Sports
University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, December 4, 1990
9
Free agents say 'make an offer'
The Associated Press
ROSEMONT. III. — Will MeeGee, Terry Pendleton and Kevin Gross fueled a flurry of free agents finding new places to play yesterday as basketball's winter meetings again followed up all that talk with a lot of action.
MeeGee, who won a weird National League batting title and finished the season in Oakland, agreed with the San Francisco Giants on a four-year.
Pendleton, McGee's longtime teammate in St. Louis, also struck it rich — a four-year, $8.9 million contract with Atlanta. The Cardinals recently lost reliever Ken Dayley to free agency and figure to get hit hard again soon if Vince Coleman leaves for the New York Mets.
Gross did not get as much money as the others, but he fared well. He got a three-year contract for about $7 million to pitch in Los Angeles, a pitcher's paradise. Montreal was not that interested in re-signing Goss; his goal was to build on that big business earlier in the day when they gave ace Dennis Martinez a new three-year contract for more than $9.25 million.
In the only trade of the day, the New York Yankees sent rookie outfielder Oscar Azacor to San Diego for a minor leaguer to be named later. In the hottest talk of the day, the Chi-
The announcements about McGee, Pendleton and Grosse came within 90 minutes of each other in the early evening, after a morning and afternoon dotted with discussions but not much else. The frenzy followed Sunday's activity in which Toronto and California made a six-player trade that included Devon White and Junior Felix.
McGee's signing was by far the biggest move of the meetings and capped an awfully strange year for him.
McGee, 32, batted .335 for St. Louis before being traded to Oakland on Aug. 29 for Felix Jose and two minor leaguers. The Athletics got him mainly for insurance in case center fielder Dave Henderson's knee did not recover, which it did. Meanwhile, McGee won his second batting title when his average stayed frozen as Lenny Dykstra's dimped.
"Willie is the kind of player who wants to come to the ballpark every day knowing he will play," Oakland said. "I wouldassa said. I couldn't rememble that."
McGee hit .274 for Oakland, but Henderson started most of the games in the World Series. The Athletics did not show great interest in signing him, and will get a top draft pick as compensation.
McGee is a three-time Gold Glove winner, was the NL's MVP in 1985 and is a .297 hitter with 277 stolen bases in nine seasons. He was born and reared in the Bay Area and wanted to play at home, and the Giants were glad to accommodate him.
Brett Butler has been the Giants' center fielder for three seasons but stands to become an instant free
agent this week if baseball owners, as expected, ratify a collision settlement. Butler is seeking a four-year, $15 million deal, the same terms teammates Kevin Mitchell and Will Clark received.
Pendleton, 30, batted .259 in seven years and has won two Gloveroes at third base. He hit just 230 last season, but new Atlanta general manager John Schuerholz said he was not worried.
"He plays a position we felt it was very important to strengthen ourselves at," Schuerholz said. "He brings a complete package."
Gross, 29, was 9-12 with a 4.57 earned run average for Montreal. He had been a starter for most of his career with Philadelphia and the Expos but was sent briefly to the bulleen
Gross is 89-90 with a 4.02 ERA in eight seasons. He was an All-Star in 1988 but is probably best remembroned as the first person to win 197 for using sandpaper on a ball.
Martinez, 35, already showed he could win. He could have become a "new-look" free agent this week, but waived that with his new pact.
The Expos lost starters Mark Langston, Pascual Perez and Bryn Smith to free agency last year, and Martinez indicated he might leave if Montreal did not give him a better deal. The new contract replaces the final season of a two-year deal he signed before 1990.
"We felt we could not go into the season without our No. 1 pitcher," said Expos general manager Dave Dombrowski. "We needed to sign
Martinez was 10-11, despite a 2.95 earned run average. Last season he was an All Star for the first time in his 15-year career.
Martinez is 55-41 in five seasons with Montreal. He is 163-154 lifetime for Baltimore and the Expos.
Coleman's agent, Rich Bry,
would also like to get something
done, preferably before he leaves
town today. Bry met with the Mets in
the afternoon and, even though St.
Louis will get a chance to match the
offer, it appears Coleman will wind
up as New York's leadoff hitter.
Bell's future may not be decided so soon. Still, his agent, Alan Hendricks, set up a meeting for this week with the Cubs.
Bill Doran, coveted by several teams, met with Cincinnati. The second baseman was traded from Houston to Cincinnati last August and the Reds want him back, so Los Angeles seems to be the favorite.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, appears back in the picture for Zane Smith, who is being pursued by the Reds and Cubs. The Pirates wanted to get Martinez if he got away from Monaco, where he are interested in resigning Smith.
The Yankees said three teams were after Azocar, and wound up trading him to San Diego. Azocar, who hit 248 with five homers and 19 RBIs in 65 games, was not protected on the Yankees' roster and would have gone on irrevocable waivers today.
