coming in to face us have to be thinking, ‘Which Brewers are we going to see tonight, the flat Brewers or the aggressive Brewers?’ ” Braggs said. “I don’t think we even know which is going to show up.”

Dick Williams, who will never win a popularity contest, left as Seattle Mariners’ manager amid a cross fire of rips from the players, reviving memories of his departure from the San Diego Padres.

First baseman Alvin Davis said that if the players had voted on Williams remaining as manager, it would have been 0-24 against him.

“Up until the last two weeks, he was still berating players in the press, which I was used to,” Davis said. “Then it stopped. I don’t know if he was sick, disinterested or what.

“We wanted to know if he was still committed to winning, and we weren’t always getting the message.”

Said third baseman Jim Presley: “He was a downer. He hurt us all in some way. Not just one or two of us, but all of us.”

The decision to fire Williams with four months left on his contract might have stemmed from an incident in Kansas City Saturday in which the valuable Mark Langston, laboring through the late innings as his pitch count mounted, was left to absorb a 4-3 defeat.

The angry Langston later said that the Mariners were “going in the wrong direction” with Williams, that he wasn’t providing leadership and didn’t seem to be trying.

Said Williams, after his firing: “The only thing I don’t like about it is that our so-called ace pitcher, who doesn’t have a gut in his body, will probably be credited for making this happen. A lot of things about that young man leave a lot to be desired.”

Responded Langston: “I don’t think that what I said got him fired. No one wants to see someone fired, but if that’s what it takes to get this club turned around, so be it. Dick Williams never acted like he believed in us.”

The Mariners, who have never had a winning season, were 159-192 under Williams. The .453 percentage was .001 higher than that of predecessor Chuck Cottier.

Williams had said that this would be his last season, that he would retire when it was over. Now, however, he is saying that he would accept a suitable offer, providing he can select his coaches. He and Seattle pitching coach Billy Connors, who was appointed by the front office, were incompatible, Williams said.

The Mariners, meanwhile, are said to have drawn up a list of nine managerial candidates, including Connors and their interim manager, Jimmy Snyder.

The list also includes Jeff Torborg, Lou Piniella, Bill Virdon, Bobby Lillis, Joe Altobelli, triple-A manager Bill Plummer, and Greg Riddoch, a coach with the San Diego Padres.

Lee Thomas, personnel director of the St. Louis Cardinals and former first baseman-outfielder with the Angels, will be interviewed by Bill Giles, president of the Philadelphia Phillies, Monday about the general manager’s job. It became vacant Tuesday when Giles fired Woody Woodward with 2 1/2 years left on his contract.

The firing has been portrayed as a victory for style over substance. Woodward, sources say, failed to keep Giles company over cocktails in the executive box. Paul Hagen, in an analysis for the Philadelphia Daily News, suggested that Giles choose his next general manager through a computer dating service.

Ironically, when Woodward presented Giles with a list of things that needed to be done in the organization in mid-May, No. 1 was the firing of Jim Baumer, minor league and scouting director. Giles agreed to that, firing Baumer Tuesday, but also fired the man who made the suggestion.

The Cincinnati Enquirer seemed to push journalistic ethics to the limit the other day with a story quoting an anonymous National League executive as saying that “baseball people were speculating” that Reds center fielder Eric Davis is involved with drugs.

The newspaper pointed out that Davis is a friend of outfielder Eddie Milner, who was suspended after suffering a drug relapse in spring training.

Davis was justifiably angry. He said Milner was a longtime friend whom he tried to protect from people who were bad influences.

“Now I get stabbed in the back for looking out for a friend,” he said. “It’s not right. This is something that can affect me the rest of my life. It’s nothing to play with.

“I’m not going to say it’s racism or anything, but when other players get off to bad starts, there isn’t anything mentioned about drugs. Why is it that whenever something is wrong with a black man, it has something to do with being on drugs?

“All black people don’t use drugs, you know.”

Handicapped by a series of injuries, Davis, through Thursday, was hitting .220 over his last 92 games, since last September. He hit only 10 homers with 32 runs batted in during that span.

It was about a week ago that New York Yankee pitcher Tommy John, noting the Oakland Athletics’ huge lead in the American League West, alluded to Manager Tony LaRussa’s law degree and said that LaRussa should be sued for malpractice if the Athletes didn’t win a division title.

LaRussa said he considered the source and didn’t see the humor in it.

“It would have been cute if anyone else had said it, but he bothers me,” LaRussa said. “It’s unfortunate, but unlike some veteran pitchers who have to cheat to be successful, the manager has to play it straight. So there are no guarantees.”

Don Baylor, batting .220 overall and .367 with runners in scoring position through Thursday, is expressing disappointment with his irregular employment as Oakland’s designated hitter, but he said that he made a promise to LaRussa when signing with the Athletics that he would accept his role without complaint.

“For me to go back on my word would be disruptive to the team,” Baylor said.