Cub Scouts

MESA, Ariz. — The way Eric Young figures it, why wouldn’t he be happier with the Chicago Cubs, given his deteriorating relationship with the Dodgers?

After all, Young says, didn’t Davey Johnson, the Dodger manager, question the team’s ability to win a championship with him at second base, doubt his defense and team orientation, paint him the scapegoat for a disappointing season and, without question, lobby to have him traded?

And, Young says, didn’t Don Baylor, the Chicago manager who was also his manager for four-plus seasons with the Colorado Rockies, tell reporters he should be the type of leadoff hitter the Cubs have long needed and insist that he be included in the December trade in which the Dodgers packaged Young and Ismael Valdes for inconsistent setup man Terry Adams?

“Who are you going to believe?” Young says in Cub blue. “The assessment of a guy who had me for six months or a guy who had me for four or five years?

“I hear the comments from Davey Johnson. I hear the bashing. Hey, stand up to your own faults. The man called me his MVP in April and two months later he’s benching and bashing me and saying you can’t win a championship with EY at second base.

“Well, are the Dodgers going to win a championship with Mark Grudzielanek at second base? No knock at Mark. I thought he was coming into his own at shortstop last year. I’m just not sure you can win a championship with a second baseman moving from shortstop and a shortstop who’s never played a full season in the major leagues.”

There is more that Young wants to say, seemingly needs to say, as a catharsis before getting on with what he calls this refreshing new start at 33, determined to prove he remains one of baseball’s best leadoff men and is not the defensive drawback his former manager contended.

Make no mistake, Johnson, who will not comment on all of this, wanted him gone, but if this trade comes back to haunt the Dodgers, as it could, if it turns out to be the latest in a series of poor trades and signings by the new management team, if the Dodgers have another season of failed expectations, the manager and general manager could pay with their jobs.

Not that Johnson’s displeasure with Young was the sole motivation. The Dodgers wanted to use the $9 million he is owed over the next two years in other ways but insisted they had to package him with Valdes to get anyone to pick up all of the $9 million. They were also concerned that Valdes’ salary would go to more than $5 million in arbitration and he would depart as a free agent at the end of the season, leaving them with only draft choices as compensation.

The Cubs signed Valdes to a 2000 contract at $5.7 million and are hoping to buy out free agency with a multiyear contract.

The Dodgers, at high risk, have to hope that Carlos Perez or Eric Gagne or 41-year-old Orel Hershiser can pick up the 200 innings Valdes delivered almost annually--a 26-year-old right-hander who could still mature into a 20-game winner.

Of course, the rap on Valdes was that he lacked fortitude, but he doesn’t let Young have all the verbal fun.

“I don’t know what that means,” he said of the reputation. “I throw 200 innings a year. What do they want? They can talk, I don’t care what they say or think.

“I’m happy to be here, and I have only best memories of the Dodgers. They gave me the opportunity to pitch in the major leagues. I’ll always thank them for that.”

Valdes, who will be the No. 1 or 2 starter in a rotation that is hopeful of having Kerry Wood back from elbow surgery by mid-April, said he was on his honeymoon when notified of the trade and didn’t have any emotion because “my mind wasn’t exactly on baseball and I didn’t want to be distracted.”

Young knew it was coming but was surprised he went in a package with Valdes.

“Take me out of the equation,” he said. “With the way the market is, how do you trade a young, reliable pitcher who could be one of the best? He’s got the tag that he’s not tough enough, but I tend to see a change in him already, and there’s people here who will step up and keep him focused. I think the change will be good for both of us. I think we both have something to prove.”

Young appeared in only 119 games because of injury or benching last year but still stole 51 bases, hit .281 and had an on-base percentage of .371. He shook his head and said, “I guess 51 wasn’t enough. I guess .281 and .371 weren’t good enough. I made nine errors [in 546 chances]. I guess I’ll have to do better. Now, of course, the Cubs will benefit.”

He said that with a smile, knowing the Dodgers must hope that Grudzielanek can pick up some of the leadoff spark. At a time when there is a limited list of productive National League leadoff men--Craig Biggio, Rickey Henderson and Doug Glanville among the few--Young still fits the description.

“Everyone harps on his defense, but he’s working hard on it,” Baylor said. “He knows he has a lot to prove. But what he gives us at the top of the lineup, this club hasn’t had in a long time. Gracey [Mark Grace] and Sammy [Sosa] are going to look up a lot of times and EY is going to be out there [on base]. He made the All-Star team when he played for me in Colorado, and that’s what we’re shooting for here. He was the guy I wanted.”

A Dodger originally, Young went to the Rockies in the 1992 expansion draft and returned to the Dodgers in a 1997 trade for Pedro Astacio. He was said to have a tenuous relationship with Baylor at the time, but he now says that Baylor “was only trying to push me to be the best I could be. I may not have liked some of his tactics, but the press made more of it than there was. How much of a problem could there have been, considering he was playing me 145 games a year and was adamant now about getting me back?”

And Young, of course, is happy to be back, happy to feel wanted, convinced he will be “more mentally attuned to doing the little things” in an environment in which more people are talking baseball in response to Baylor’s tough new direction as compared to the “finger pointing” of the Dodger clubhouse last year.

“I went out and played hard whether I was hurt or not,” Young said. “If it was my fault that the team didn’t play as well as it should have, so be it. I guess somebody had to be blamed, but don’t say I was selfish or that I played as an individual. My job is to spark the offense, get on base, steal some bags. I can assure you that if I was selfish I would have stolen more than 51. You win as a team, lose as a team. I can accept responsibility for what I did and didn’t do, but I think there were a lot of people who should have looked in the mirror, including the manager, who to this day knows he didn’t use me properly. Heck, everyone in California knows it.”

In reality, the Johnson-Young relationship may have escaped the attention of most Californians. The memory, however, continues to burn Young, who said, “I’m just disappointed it didn’t turn out better. I love Los Angeles and the fans, and I always loved the Dodgers. I went back thinking that I’d end my career there, but that was with the old regime. The new regime was different. I mean, it comes down to whether you’re liked or not, and I guess I wasn’t liked.”

Will the Cubs like him as much in September as they do in March?

“I know what I’m capable of doing if I stay healthy,” he said. “I’m always motivated to do better than I did the year before, but when I have an off year, when people are doubting me, I step it up a notch, and that’s what I’ll be doing. I’m very confident of stealing at least 50 bases again.”

Young, of course, would like nothing better than to help Valdes turn the trade into the steal it appears to be.

That would be the best of all rejoinders to the lingering pain of the benching and bashing.

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‘99 Numbers

Where Ismael Valdes’ numbers ranked on the Dodgers and among NL starting pitchers last season:

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Category Dodgers NL ERA--3.98 2nd 17th Wins--9 4th T43rd Losses--13 1st T3rd Strikeouts--143 3rd 22nd Complete games--2 2nd 16th HR allowed--32 1st T7th worst Opp. Batting average--.270 3rd 26th Innings--203 1/3 2nd 20th

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Where Eric Young ranked on the Dodgers and among the 16 NL starting second basemen last season:

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Category Dodgers NL Batting avg.--.281 5th 11th On-base%--.371 3rd 5th Runs--73 5th 9th Doubles--24 4th 13th Triples--2 T4th T12th Home runs--2 T11th 16th RBIs--41 8th T12th Walks--63 3rd 7th Stolen bases--51 1st 1st

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