Some Teams Out of Pennant Race Already

By RONALD BLUM

March 26, 2000 12 AM PT

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRADENTON, Fla. — There is no buzz at Popi’s Place, the homestyle restaurant behind home plate at McKechnie Field. The tables are mostly empty a few doors down at Tia Oli’s Mexican restaurant, too.

Inside the ballpark, just 3,488 fans are watching the Pittsburgh Pirates play an exhibition game against the Minnesota Twins on a sunny afternoon. There are no TV trucks or satellite dishes, hardly any reporters.

This is as far from glamour and glitz as it gets, two small-market teams with little hope of seeing postseason play. The first pitch of the season hasn’t been thrown, but they’re already out of it.

“We have a lot of people who belong in the minor leagues, but we don’t have that luxury,” Twins manager Tom Kelly says, watching his players take batting practice.

At 49, Kelly is in his 15th season, the senior manager in the major leagues when it comes to tenure with one team. He led his team to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991, back when the little guys still had a chance.

But those days are gone. The eight playoff teams last year were all among the 10 highest spenders, with payrolls of $56 million or more.

October is for the rich man. The poor man has March.

Even though they have no shot, small-market players still have hope this time of year. Their minds are filled with what-ifs.

What if the big-market guys have injuries and stumble, like the Dodgers did last year?

What if we do everything right, like Cincinnati and Oakland did last year, up until they faded near the end?

That’s how players motivate themselves though 6 1/2 weeks of spring training, though 26 weeks and 162 games of the regular season, even if they play in front of empty seats night after night.

“We’re going to play whether there’s people there or not,” Pittsburgh’s Kevin Young said. “If you don’t come out, it’s your loss. We’re full of excitement.”

But by September, when the sunlight fades along with the chance to make the playoffs, there’s little excitement in the small-market ballparks.

Florida, Kansas City, Minnesota, Montreal, Oakland and Pittsburgh struggle to hold onto their young stars. At $14.65 million, the Marlins’ payroll was less than one-sixth of the Yankees, which reached $92 million.

The Marlins and Expos say they can’t survive unless they get new ballparks with high-priced luxury suites and big “revenue streams,” baseball’s buzzword for concession and signage money.

Once the games start, players don’t think about that.

“We’ve got it set in our minds to win baseball games,” said Graeme Lloyd, the big Australian reliever who left Toronto to sign with Montreal.

Yes, under new owner Jeffrey Loria, the Expos are actually signing free agents instead of losing them, “Montreal baseball fans should be very happy with what’s going on here,” Lloyd said. “That’s certainly one of the reasons I came here. I’ve been in different situations with Milwaukee and New York, and now I look forward to being with a building team that within the next couple of years will be a very competitive team.”

Fans in Florida and San Diego had the most intimate experiences with the feast-or-famine baseball of the 1990s.

The Marlins boosted their payroll in 1997 to the top five and won the World Series. They then got rid of all the veterans after owner H. Wayne Huizenga decided to sell the team, and lost 108 games the following year, finishing with the worst record in baseball.

San Diego, seeking approval for a new ballpark, won the NL pennant in 1998. After the stadium financing seemed secure, the Padres pared the payroll and dropped to fourth place at 74-88 last year.

“There’s definitely an advantage when you’ve got open pockets,” said second baseman Bret Boone, dealt from the Braves to the Padres during the offseason. “I definitely wouldn’t sit here and lie and say I expect us to go out and compete and have a chance to go to the World Series.”

Yet Boone doesn’t approach the start of the season downcast.

“Of course, it’s different sitting in here or sitting in the Yankees’ locker room right now, who’ve won the World Series three of the last four years. They have a good chance to be able to get back there again,” he said. “But we’re working toward the new ballpark in a couple of years and the revenue’s going to be more. You’ve got to start somewhere.”

Baseball really has three classes now, not two: The big guys, who can spend, spend, spend and win, win, win. The little guys, who can lose, lose, lose. And those in the middle. They have a chance to get into the playoffs, but they won’t get into the World Series unless they hit a hot streak.

Cincinnati and Oakland, the overachievers of 1999, are examples of teams in the middle. They almost got to October, despite the lack of high-priced stars.

Boone thinks about the Reds, who went 96-67, finishing 1 1/2 games behind Houston, the NL Central winner.

“Coming out of spring,” he said, “no one gave them a shot in the world. They won almost 100 games.”