Wednesday, September 14, 2005 |
Random Angels Game Callback
September 12, 1992
For four months after the Twins traded Bert Blyleven to the Angels in November, 1988, a controversy stewed over his salary. The move, justifiably criticized at the time as coming eleven years too late, turned out to be a comparative bargain for the Angels. For a pitcher who just came off a solid postseason performance, the Angels only had to give up righty reliever Mike Cook, 1B/DH Paul Sorrento, and minor leaguers Kevin Trudeau and Rob Wassenaar. The reasons Angels GM Mike Port got Blyleven for so little came down to three:- He was about to be 38 just after opening day.
- In 1986 and 87, he had surrendered 48 and 50 home runs, the latter a major league record. Despite his excellence in the recent postseason, the end was nearing, and everybody could see it coming. Port had already been accused in the media of acquiring a broken-down name pitcher -- a replay of Dan Petry, who only pitched 51 innings in the second year of his contract and only garnered three wins in the first, or Bill Travers, who completely missed his second season, or John D'Acquisto, who only pitched five games for the Angels. It was a long stretch of bad signings, and the charge was all too easy to launch.
- Blyleven had gotten himself into an ugly contract dispute with the Twins front office. In midseason 1988, agent Dick Moss was negotiating a two-year contract extension worth $1.9 million. But Blyleven was having another mediocre season: despite cutting his home runs to less than half the previous year, he would finish with a worse ERA, 5.43, and a worse record, 10-16. Minnesota GM Andy MacPhail took the offer off the table, and gave him a take-it-or-leave-it contract of $800,000 for one year. "I had the feeling I wouldn't be coming back to the Twins", Blyleven said in the offseason, and he was right. He had just become a problem to be dealt with.
Unfortunately, the skeptics were right; Blyleven missed the entire 1991 season, and all of April the next year besides, the result of not one but two surgeries on his rotator cuff. His early rehab starts at AA Midland and AAA Edmonton weren't that encouraging, surrendering 18 runs on 44.2 IP, and seven runs in 5.2 IP in his final start with Edmonton against the Portland Beavers. But, the '92 Angels weren't in a position to complain, and so in the rotation he went.
By the time this particular Sunday rolled around, the Angels had stumbled to a 64-78 record, good for fifth in the seven-team AL West. Woeful offense and good but never great pitching held the Angels down all season, and Blyleven epitomized the latter. He started this game, in Minnesota, by surrendering a solo home run in the first to Kirby Puckett, echoing his earlier bad seasons for the Twins. In the second, a throwing error by shortstop Luis Sojo would turn into another two runs, both unearned, and by the time the day was over, Blyleven gave up five runs, of which three were earned. The Twins behind Scott Erickson were nearly unhittable that day, prompting manager Buck Rodgers to remark, "He had shutout type of stuff today.... We were fortunate to scratch out a couple runs." Of course, almost everyone had shutout stuff against the '92 Halos. The Angels lost that game 7-2, finishing the year in sixth place, 72-90, enjoying only a single winning month all year. Curiously, the Angels kept their one bright spot that year -- a young slugger named Tim Salmon -- out of the lineup that day. The next season, he would win Rookie of the Year, and Blyleven would be out of baseball.
Thanks to Retrosheet and the Los Angeles Times for their assistance.
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