Angel Signs Don’t Point to Leyland

Could the availability of Jim Leyland represent something of a futile attraction for the Angels?

After the Angels make their admirable and mandatory pursuit of the departing Pittsburgh Pirate manager and he then accepts the Florida Marlins’ offer, as expected, what next?

The Angels will have no choice but to return to a list of names that pale in comparison. Everyone in this case is a consolation.

Leyland is clearly the best available, the best in baseball, probably.

Angel players are already salivating at the news that their club has asked permission to talk to Leyland. Disney will probably open the vaults to the Magic Kingdom, but Leyland seems to represent a terrible tease for the Anaheim team.

He has said he would prefer to remain in the National League and on the East Coast, since he will continue to make his home in Pittsburgh.

Many baseball people maintain that he already has a deal in place with the Marlins, who are loaded with young talent and about to become a factor in a division dominated by the Atlanta Braves.

If that deal dissolved and Leyland had to leave the National League, the same people say, his American League preference would probably be the Chicago White Sox, who are clinging to wild-card hopes but have made no decision on Manager Terry Bevington’s 1997 option.

Despite a competitive season, Bevington knows the evaluation process never ends.

He said, “When I was in the minors, a coach said to me, ‘I’m tired of being in a fishbowl all the time. I’m tired of being analyzed for everything.’

“I said, ‘Well, then, you’re in the wrong business because that’s what this business is all about. You play the game, you get analyzed. You analyze, you play the game.’ It’s been that way forever, so I’m not even thinking about next year.”

Bevington has only one more week to think about this one.

Leyland was a coach with the White Sox before going to Pittsburgh. He recently had lunch with owner Jerry Reinsdorf and may again next weekend, when the Pirates close the season in Chicago.

Reinsdorf would have to tear himself away from his ongoing attempt to destroy the proposed labor agreement, but for Leyland . . . presumably anything for an old friend.

Reinsdorf told Chicago writers that he would leave the question of Bevington’s option to General Manager Ron Schueler, who said of Leyland’s availability:

“There are probably 20 teams who would like to take a shot at Leyland. Are we one of them? I’m not prepared to answer that now.”

It probably doesn’t matter.

Leyland is a golf buddy of Marlin President Don Smiley, worked with General Manager Dave Dombrowski in Chicago and has golfed and socialized with owner Wayne Huizenga, who is willing to pay the price, as illustrated by the hiring of Jimmy Johnson for his football Dolphins.

The Angels? They will have to slink back to the longest list this side of Heidi Fleiss’ black book.

They are presumably looking for a manager with experience--as a major league coach at least--presence and the ability to manage the clubhouse, as well as the field.

After Leyland, the name on their list that best fits the profile is that of Jim Fregosi, who has won with the Angels and Philadelphia Phillies and proven he can handle a clubhouse full of diverse personalities.

Fregosi says he is remaining with the Phillies and has not contacted the Angels, but that could change if Philadelphia owner Bill Giles drops an ax on the tenuous relationship that has developed between Fregosi and General Manager Lee Thomas, his longtime friend, during a trying year.

Who else realistically figures from the Angel list?

Several big league coaches: Jimy Williams of Atlanta, Tony Muser of the Chicago Cubs, Davey Lopes and Tim Flannery of San Diego, Jerry Narron of Texas, Tim Johnson of Boston, Rick Down of Baltimore.

Down has been the Orioles’ batting coach in a season in which they have bombed the major league home run record, several having improved their previous career highs.

Jim Lefebvre and Jeff Torborg remain possibilities on the Angel list, and both Bevington and Kevin Kennedy could be, providing the White Sox and Boston Red Sox reject their ’97 options.

Kennedy has been left dangling despite Boston’s second-half surge.

Bob Boone? Well, the former Angel catcher still lives in Villa Park and has served a two-year apprenticeship as the Kansas City Royals’ manager.

Sparky Anderson? Always an intriguing fallback possibility.

The fact is, expansion has thinned the managerial market in the same way it has thinned pitching.

And for the Angels, they are all fallback possibilities after Leyland--an unfortunately long fall.

IT’S ALL RELATIVE

What a week . . .

--Paul Molitor gets his 3,000th hit.

--Hideo Nomo pitches a no-hitter in Coors Field.

--Roger Clemens strikes out 20 Detroit Tigers.

