The rap against pitcher Jaime Navarro is that he can’t get along with his manager. He’s tough to handle because he complains when he’s taken out of a game. Hurrah! He’s reminiscent of Hall-of-Famer Early Wynn, a 300-game winner who was the pitching star of the 1959 White Sox, the last Chicago club to win a pennant.
One summery afternoon, Sox manager Al Lopez trudged to the mound and held his hand out, requesting the ball. It was the fourth inning. Wynn had been soaked for five runs.
“Here, you can have it!” Wynn snarled.
And he threw the ball at Lopez, hitting him in the stomach. It was Lopez’s weak spot. He had developed a bad boiler, the result of managing second-place clubs.
So far as is known, Navarro, whom the White Sox acquired Tuesday, never has thrown a ball at any of his managers. His complaints have been oral, not physical. To survive, current Sox dugout wizard Terry Bevington needs only earmuffs.
“I like a guy who doesn’t want to come out of a game.” General Manager Ron Schueler said.
A pitcher of middling ability–40-48 lifetime–Schueler admitted, “I yelled at a few managers myself.”
Whether Navarro and slugger Albert Belle will contain their anger will be Bevington’s problem. At season’s end, Bevington may have a cluster of Purple Hearts. Of more consequence, the Sox, without any sniveling, have replaced the departing Alex Fernandez with a front-line quality pitcher.
Navarro, in the last two seasons, has won 29 games, one more than Fernandez, who had the luxury of a much stronger bullpen. The only other meaningful statistic is innings pitched: 462 for Fernandez, 437 for Navarro. So it’s a wash.
“We’re a lot better off than we were yesterday,” Schueler said Wednesday night.
Asked to name the Sox starting rotation going into the new season, Schueler mentioned Wilson Alvarez, James Baldwin, Navarro and lefty Mike Bertotti, in that order.
Does that mean he figures Navarro as the No. 3 starter?
Schueler seemed amused.
“Why not?” he said. “Alvarez won 15 games and Baldwin won 11. They’re not chopped liver.”
It isn’t often a front-line pitcher jumps from the Cubs to the Sox or vice-versa. Two or three dozen pitchers have worked on both sides of town but, in the main, they have been lesser talents such as Vito Valentinetti, a long-ago and obscure reliever.
It has been obvious the Cubs made little or no effort to re-sign Navarro. Manager Jim Riggleman wasn’t anxious to have him back. More than likely, several other clubs expressed only mild interest in him because of his reputation as a whiner.
Whatever, both Chicago clubs have been active in the free-agent market. The Cubs will have a much better infield with the return of shortstop Shawon Dunston and have patched their leaky bullpen with the addition of Mel Rojas, who last season was among the National League’s premier closers.
Rojas had 36 saves in 40 opportunities, an excellent ratio. The Cubs, as a team, only had 34 saves. That means there wasn’t much to save and, when there was, the relievers were not consistently effective.
More Top Picks Ratings
General Manager Ed Lynch should be lauded for his enterprise. Still, he essentially has repaired the back end of a weak pitching staff. Steve Trachsel was their second-best starter last season and finished with 13 victories. No other remaining starter won as many 10 games.
The problem is that rebuilding a big-league baseball team requires many parts. The acquisition of veteran left-hander Terry Mulholland is a step in the right direction. But if Lynch is unable to come up with at least one established starter, half the games will be over in the fourth or fifth inning, and there won’t be much for Rojas to save.