Kansas Basketball
KANSAS
JAYHAWKS
Coach: Roy Williams
Record: 2-1
Game 4
PROBABLE STARTERS
Player Ht. PG^+ RPG
F-Mike Maddox 6-7 7.3 2.0
F-Alonzo Jamison 6-6 11.3 6.0
C-Mark Randall 6-9 11.7 3.0
G-Terry Brown 6-2 19.7 6.3
G-Adonis Jordan 5-11 10.7 3.3
SOUTHERN METHODIST
MUSTANGS
Coach: John Shumate
Record: 0-3
Player Ht. PPG RPG
F - Tim Mason 6-7 11.3 6.0
F - Mike Wilson 6-5 23.0 7.3
C - Bobby Holkan 6-11 3.0 2.7
G - Gerald Lewis 6-3 11.0 3.3
G - Roderick Hampton 6-4 7.0 4.5
Game Notes: Kansas will play Southern Methodist at 8 tonight in Allen Field House. Kansas leads the all-time series between the two schools 20-4, including victories in the last six meetings. Last year, the Jayhawks handed the Mustangs an 86-53 loss in Dallas. On Saturday, Kansas trounced Marquette 108-71. In the game Kansas established a new school record for steals in one game with 22. Alonzo Jamison was responsible for eight, also a school record.
TV: Jayhawk Television Network (WIBW-V in Topeka, KZKC-T in Kansas City and KWCH-T in Wichita.)
Randall to start SMU game
By Derek Simmons
Kansan sportswriter
Forward Mark Rand Kelland will return to the starting lineup when the Kansas basketball team plays host to the Boston Celtics at 8 tonight at Allen Field House.
Men's Basketball
Randall, who scored 11 points in Saturday's 108-71 victory against Marquette, was expected to miss between 10 days and four weeks after surgery. The surgery was done to relieve anterior compartment syndrome,
which is pressure caused by swelling of a bruised muscle.
"It felt great to be able to play."
Randall said "I knew I would be back sooner than expected when I came in, just helping the kid the day after surgery."
Other projected Kansas starters are guards Terry Brown and Adonis Jordan and forwards Mike Maddox and Alonzo Jamison.
Jamison set a school record for steals in Saturday's game, tallying eight. Kansas also set a team record for steals in a game, getting 22.
SMU is led by 6-foot-5 guard Mike Wilson, who has averaged 23 points
and 7 rebounds a game this season.
Guard Gerald Lewis and forward Tim Mason each average 11 points a game, and guard Roderick Hampton is averaging seven points. Center Bobby Holkan, who is averaging three points a game, is expected to round out the starting lineup.
The Mustangs are 0-3, having lost 65-49 to Wisconsin on Saturday. The Javahawks are 2-1.
Both teams have lost to Arizona State, the Jayhawks falling 70-68 on Nov. 23, and SMU losing 89-79 the next night.
Kansas defeated SMU 86-53 last season in Dallas.
Forty-niners edge out Giants in year's lowest-scoring game
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — The NFL's most awaited game in years out to have little worth waiting for. Unless you like defense.
With Charles Haley, Ronnie Lott and Darryl Pollard making big defensive plays and Joe Montana orchestrating one quick touchdown drive, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Oklahoma State 5-0 in the lowest-scoring game this season.
The only touchdown came with 1:30 left in the first half on a 23-yard pass from Montana to John Taylor. That was 1 minute, 56 seconds after Matt Bahr's 20-yard field goal had given the Giants a 3-1 lead.
Then Montana turned it over to Haley and his friends as the 49ers bounced back from last week's loss to the Rams to go to 11-1. The loss was so bad that Montana dropped them to 10-2 and prevented them from climbing the NFC East
title this week.
Lott and Pollard were the heroes of a stand made by the 49ers after the Giants had reached their 9-yard line with 4:30 left, helped by a 19-yard run by Ottis Anderson after picking up a fumble by Phil Simms.
Simms, who finished 14-for-32 for 149 yards, then threw three incomplete passes — Lott hitting Mark Bavaro, breaking up one play and Pollard deflecting a fourth-down pass for Lionel Manuel.
The Giants had one final chance at the 49ers' 28-yard-line with three seconds left, but Simms was sacked and the Giants could have could throw a pass into the end zone.
The 10 points the fewest in a game this season — the previous low was 14 in a shutout win by Buffalo against New England two weeks ago, and the highest of the last four.
Both teams started sluggishly like boxers wary of dangerous opponents.
Then the Giants had a couple of breaks — a 21-yard pass from Simms to Bavaro on which Haley fell down and an 11-yard pass deflected off Rodney Hampton to Stephen Baker at the San Francisco 3. But Anderson was stuffed on two running plays and Simms made a pass to Bennett. The Giants had to settle for a 3-9 lead on Bahr's field goal with a 3-26 left in the half.