--And, yes, the Milwaukee Brewers, who had been 0-69 in games they trailed after the eighth inning, rallied for two runs in the ninth on Wednesday and a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

“No one believed me, but I kept telling people that we couldn’t go a whole season without winning a game in the ninth,” Manager Phil Garner said, exultantly.

GETTING IT DONE

The Cleveland Indians made it two straight in the American League Central. The 1994 strike might have prevented a run of three straight division titles.

This one was considered a given, but maybe shouldn’t have been.

“It’s very difficult in this era to put together three years in a row like we have,” General Manager John Hart said, referring to player movement and injuries. “From an organizational standpoint, it’s very satisfying.”

Amid the champagne, the Indians displayed a bunker mentality, an “us against them” approach they apparently will carry into the playoffs.

“Last year we were the sentimental favorite,” pitcher Chuck Nagy said. “This year, everyone is throwing the ‘bad boy’ image in our face.

“But I guess that comes with the turf when you’re on the winning team. Everyone tries to tear you down.”

Actually, it comes from having a left fielder named Albert Belle, but that’s another, well-chronicled, story.

The Indians traded Eddie Murray and Carlos Baerga, lost Dennis Martinez to injuries, didn’t get the performance they anticipated from Jack McDowell and still have the best record in baseball.

Nagy, Orel Hershiser and McDowell will pitch the first three games of the division playoff. Chad Ogea will join the rotation if the Indians advance to the league championship series. Martinez, 41, called it a season last week after having been put on the disabled list three times because of a strained elbow tendon.

He was 9-6 this year and has an overall 240-182 record.

He plans to pitch again next year, but it won’t be with Cleveland. He alienated the front office by knocking almost every move for two years and told reporters he was shutting it down for the season before he told Hart and Manager Mike Hargrove.

Hmm, an older pitcher coming off arm problems. Sounds like the perfect deal for the Angels.

GO SEE CAL

Some are intimating a similarity in the September slides of the Texas Rangers--who may be offering the collapse of all collapses--and Houston Astros beyond their Lone Star roots.

It’s being suggested that Astro Manager Terry Collins should have insisted that slumping Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, who have played every game, take some time off earlier and that Ranger Manager Johnny Oates should have given more rest to suddenly struggling infielders Dean Palmer, Kevin Elster and Mark McLemore.

“That shouldn’t be a factor now,” Oates said. “A month ago, maybe. But now, there’s adrenaline that takes care of fatigue.

“Poor Cal [Ripken] Jr. What if he got tired after 135 games every year?”

Reminded that there’s only one Ripken, whom he managed in Baltimore, Oates said: “There should be more.”

NAMES AND NUMBERS

--Don’t assume that the Dodgers, with their global pitching staff, are the favorites at the U.N. Consider the Colorado Rockies. Andres Galarraga has hit 46 homers this year, eclipsing by two the previous high by a Venezuelan, Tony Armas. Vinny Castilla has hit 39, breaking his own record of 32 for the most by a Mexican player. And Larry Walker, who set the record for a Canadian with 36 last year, probably would have beaten it if he hadn’t spent six weeks on the disabled list because of a broken collarbone.

--Mo Vaughn, who played almost the entire season with ligament damage in a finger, has surpassed his MVP statistics of last year, but the Boston first baseman says the American League award should go to Belle.

“I have to admire the way he bounced back and had another great year,” Vaughn said. “He let his bat do the talking. He has a chance for back-to-back 50-homer seasons, and that’s extraordinary. That’s amazing.”

--The Tigers have set several records for ineptness, with their hitters on the verge of the most strikeouts in a season, but Manager Buddy Bell said that had nothing to do with the 20-strikeout performance by Clemens.

“He throws like that, he does it to every other team in the league,” Bell said. “He was untouchable. Some people will give us more credit than Roger, but that’s absurd.”

--Watching from the sidelines and itching to get started as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Buck Showalter said of the wild-card run of the Montreal Expos:

“Everybody’s so hung up on this payroll thing and who has how much money to spend, but the Expos are proof that the game is still about player evaluation. They do it as well as anybody in Montreal without much money at all. I get a kick out of all these people complaining about not being able to compete, but Montreal does it year in and year out.”

--Padre coach Grady Little, a 16-year minor league manager familiar with the developmental process, is considered a leading candidate to replace Leyland at Pittsburgh. If Lopes or Flannery end up in Anaheim, Padre Manager Bruce Bochy could be looking at a staff overhaul.