8901310149
DETROIT FREE PRESS
890730
Sunday, July 30, 1989
METRO FINAL
1E
MITCH ALBOM
SEE ALSO METRO EDITION, Page 1E
Copyright (c) 1989, Detroit Free Press
LAJOIE TRIES TO RIDE OUT TIGERS' STORMY SEASON
Today, he's not such a genius. The fans are bored, the team is a mess. Even
the good players are barely hitting the ball. Bill Lajoie will ride it out.
The same way he rode it out when everybody loved him. Remember? Two years
ago?
"In some ways this is easier than that," sighs the man with the thick
eyebrows who, as general manager, is the wheeler- dealer for the Tigers. "In
a winning season, like '87, you have to be so alert. The slightest little
crack, you have to jump in and fix it."
Right. This year there are no cracks; this year the whole damn wall fell
in. The Tigers are not in the basement, they are the basement. And Lajoie is
the guy with the mop. Clean it up, Bill. Make some trades, Bill. Pull some
aces from the farm system, Bill. And while you're at it, see if you can save
those Brazilian rain forests.
Here is the urge: blockbuster moves. Headlines. A brazen display of front
office effort. He resists. He does not call colleagues and say, "What would
you give me for Alan Trammell?" -- even when they circle like vultures.
"You'd be surprised at what other GMs try. They figure you need to show
people you're building for the future, that maybe you're desperate, so they
offer you some guy in the minor leagues who hasn't put the ball over the plate
in three years. And they want one of my regular players," Lajoie says.
He politely refuses. But he will not forget. Years from now, when the
tables are turned, Bill Lajoie will remember these days and the guys who are
trying to suck his blood. In the meantime, he has a few things to say.
It's all in the attitude
First of all, he is not trading Trammell or Lou Whitaker because, quite
frankly, he does not think that talent is the big problem. "It's the thinking
that isn't right," he says. "The attitude. Guys can be having off-seasons and
still do little things to help their teammates win. Instead, this group seems
to be more caught up with themselves."
Attitude? The Tigers? Yes, Lajoie says, this year anyhow. The fans, of
course, will blame it on management. After all, who let Lance Parrish, Kirk
Gibson, Darrell Evans and Tom Brookens go?
"An awful lot was made of that," Lajoie says. "And Lance never fails to
blame the Tigers. Even now. I wish one of those reporters would remind Lance
that he was the one who left -- for less money. Maybe that would quiet him
down.
"As for the guys like Evans and Brookens, frankly, we expected other
players on our squad to step up and fill those leadership positions. I have
the highest regard for Evans and Brookens, but their physical contributions
were clearly diminishing.
"People say, 'If only we had those guys, we could win it.' But they were
here in 1985 and '86 and we didn't win it. The glue of this team, talent-wise,
is still here. In the AL East, we should be able to contend. You saw the
California series. We were one player from winning all of those games."
Instead, they lost all four -- on the last at-bat.
Not that Lajoie wouldn't like a few of his moves back. Had he foreseen
the fuss over Brookens, he admits, he wouldn't have made the trade. And then
there was a certain flabby infielder named Chris Brown, part of the winter
deal for Walt Terrell. Brown lasted in a Detroit uniform only slightly longer
than he lasted on his diet.
"He conned all of us," Lajoie says. "On the press tour (in February) he
looked great, said the right things. Next time I saw him, he had gained 15
pounds. After five days I said to Sparky, 'This guy has got to go.' That's one
trade I'd like back."
Maybe next year will be different
But of course, nothing is coming back. The injuries are real, they left
this club crippled. The manager is real, he needed a break from the pressure.
The record is real: dead last. Basement. And all eyes turn to the GM.
Whom will Lajoie mop away? Well. When spring training began, no player
was signed for next season except Chet Lemon. Since that time, Trammell and
Whitaker have received contracts. That was not by accident. Lajoie will stick
by them, as he likely will stick by Jack Morris, Doyle Alexander, Frank
Tanana and a few others. If he gets them signed.
The rest? Who knows? Remember when Sparky rejoiced at all these free
agents, promising they would be hungry and ready to play? Forget that. And
forget this era of "cagey-veteran" Tigers. On Friday, they traded Keith
Moreland, the team's leading hitter, to Baltimore for minor league pitching
prospect Brian Dubois. Moreland is 35. Dubois is 22. At his office at Tiger
Stadium, Lajoie gets letters from fans suggesting trades. In years past,
they've been fairly intelligent. This player for that player. "Now they want
me to trade 10 guys at once."
He laughs. Sure, he'd love it if Tom Monaghan paid for a cluster of
free-agent superstars. He'd love it if the farm system wasn't a pit of
mediocrity. He'd love it if all the pulled tendons and wrists and elbows went
back into place, and everyone was healthy.
Then again, he'd love to fix that Brazilian rain forest problem. For now,
he fishes for youth, trusts his instincts and waits. Baseball is funny. Next
year, they may be calling him a genius again. He'll laugh at that one, too.
Mitch Albom's sports talk show, "The Sunday Sports Albom," airs tonight 9-11
on WLLZ-FM (98.7). Guests: Isiah Thomas, Denny McLain.