But the closing minutes are Montana's time, who until then was 4-for-14 for 33 yards.
On the second play after the kick-off, Montana hit Roger Craig in an empty middle for 31 yards. Two plays after that, he threw to Taylor in the end zone, and it was 7-3 49ers at the half.
New York got as far as the San Francisco 30 in the third quarter before Haley stripped the ball from Tommas and Dave Wayne recovered.
Ax falls on football, basketball coaches Tampa Bay ends 6-game losing streak but owner replaces coach with assistant Knicks fire coach after posting 7-8 start hire former Phoenix and Dallas coach
The Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. — Ray Perkins, hired to turn the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into the team of the 1905, was fired yesterday in his fourth season as coach of the losing NFL franchise of the past decade.
Oddly, Perkins' dismissal came the day after the 5-8 Bucs ended the six-game losing streak that proved his undoing.
"The change is not because of Ray Perkins. It's strictly that we haven't had a winning season in four years, but it wasn't fault." owner Hugh Gulverhouse said.
But yesterday, Bulverhose, who lured Perkins from Alabama with a five-year contract worth $800,000 a year, said his 19-41 record since 1987 simply was not good enough. Assistant coach Richard Williamson was named coach for the rest of the season.
Just last month, Culverhouse said he would not let Perkins quit even if the team lost the rest of its games.
"He took it pretty hard because he's always been a winning coach. This is the first time something like this has ever happened to him."
The Bucs sputtered offensive during the losing streak, and Perkins' relationship with Vinny Tes
"We will go forth and hopefully have the best showing ever the last three games." Culverhouse said at a hastily called news conference at the team's training complex. "We've had our ups and we've had our downs. Let's hope we're ready for a strong finish.
taverde soured when the quarterback was benched for two games in favor of Chris Chandler
“It’s very disappointing,” Testaverda said. “You go out and win a game and you come back and there’s bad news.”
Testaverde regained the No. 1 job two weeks ago and threw for a season-high 351 yards against Atlanta on Sunday, when the losing streak ended with a 25-17 win. He said he was surprised by Culverhouse's decision.
Perkins virtually rebuilt the team from scratch, beginning with the drafting of Testaverde as the No. 1 pick in 1987. Only five players remain from the squad he inherited at the end of the 1986 season.
The Bucs haven't had a winning season since going 5-4 and qualifying for the playoffs during the strike-shortened 1982 season. Leeman Ben-Bennett and Dick Kay as coach in 1985 but was fired after back-to-back 2-14 finishers.
Last month, the owner gave the embattled coach a vote of confidence and went so far as saying that he wouldn't allow Perkins to resign even if the Bucs lost the rest of their games.
Culverhoe predicted the team would win 11 or 12 games this season, and his optimism was supported by a 4-2 start.
Perkins' first Tampa Bay team finished 4-11, including two victories in strike replacement games. The team were 5-11 in 11 games and again in 1989.
The Associated Press
"This decision was made in the best interests of the New York Knickerbockers," said Al Biancio, vice president and general manager of the Knicks.
NEW YORK — The struggling New York Knicks fired Couch Stu Jackson yesterday and replaced him with a former Phoenix Dallas coach.
"At this point in time, we felt a change was needed to improve the performance of the team. John Giles said that the outstanding record speaks for itself."
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for me,” he said. “It’s a challenge, probably the biggest challenge so far in my career. I think we can have an exciting team and a very good basketball team. How that translates into numbers, I've never been able to figure that out.
MacLeod was introduced at a news conference.
"You don't evaluate a guy on 15 games," he said. "There were some things we liked and some things we disliked last year. The only thing I'm going to say is we did not make the decision on 15 games. I'm not going to go into the whys. I'm not going to beat a bad horse."
"Good teams like the Lakers and Pistons sacrifice and in the end stand tall as a team. I hope we can progress that by the end of the season."
Bianchi said he had considered the change for some time.
Bianchi and MacLeod have a long
relationship in basketball. Bianchi served as MacLeod's assistant coach for 11 seasons at Phoenix and then tried to hire him as the Knicks' coach until he had already committed to Dallas and New York hired Rick Pittin instead.
After two seasons, Pitino left for the University of Kentucky and was replaced by Jackson, one of Pitino's assistants.
The coaching change brought with it a change in playing styles from Pitino's running game to a half-court concern under Jackson.
The Knicks finished third in the Atlantic Division last season with a 45-37 record. The Knicks upset the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs before being eliminated by the Detroit Pistons in five games.
New York was off to a slow start this season with a 7-8 record, including five losses in its last six games.
But he and the team were not doing well, especially at home. Saturday's 113-96 victory against Charlotte was just the third in eight home games for New York this season and ended a home-game court losing streak.
