Brewers Building New Stadium and Expectations

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Will the Milwaukee Brewers’ rebuilding be completed before construction of their new ballpark?

The tasks are not unrelated.

The Brewers needed assurance of improved revenue in a new park to survive in Milwaukee, owner and acting Commissioner Bud Selig said, and to continue a slow rebuilding process that may be about to get expensive if the club is serious about retaining young talent.

“We’d have been dead and gone [without the new park],” Selig said.

Political and financial complications continue to develop, but work has begun on Miller Park, scheduled to open in 2000.

In the meantime, the improving Brewers face a difficult challenge in the American League Central. They are maxed out with a $22-million

payroll that ranks 24th among 28 teams, Selig said, but the reality of a new stadium changes their course some.

If in position to challenge for a wild card or division title in late summer, Selig said he wouldn’t reject the addition of a veteran player or two. He added that the Brewers should be in position to retain their young talent, some of which is still a year or two away.

The Brewers have been rebuilding for five years now, overachieving at times under Manager Phil Garner.

The revenue-sharing and luxury-tax aspects of the new labor agreement should help small-market Milwaukee, but Selig said the timeline to the new stadium was critical.

“I think we’re moving past the hope stage,” he said, referring both to the team and franchise.

As for ‘97, Garner put it this way:

“Is it realistic to think we can win the division? Probably not. Is it realistic to think we can compete for the wild card? Yes, it is.”

The Brewers were 80-82 last year, 19 games behind Cleveland, the Central winner, and are perceived as a team that did nothing to improve while division rivals had a busy winter.

The Chicago White Sox signed Albert Belle. The Indians acquired Matt Williams. The Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals jumped off the small-market map, the Twins signing Terry Steinbach and Bob Tewksbury while the Royals traded for Jay Bell and Jeff King and brought Scott Cooper back from Japan.

“We made as many changes as anyone, but we made them at a time when people forgot about them,” Garner said. “We did it at a time and in a way that we had to do it.”

He meant last July, when the Brewers conceded their ’96 chances and the possibility of re-signing free-agent eligible Greg Vaughn and traded him to the San Diego Padres for outfielder Marc Newfield and relief pitchers Bryce Florie and Ron Villone.

At the same time, Kevin Seitzer was traded to Cleveland for outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, and Pat Listach and Graeme Lloyd were dealt to the New York Yankees for center fielder Gerald Williams and reliever Bob Wickman.

“We have a new outfield [of Newfield, Williams and Burnitz] and three new relief pitchers because of those moves,” Garner said.

“There’s no question the Twins and Royals are improved, but I can’t put them so far ahead of us to say that they’re pennant contenders and we’re not.

“Chicago is the team to beat in our division. The Indians won’t be as good. That’s not a slam at Williams, but they’ll be a different club without Belle.”

The Brewers can hit. They have some promising offensive threats in first baseman John Jaha, third baseman Jeff Cirillo, shortstop Jose Valentin, left fielder Newfield and designated hitter Dave Nilsson. If Jeff D’Amico is ready and Cal Eldred has recovered from 1995 elbow surgery, a rotation that includes Ben McDonald (12-10) and Scott Karl (13-9) could be better than most.

The Brewers lack depth, however, and have to improve on defense. Their four infielders made a league-high 85 errors last year, and Valentin, Cirillo and second baseman Fernando Vina led their positions in errors.

“We’ve taken a step back in terms of leadership and experience, but I like our overall talent as much as at any time since ‘92,” Garner said.

That was Garner’s first year in Milwaukee, and the Brewers were 92-70, a division contender. The economically motivated makeover started in ‘93, and has been a slow, frustrating process, Garner said, citing 1995 when the Brewers were in the wild-card hunt until their competitors made late-season acquisitions that helped blow out his stand-pat team.

“We went from a half-game out to five out in four days,” he said. “We didn’t get worse and we didn’t fold. The others simply got better.”

