Lugo, Fraser Compete for Job That Bedeviled a Few Angels

MESA, Ariz. â€”  Urbano Lugo and Willie Fraser, step lightly and pitch tightly. That job you covet on the Angels’ pitching staff--No. 5 starter--was baseball’s own little shop of horrors in 1986, chewing up a host of good men.

Remember those who went before you:

--Jim Slaton. A nice guy who, because of John Candelaria’s elbow surgery, began 1986 as the Angels’ fifth starter. Lasted two months. Went 4-6 with a 5.65 earned-run average. Was released June 30. Later caught on as a mop-up man with the Detroit Tigers.

--Mike Cook. Flown in from Double-A Midland for emergency assistance. Made one start, July 1, against Chicago. Lasted 3 innings, allowed 5 hits, 2 walks and 5 runs in a 5-3 Angel defeat. Was optioned to Edmonton July 18.

--Ron Romanick. A 14-game winner in 1985, Romanick shifted from No. 4 to No. 5 starter upon Candelaria’s return July 8. Went 0-2 in July, bringing his season record to 5-8 and his ERA to 5.50. Was demoted to Edmonton July 22, then traded to New York Yankees Dec. 19.

--Ray Chadwick. A hard-throwing 23-year-old who had impressed in spring. Recalled July 22 to replace Romanick. Started seven games, failed to win one. Finished at 0-5 with a 7.24 ERA. Was removed from Angels’ 40-man roster during the winter.

--Vern Ruhle. A scrap-heap project who began the year throwing batting practice for the Angels and pitching for the semipro Orange County A’s. Made three starts in August, going 1-2. Final stats: 1-3, 4.15. Was not offered a major league contract by Angels in November. Settled for a minor league contract in February.

It became a season-long joke for the Angels. Disposable pitchers. Little deposit, no return. Every month, flip over the calendar and pick a new name from the hat.

Such a millstone might have sunk lesser staffs. Yet, the Angels managed to win a division championship.

That’s because the four other starters won 60 games. Mike Witt emerged as a Cy Young Award contender with 18 victories. Kirk McCaskill won 17 games. Don Sutton went 15-11, winning his 300th game in the process. And Candelaria finished 10-2 after pitching barely three months.

The Angels had never before had three 15-game winners in the same season. That covers a quarter-century.

But to say that the Angels had their best starting pitching ever in 1986 is only 80% correct.

“From June on, whenever we went out there with Kirk or Mike or Sutton or John, we felt like we were going to win,� pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. “But with the other one, there was always the feeling of, ‘Boy, we’re going to have to scramble.’ �

The trail of discarded pitchers leads back here, where the Angels have resumed their search for a capable fifth hand. The great hope is that the search will end with either Lugo, a name from the past, or Fraser, a name for the future.

Lugo, 24, was part of the Angels’ young-blood transfusion in 1985. Along with McCaskill, Bob Kipper, Stewart Cliburn, Pat Clements and Tony Mack, he was one of six rookies who pitched for California before the annual Sept. 1 roster expansion.

Lugo appeared in 20 games, started 10 games and went 3-4 with a 3.69 ERA. He beat Chicago twice, eventual World Series champion Kansas City once and looked, at the very least, like a sure thing for the Angel bullpen in 1986.

Instead, he began the season on the disabled list. An elbow injury suffered while pitching winter ball in Venezuela required surgery in late January.

Lugo didn’t pitch again until late May and then worked through rehabilitative stints at Midland and Edmonton. His absence grew in significance each time another Angel fifth starter took a dive. Waiting for Lugo became the title of this tragicomedy.

Finally, he returned Sept. 1 and started three times, posting a 1-1 mark. This was major news in Anaheim--a 1-1 record from the No. 5 position in the rotation.

“That was very good for me,� Lugo said. “I came back pretty fast and knew I had to take care of my arm. I had to keep it on my mind all the time. But in September, I came back to throw pretty good.�

That brought on another trip back home to Venezuela. Another winter, with different results.

A career that was put on hold in January of 1986 took a major step forward 12 months later. This January, Lugo pitched Caracas to the championship of the Venezuelan Winter League with a 4-0 no-hit victory. And it was a no-hitter that carried some interesting historical ramifications.

