THE OUTER EDGE, A Weekly Report on the 2001 Season, by James Floto

WEEK 17: The Burgeoning Pennant Race and Last Minute Trades

What a week this has been. Last week we talked about the gritty Red Sox, missing several of their key players hanging tight with the Yankees. The Yanks took off this week and grew a 1 game lead into a 3 1/2 game margin over the Bosox. Of the teams we call the little champs --the Phils, Twins and Cubs, who few thought had any chance when the season began -- the Twins continue their exciting see-saw race with the Indians (who lead by 1/2 now), the Phils fell from 2 to 3 games behind Atlanta in spite of being swept by the Mets this weekend, and the Cubs boosted their lead over the Astros from 2 to 4 1/2 games. Seattle continues playing plus .700 ball, but the second place A's, while 20 out in their division, are most definitely in the wild card race. And in the NL West, the surging Dodgers passed the slumping Diamondbacks and now lead them by a game and a half. The third place Giants, who lead the majors in last-minute deals, are only 4 games out after winning 5 straight.

So what about those Giant deals? First of all they acquired Andres Galarraga from the Rangers, who have given up on 2001 and are looking ahead to getting some pitching to make the A-Rod deal worthwhile over the long run. First they let Ken Caminiti go and the Braves picked him up, then The Big Cat went to San Francisco. For now, the veteran slugger will replace J.T. Snow, the flashy first sacker who hits for power in spurts. Then the Giants made a very slick move, acquiring starter Jason Schmidt, for whom the Pirates have been waiting for a break-through year for half a decade, but never supplied the team to do it. The Giants have Russ Ortiz (12-6), Shawn Estes (8-5), Kirk Rueter (10-7) and Livan Hernandez, their putative ace who got off to a horrible start, is 8-11, but has won his last three starts. To this add a revitalized Jason Schmidt, a California native who grew up a Giants fan and this could be a strong five man squad. They also got super-sub Jon Vander Wal in the deal, a contemporary Tony Phillips who many clubs wanted. They had to give up a talented young outfielder in Armando Rios, but they need pitching more than outfielders. Then they turned around and traded Felipe Crespo, a utility man, to the Phils for Wayne Gomes, a guy who pitches 60 or 70 games every year. Thus with a revitalized rotation, a deeper bullpen, Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent and Rich Aurilia, plus the occasional power spurt by Galarraga, and the Giants, who were already in the race, become a greatly improved team, while the D-Backs continue to depend on their stalwart lineup but only two fine starters, Schilling and Randy Johnson, and the Dodgers, who finally seem to have put a good team together.

Across the Bay, the Oakland A's showed several things when they acquired Jermaine Dye from the Royals in a three-way deal with KC and Colorado involving several promising minor leaguers, and with talented Rockies shortstop Neifi Perez going to the Royals. Dye, of course, is already a star, and by acquiring him the A's showed (a) they have no intention of giving up on this year's wild card race, (b) they are strengthening the core of the club for the future and (c) they made one more attempt to show free agent to be and reigning MVP Jason Giambi (who is enjoying another MVP type season) that they want to retain him and build a strong club around him. An alternative explanation for (c) is that if Giambi does leave, they do have at least some punch left in Dye, although Dye would be the first to tell you he is no Jason Giambi -- few are.

The Cubs strengthened their growing chances for a playoff spot when Fred McGriff finally decided to approve his trade from Tampa (his hometown, where he maintains strong ties, including a large extended family) to Chicago. Matt Stairs, once a star for the A's, has been in decline for several years and has been a poor replacement for the popular Mark Grace, who is having a career year for Arizona. McGriff, of course, was a champion home run hitter (7 straight 30 home run seasons), but in recent years age slowly seemed to be catching up with him (in 2000, at age 36, he hit .277, with 27 homers and 106 RBI -- not vintage McGriff but still a valuable player.) This year he was hitting .318, with 19 homers and 61 RBI when he left the Rays. The Cubs, with their three excellent starters (Tapani, Bere and Lieber) needed some punch to go with Sammy Sosa and now they have it. Even without Freddie Mac, they have been able to hold their lead over the Astros and Cards, so now they are definite favorites in the NL Central. ON top of that, the Cubs acquired David Weathers, a full time reliever with a 2.03 ERA from the fast-fadng Brewers.

In two other key AL deals last week, Sterling Hitchcock returned to the Yankees from the Padres. Hitch is a stalwart reliever and is one of those kinds of players the Yankees typically acquire this time of year to strengthen an already beefy club. While they showed signs of finally pulling away from the Red Sox, Boston has David Cone on a six game win streak (and the Sox have won the last 11 games he started), have Nomar Garciaparra just returned from a season long DL stint (he homered and hit a two-run single in his first game back, and says his wrist is totally healed) and Pedro Martinez is due back in early September. In other words, if the Yanks are going to run away and hide, they had better do it soon, and Hitchcock is one more strong player for the Bombers.

