In big-league baseball, as in life, mothers and fathers are the same.
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Buddy Bell, the rookie manager of the Detroit Tigers, has the hopeless task of trying to make the Tigers respectable–let’s say, a .500 club. But they have been terribly inept. To put it more bluntly, they are the worst team in either the American or National League.
After Friday night’s 9-0 loss to the White Sox, the Tigers were 13-41, 28 games under and 18 games off the pace in the AL East. Their longest winning streak is two, achieved once, in mid-April. They have lost as many as 12 in a row, which includes a companion stretch of 32 defeats in 36 games.
“I know what my father would say,” Bell observed. His father, Gus, a longtime, front-line major-league outfielder, died last year.
“He would tell me, `Buddy, you’ve got to start doing something.’ And my mother would say, `Don’t listen to him. It’s not your fault.’ “
And, of course, mom is right.
At the end of last season, it was obvious to all, with the possible exception of owner Mike Ilitch, the Tigers had gone south. They lost 51 of their last 74 games, easily the worst record in either league.
And even before this season had begun, two of the Tigers’ most reliable pitchers had been traded: Mike Henneman, an established reliever, and starter David Wells. The deals were made in anticipation of their free agency.
Lou Whitaker, the Tigers’ longtime All-Star second baseman, also departed. After 18 seasons in the majors, Whitaker decided he had enough and retired. So did Kirk Gibson, another veteran Detroit star.
Owner Ilitch also continued trimming the player payroll, which in the last two years has been cut in half, from $44 to $22 million. Moreover, $16 million goes to two players–first baseman Cecil Fielder and third baseman Travis Fryman. The Tigers’ entire 10-man pitching staff, according to most estimates, is ticketed at $2 million.
“I didn’t expect to be managing a championship team,” Bell said. “I was somewhat prepared, but not prepared to this extent. I thought we’d play better ball.”
Bell succeeded Sparky Anderson as the Tigers’ manager last November. A star player himself–five All-Star Games, six Gold Gloves–Bell was a bench coach with the Cleveland Indians last season. For the last few seasons he’s been regarded as a leading managerial candidate.
Even Ron Schueler, the White Sox general manager, expressed interest in Bell–before hiring Gene Lamont, who has since been fired and succeeded by Terry Bevington.
But the Tigers were the first to make a solid offer, and Bell leaped at the opportunity. And now three months into the season, Bell is leading the league in receiving condolences.
“I was sitting in the airport very depressed,” Cubs General Manager Ed Lynch recalled at Wrigley Field last Wednesday. “We had lost 18-1 to Atlanta, and I’m thinking, `It can’t get worse!’
“Then a score flashes across the screen–Toledo, 14, Detroit 1. And I realize it can get worse.”
Toledo is the Tigers’ Triple-A farm club in the International League.
“It was misleading,” Bell explained Friday night. “We had Omar Olivares pitching for us. He’d been out for six weeks with a hamstring pull. And we used three Class A pitchers.”
Whatever, the Tigers may have the weakest pitching in modern baseball history. Their 7.00 team earned-run average (through Friday), if maintained, would break the one-season record of 6.71, set by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1930 when the entire National League batted .303.
Some sample Detroit ERAs, through Friday, of pitchers who have appeared in 11 or more games:
Greg Keagle, 7.58; Felipe Lira, 6.40; Greg Gohr, 6.00; Greg Olson, 5.93; Brian Williams, 5.88; Mike Myers, 5.53; Olivares, 5.40; and Richie Lewis, 3.66. The bullpen has converted only six of 23 save opportunities.
Bell and Anderson, his predecessor, have been in touch.
“But one of the things Sparky asked me to do,” Bell said, “is not to talk about our conversations.”
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Still, Bell conceded the message, essentially, is “hang in there.”
Which is what Bell intends to do.
“People tell me I’ve been very patient,” Bell said. “And I have been patient. But it’s mainly because the players, all the players, have been playing hard. That’s all any manager can ask. I’m really very happy and content.
“It will take awhile, but we’ll improve.”