Fourteen years earlier, Lugo’s father, Urbano Lugo Sr., had also pitched a no-hitter in the same league, for the same Caracas team. And the man who caught that 1973 no-hitter, former major leaguer Bo Diaz, also caught Urbano Lugo Jr.’s in 1987.

“He caught my father’s during the first year of his professional career and retired after he caught mine,� Lugo said.

The no-hitter impressed the Angels and inflated Lugo’s confidence. “Now, this is my year,� he said.

Manager Gene Mauch rates Lugo the early favorite. “Lugo’s more advanced because of his experience,� Mauch said. “Not just his experience over here, but those innings he pitched in Venezuela. They’re all important.�

Fraser, at 21, is still something of an unknown. His bid is based mainly on raw ability--his fastball has been clocked at 94 m.p.h. and is consistently in the 90s--and some eye-opening numbers compiled last season at Palm Springs and Edmonton.

The Angels’ No. 1 selection in the 1985 draft, Fraser began 1986 in Class A at Palm Springs. There, he went 9-2 with a 3.55 ERA, earning a jump to triple-A by late July. At Edmonton, Fraser was 4-1 with a 3.15 ERA, walking just eight batters in 40 innings.

With an overall record of 13-3, Fraser shared Angel minor league player-of-the-year honors with outfielder Dante Bichette.

“He came on very fast,� Lachemann said. “He did a good job in Palm Springs and even better in triple-A. He wasn’t walking anybody in triple-A.�

After Sept. 1, Fraser earned a promotion when the major league rosters were expanded. He started once for the Angels, allowing 4 runs in 4 innings but earning no decision against Cleveland.

“We didn’t see the real Willie Fraser there,� Mauch said. “That boy can throw. But by that point of the season, he was pitching with a tired arm.�

Fraser, who had previously pitched at Concordia College in New York, admitted that he was fatigued by the time he was recalled by the Angels.

“That’s the most I’ve ever thrown in one season,� he said. “I threw about 180 innings. Being from the East Coast, with the cold weather, if I threw 80 innings in a season, that was a lot for me. It just caught up with me.�

Fraser took the winter off and, apparently, brushed up the Angels’ problem at No. 5 starter.

“This is the best possible situation I can be in,� he said. “They need a fifth starter and probably two long men in the bullpen. This is a big chance for me. I have an excellent shot to make this team.�

Also back in camp, hoping for a second chance, is Chadwick. But as a nonroster player who had a 0-5 record in 1986, he realizes there may not be a second chance.

“Maybe that was it,� Chadwick said. “Some guys only get that one chance. Maybe I’ll wind up as one of those who got their chance and blew it.�

Chadwick had to wonder when he received the word that the Angels were taking him off the 40-man roster in December. At the time, he was pitching for the Mayaguez Indians of the Puerto Rican Winter League.

“That really bothered me,� he said. “That’s when I really started struggling down there. I had three games where I couldn’t get out of the fifth inning. I was ready to leave Puerto Rico and go home. I heard I was not coming to the big-league (spring) camp, either. I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got to start all over again.’ �

A phone call by Lachemann persuaded Chadwick to finish the season in Puerto Rico.

“He told me I’d be coming to camp and that I did have a chance at that fifth spot,� Chadwick said. “He said, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ �

The front runners, however, are Lugo and Fraser. Lugo has the advantage of experience. He has been pitching professionally, either here or in Venezuela, since his teens. Fraser is bigger--6 feet 3 inches and 200 pounds--and stronger, but younger. Both rely heavily on the forkball.

Either way, Lachemann expects improvement over the wreckage of ’86.

“I think it will be a stronger spot,� Lachemann said. “This year, when we send the fifth starter out there, our players will feel like they’ll have a chance to win the ballgame.�

Angel Notes The Angels announced the addition of Rick Down to their coaching staff Wednesday. Down, 36, has spent the last three seasons as the Angels’ minor league hitting instructor and is expected to assist Angel hitting coach Moose Stubing with such younger players as Devon White, Jack Howell, Mark McLemore and Gus Polidor. Down, a former outfielder in the Montreal Expos’ organization, previously spent six seasons as the hitting coach at Nevada Las Vegas and managed Seattle’s Class A affiliate, Bellingham, to the Northwest League championship in 1977. . . . Position players are expected to report to Mesa today, with the first full-squad workout scheduled for Friday.