In a similar deal, the Tigers dealt their top reliever, Todd Jones, to the Twins. As with most clubs, the Twins need pitching more than anything, especially if they are to last in the playoffs. Recent experience has shown all teams that it is the clubs with the deep bullpens that tend to last.

Meanwhile the Mets traded starter Rick Reed to the Twins for Matt Lawton, further strengthening the Twins pitching. They already have Mays, Radke and Milton having fine years and one more good starter could help them pull away from Cleveland. Or at least stay up with them. Lawton was one of the Twins key offensive and defensive weapons, but they felt they needed Reed's playoff experience with the Mets' last year even more. Although they have some second string players and called up a triple A player, the rumor mill is full of top names the Twins are trying to acquire, the most likely (as of today) being Dmitiri Young of the Reds. They will no doubt end up with someone who can hit to replace Lawton.

Finally, although there have been a dozen or so minor trades, the one other big deal made last week involved the Dodgers trading Onan Masaoka and two minor leaguers for Chicago White Sox starter (and former ace) James Baldwin. The Dodgers have always been known for their pitching, and with ace Kevin Brown down for over a month, they have relied on Chan Ho Park and rookie Luke Prokopec to keep them in the race. Terry Adams, usually a reliever has been pressed into the rotation, and Eric Gagne has started to pitch well, but they feel much more confident with Baldwin on the scene. Baldwin (7-5) was one of the many culprits involved in the Chisox slow start, but he has won three of four and had to know that dozens of scouts were checking him out for contending teams. The Dodgers had already passed the Diamondbacks before Baldwin arrived. With the Giants hot (they swept the Diamondbacks this weekend) and the Dodgers strutting into first, the NL West may be one of the most fiercely contested races, because the D-backs are still in it, too.

Other highlights of Week 17: Luis Gonzales hit his 41st homer, putting him within four of Barry Bonds league and MLB best 45 long flies. Gonzo also became the first player to drive in 100 runs in 2001. Jon Lieber of the Cubs won his 13th game. Roger Clemens not only raised his record to 14-1 but passed Tom Seaver up in the fourth spot on the career strikeout list and has only 38 to go to pass Bert Blyleven. Matt Williams of Arizona got three hits in a 12-4 romp over the Giants which featured a shouting match with former manager and friend Dusty Baker. On Sunday, Mark McGwire hit his 571st career homer against the Cubs, while Sammy Sosa hit his 35th of the season and 392nd as a Cub, tying him for second place on the Cubs' all-time list with Billy Williams. Bret Saberhagen returned to the Red Sox rotation and pitched well on Friday, winning his first game in two years. If Cone, Saberhagen. Wakefield and Nomo can keep pitching well and Pedro can come back in September without missing a beat, the Yanks are going to have their hands full. On Friday Greg Maddux(14-5) won his 10th straight decision. Jose Canseco hit his 452nd homer on Thursday, tying him with Carl Yastrzemski for 22nd all-time.

Stat's A Fact: Roberto Alomar leads the AL with a .356 BA, followed by teammate Juan Gonzales at .344, and two Seattle teammates, Bret Boone (.330) and Ichiro Suzuki (.328). Jason Giambi is fifth at .324. Felipe Alou of the Astros leads the NL at .357 and his teammate, Lance Berkman is second at .351, followed by Luis Gonzalez at .350, the Marlin's Cliff Floyd at .348 and Rich Aurilia of the Giants at .341.

HOMERS: Did you notice that Jim Thome (33) quietly passed Manny Ramirez (32), while A-Rod and Carlos Delgado are next with 28. IN the NL it's Bonds (45) and Luis Gonzalez (41), followed by Sosa (35), Todd Helton (31) and the Dodgers' Shawn Green (30).

RUNS: Suzuki, 88; A-Rod, 85; Mike Sweeney of the Royals, 77; RAlomar, 77 and Boone, 76. In the NL, Floyd and Luis Gonzales are tied for the league and ML lead with 89 runs; Helton is right behind at 88, followed by two Houston killer bees, Berkman (83) and Bagwell (82). Sosa has also crossed the plate 82 times.

Won-Loss Percentage: Clemens, at 15-1 has a .937 %; then come three Seattle starters, Aaron Sele (12-2, .857), Paul Abbott (10-2, .833, and Freddy Garcia (12-3, .800). Then comes C.C. Sabnathia, Cleveland's red hot rookie, with a 10-3, .769 record. In the NL: Last year's 19-game loser, Omar Daal has to be the biggest turn-around of the year, leading with a 10-3, .769 record. Schilling is next at 14-5, .737, the same record Maddux has. Lieber and Randy Johnson are tied for 4th at 13-5, .722.