Stottlemyre Is Better Ranger Than Angel

BOSTON —  Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi has rallied gamely from the media and fan drubbing he took for failing to deal at the trading deadline. Todd Stottlemyre, one of the pitchers who got away, represents another illustration, perhaps, that some of the best trades are the ones you don’t make.

Stottlemyre went from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Texas Rangers on the night of the July 31 deadline, turning up the heat under Bavasi, but as Stottlemyre told Texas reporters this week, “right now I stink. I’m not happy with what I’m doing. Nobody in a Rangers’ uniform should be happy with me.”

Stottlemyre, who faces the Chicago White Sox today, has won three of five starts for Texas, but the Rangers have scored 35 runs in those three games. He has a 7.03 earned-run average with Texas, has finished the sixth inning only once, has retired the side in order only twice in the five starts and opponents are hitting .352 with a .633 slugging percentage.

Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise. Stottlemyre, 9-9 with a 3.51 earned-run average with the Cardinals, has always been an intense competitor who tends to be his own worst enemy. As a potential free agent, the hired-gun label he acquired when acquired by Texas, combined with the high expectations, intensified the pressure he puts on himself.

“Has it been tough since the trade?” Stottlemyre said. “Yes, but we’re paid to handle those situations. I’ve probably put extra pressure on myself to perform, trying to excel. Because of that, maybe there is something that keeps me from being the best I can be.”

Stottlemyre saw David Cone handle a similar situation when they were teammates with Toronto in 1992 and recently sought out Cone, now with the New York Yankees, for advice.

Cone told him to relax, which for Stottlemyre has never been easy.

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The fifth inning of Friday night’s game between the Angels and Boston Red Sox was typical of Steve Avery’s long struggle to regain the groove of his early Atlanta years. Sometimes he has it, then suddenly he doesn’t. Avery had worked 4 1/3 shutout innings, striking out the last three batters. Then the roof fell. He gave up two singles and a groundout and walked three consecutive batters, prompting his departure from a five-run inning. He is 9-6 with a 5.38 ERA, and the Red Sox, presuming they qualify as the wild card, aren’t at all certain who would be their fourth starter--after Pedro Martinez, Tim Wakefield and Bret Saberhagen--if they advance past the first round of the playoffs.

Saberhagen is 11-6 with a 4.28 ERA (he has seven no decisions in his last nine starts), and the extent of his comeback from radical shoulder surgery after the 1995 season--he missed ’96 entirely--can be measured by the fact that the Red Sox are negotiating a three-year contract that would pay him a minimum of $8 million. He received a base of $1.6 million this year, but has already earned $2.7 million through incentives.

The 34-year-old right-hander said this week there will be no new contract until he reaches a settlement with his former wife reducing alimony and child support. He had earlier said he was thinking of retirement because nearly half his income was going to those payments.

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Because the Seattle Mariner bullpen has been blowing leads for two seasons, pitching coach Stan Williams said it’s time to return the favor. “I have an idea what to do about the bullpen,” he said. “Napalm.”