With a new park on the horizon, maybe the Brewers are about to get better. Outfielders Geoff Jenkins and Chad Green, left hander Valerio De Los Santos and infielder Antoine Williamson are knocking on the big league door. Valentin and Eldred have been re-signed through 2000. Garner agreed to a two-year extension during the winter.

“These are my guys,” he said of the young nucleus. “I think they can play and I want to see if they can.”

The irony is, the team may arrive before the new stadium does, but that would be a positive and affordable development, Selig said, since he expects to capitalize on fan nostalgia for County Stadium in the final years before the move to the new park.

The question lingers: Will Selig be moving with his team to the new park or to New York as the full-time commissioner?

AMERICAN OR NATIONAL?

One more move the Brewers may make: to the National League Central as part of sweeping realignment for 1999.

The executive council will receive an update from the realignment committee Thursday in Palm Beach, Fla. There are too many possibilities to expect a definitive plan until midsummer.

Milwaukee has a National League history, of course, with the Braves and the hysteria they brought when they moved from Boston, then won two pennants and a World Series in the ‘50s. Still, the Braves were in Milwaukee for only 13 seasons, the last in ‘65, and the Brewers will be starting their 27th.

“Our position is like most [clubs’],” Selig said. “We’re not anxious to move but we’re willing to listen.”

The final plan needs only majority approval, a change from the previous three-fourths requirement, but any club asked to move can veto it.

TALKING ABOUT WRATH

Another successful spring outing has left Seattle Mariner ace Randy Johnson so confident in his comeback from back surgery that he said of the season:

“The wrath of Randy will be out there. That will be my motivation, to make up for last year. My conditioning program has been so good that I’m thinking about pitching now, not my back. I mean, when I was lying on that operating table [Sept. 12], throwing 96-97 mph like I have been was the furthest thing from my mind.”

Unfortunately for the Mariners, the comeback of Dennis Martinez, 41, has not been as successful.

Martinez was released by the Indians with arm and shoulder problems last year and has struggled to get his pitches over 85 mph.

MESA’S WOES

The spring shelling should prepare the Angels for the season-opening gantlet of 13 consecutive games against Boston, Cleveland and New York.

One break: The Indians will be without closer Jose Mesa, who faces separate trials on charges of sexual assault and carrying a concealed weapon and will be lost to the club indefinitely.

The Indians will probably get league permission to carry an extra pitcher in Mesa’s absence and will close by committee, using Paul Shuey, Eric Plunk and Mike Jackson.

“Taking away a team’s closer is usually a huge disadvantage,” Manager Mike Hargrove said. “But it wouldn’t be as big a hole for us to fill as it would be for some teams, because we’ve got other power arms we can use.”

AND . . .

--The Atlanta Braves were expected to trade David Justice to relieve an outfield logjam and lower the payroll, but Justice, returning from the shoulder injury that sidelined him almost all of last year, will now open the season in right field, leaving World Series phenom Andruw Jones, who is having a miserable spring, possibly returning to the minors, and Jermaine Dye and Ryan Klesko platooning in left. . . .

--Unless the Yankees reverse course and agree to give up outfield prospect Ricky Ledee, a trade with the Padres for Hideki Irabu appears dead, which doesn’t disturb Manager Joe Torre. His rotation of Andy Pettitte, David Cone, David Wells, Dwight Gooden and Kenny Rogers has been physically fit and successful this spring, compiling a 1.69 earned-run average through midweek.

--Attention, Terry Collins: Relief pitcher Todd Jones, traded by the Houston Astros to the Detroit Tigers, said a lack of unity characterized the Astros’ clubhouse.

“We had 30 cabs for 25 players--five extra so you could jump from one to another and not be followed,” Jones said.

Of course, the Astros had a chance to win. The Tigers?

“This is the first time I’ve ever been in a camp where no one talked about winning,” Jones conceded.