Macleod, LB3, ranks fifth among active NBA coaches with 675 victories. Terms of his contract were not disclosed.
He coached 14 seasons with Phoenix, and after two years at Dallas and 11 games into his third season with the Maversicks, he was fired just over a year ago. Mael Leod team won 50 in the final game to win the conference final four times.
Sports briefs
Second player leaves Washburn basketball
Todd Stafield, a former Kansas State university basketball player who transferred to Washburn University, has left the Ichabods' team.
Stanfield, from Springfield, Mo., saw little action in two seasons with K-State. He transferred to Washburn last season, and this year he was the starting point guard in three of the first four games.
But he did not show up for practice Thursday, and the next day he told Coach Bip Chipman he was leaving the sound.
"It looks like he's not interested in playing basketball anymore." Chipman said. "I guess he doesn't have the desire to play."
Colorado center named week's basketball player
Dandiver, a 6-foot-10 senior from Bolingbrook, III., had 27 points and 17 rebounds in a 78-60 victory against Southwest Missouri State, 29 points and 11 rebounds in a victory against South Dakota, both 30 points and 12 rebounds in a loss to Rice.
Center Shaun Vandiver of Colorado was named Big Eight basketball player of the week yesterday in a split vote over Oklahoma State center Byron Houston and Oklahoma forward Kermit Holmes.
Houston averaged 24 points in Oklahoma State victories against the University of New Orleans and the University of Tulsa. Holmes had 27 points as Oklahoma beat Texas A&M in a victory against Angelo State.
From Kansan staff reports
Purchasing power fails for Royals
Brent Maycock
Sports
editor
If at first you don't succeed, buy and buy again.
If anything, Storm started the fire and supposed fireman Mark added fuel to it.
Obviously unfazed by last year's return on free agent signings, the Kansas City Royals have jumped feet first into the free-agent pool again. Whether they will sink or swim is yet to be determined.
So what should we expect from Kansas City's winter acquisitions this year?
Last year, the Royals sunk. By signing starter pitcher Storm Davis and relief pitcher Mark Davis during the winter, Kansas City expected to have the horses to overtake or at least contend with the Athletics. Instead, the Royals got off to the worst start in team history and spent most of the year in last place. Only an incredible second half by George Brett and strong pitching by Kevin Appier and Steve Raff raised the Royals from the cellar to sixth place. And the Davies?
I don't really understand why the Royals signed Kirk Gibson. Here's a player who has played sparingly during the past two years and has a history of being injured. Sounds a lot like current Royals outfielder Danny Tartablu, who they have been trying to trade for the past three years.
And besides, the Royals have an abundance of outfielders/designated hitters already.
Some say that Gibson was brought in to liven up the clubhouse like he did in Los Angeles in 1988. If the Royals want a livelier atmosphere in the clubhouse, perhaps firing John Wamble would be a good place to start.
Instead of shuffling players in and out of Kansas City, the Royals should get a manager who can get the best out of the players he has. The Royals have the talent, and they had it last year. Wathan just isn't a good enough manager to make the best use of this talent base.
Unfortunately, unless Kansas City plans to use Gibson at first base, I don't see where he fits in, although first base seems like a likely spot for
Brett's season last year, erased brets from most people's minds that the man still can play. However, at the age of 37 one has to wonder how many years his肝 can hold out at first base. And with the Royals not planning to give up, going is going to have to give George a break every once in awhile.
Picking up Mike Boddicker also boggles the mind. Just what the Royals need — another right-handed starter pitcher. What does that make, 107. However, the signing of Boddeter makes much more sense than the signing of Storm did last year.
Storm had had such a mediocre past that you can't really blame him for his dismal showing last year. He compiled a 35-14 record with Oakland, but previous to that his lifetime record was only 57-41.
His only two good seasons have been with Oakland, but Oakland's offensive capabilities can make any so-pitcher look good. Storm had an ERA of 4.36 in 1989. The Royals, who averaged only 4.2 runs a game in 1989, should have done their home-work
Boddicker, like Storm, has had a less than brilliant past. After having an outstanding year in 1848, when he posted a league-leading ERA of 2.79, Boddicker was not able to produce. Because he suffered from a punchless Baltimore offense, Boddicker was unable until he signed with Boston, which consistently has a high-powered offense.
Boddicker could experience that same Baltimore scenario in Kansas City, which is notorious for lack of support. Just ask Bret Sabberman.
Perhaps the stupidest move the Royals have made during the off-season thus far was a move they didn't make.
Letting Steve Farr go was dumb. He was one of the few save gravis for the Royals in 1990, and was aptly named Royals Pitcher of the Year.
inner royals from all over how will Kansas City come out of this year's winter meetings?
At this point, of course, it's all speculation. But from the looks of things, the Royals will continue to sink.
Brent Maycock is a Branson, Mo., senior majoring in journalism.