Baseball / Ross Newhan : Mariners Are Expected to Make Ken Griffey Jr. No. 1 Draft Pick

The Atlanta Braves’ Ken Griffey is in the 19th season of a professional career that began in June 1969, when he signed with the Cincinnati Reds as a 29th-round draft choice. His compensation then: a minor league contract worth $500 a month.

Griffey’s son, Ken Jr., is expected to do much better when the 26 major league clubs conduct their annual draft of amateur players Tuesday.

A 6-foot 3-inch, 195-pound outfielder from a famous football school, Moeller High of Cincinnati, Griffey heads the probable draft list compiled by the publication, Baseball America.

The Seattle Mariners have the first choice and are expected to use it on Griffey, unless dissuaded by his asking price. The Mariners have the lowest payroll in the major leagues. Will George Argyros, who announced Friday that he will remain as the club’s owner, meet the financial demands of a No. 1 choice?

“My people know they can sign anybody they want because I’m supportive and they have the financial resources to do it,� Argyros said.

General Manager Dick Balderson said, however, that the Mariners have already scratched several top candidates because they are seeking packages of about $300,000.

The Mariners are probably hoping to get it done for half that.

Balderson would not say whether the Mariners have decided on Griffey but he did say that Griffey is among the top three or four players in the country. He also said that Griffey might look favorably on signing with the Mariners because of his father’s close association with two men in the Seattle organization--coach Bobby Tolan and minor league manager Bill Plummer, both former Cincinnati teammates.

It’s also unlikely that Griffey can use the threat of college as a wedge to run up the price. Academic problems prevented him from playing baseball as a freshman and sophomore at Moeller and he was ineligible for football as a senior. His coach, Mike Cameron, said Griffey would qualify only for a junior college.

Cameron described the 17-year-old Griffey as a power hitter who can also hit for average. In a 24-game season during which he saw few good pitches, according to Cameron, Griffey hit .478 with 7 home runs, 6 doubles and 24 runs batted in.

“On raw ability, he’s the best I’ve coached,� said Cameron, who has been at Moeller for 20 years and includes the Dodgers’ Len Matuszek among his proteges. “He swings just like his father.�

Scouts have clocked the left-handed hitting Griffey in 3.65 seconds going to first and his most impressive abilities may be quickness and speed.

Said the senior Griffey: “He runs the way I used to run when I was chasing his mother.�

The 1987 draft is expected to reverse two trends:

--It will be dominated at the top by high school rather than college players. Top players, besides Griffey, are pitcher Willie Banks of St. Anthony High in Jersey City, N.J.; outfielder Mark Merchant of Oviedo High in Oviedo, Fla., and pitcher Dan Opperman of Valley High in Las Vegas. Pitcher Mike Harkey of Cal State Fullerton could be the first college player selected.

--It should be a comparatively down year for Southern California players, at least in the early rounds. Among those likely to go in the first two rounds, Baseball America lists only Harkey, third baseman Chris Donnels of Loyola Marymount, Jack McDowell, a pitcher from Stanford and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High, catcher Bill Haselman and pitcher Alex Sanchez of UCLA, shortstop Tom Reddington of Anaheim’s Esperanza High, catcher Mike Urman of Canoga Park High; pitcher Bob Sheridan of Upland High and pitcher Robert Appier of Antelope Valley High.

The Dodgers, drafting eighth, will choose the best available player, according to scouting director Ben Wade. “We’ve determined that it’s easier to trade for a need than to draft for it,� Wade said.

The Angels, who had six picks in the first two rounds last year, will pay a price for having won the American League’s Western Division title. They will draft 25th, next to last. But besides their own second-round choice, they will get Oakland’s as compensation for the A’s signing of free agent Reggie Jackson, as well as a supplemental pick from the A’s to be selected between the first two rounds.

Scouting director Bob Fontaine said it appears to be a decent year for pitching, which he called the Angels’ top priority. He said the Angels also hope to land a catcher.

So the pitiful Chicago White Sox, looking to rebuild, are willing to trade pitchers Rich Dotson and Floyd Bannister. Does that denote an excess of pitching?

No. It indicates a desire to unload some big salaries. Name a club with too much pitching. In that sense, baseball has never really recovered from the expansion of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Therefore, don’t expect the Angels to resolve their pitching difficulties by making a major trade for a quality starter. No team is going to trade a reliable pitcher for less than overwhelming compensation. Even the New York Mets, decimated by injuries, are now in the market for pitching.

Said Andy MacPhail, general manager of the Minnesota Twins: “If that doesn’t tell you something about our industry then nothing does.�

One club with its pitching back in order is Kansas City. Historically a second-half team, the Royals’ 26-17 record through 43 games was their best ever. And the 4 1/2-game lead was their biggest ever through that point.

Said veteran utility man Jamie Quirk: “I feel that every time we take the field we’re going to win. I didn’t feel that way until September of ’85 (when the Royals went on to win the World Series) and I didn’t feel that way at all last year.�

An ominous note for the rest of the West is that the Royals have been winning without George Brett, sidelined twice by major injuries.

Said Frank White: “We know that if we can maintain what we have, we’ll be that much better when he comes back. And this time he’ll be coming back to a relaxed situation. He won’t have to feel the need to carry the club.�

Paul Molitor returned from the disabled list only to have the Milwaukee Brewers lose three more games.

“New face, same story,� he said.

The Brewers’ 13-game winning streak at the start of the season has faded into memory and they had lost 17 of their last 19 through Thursday, scoring three or fewer runs 16 times.

“If I knew how to change anything I would have already done it,� Manager Tom Trebelhorn said. “It’s human nature to wonder if you’re ever going to get out of this. It’s distressful to be playing this way.�

Seeing the light: President A. Bartlett Giamatti of the National League has already met with the management of the surprising Chicago Cubs to remind them of the need to select an alternate playing site in case they reach the World Series. The ’84 Cubs would have used Busch Stadium in St. Louis had they gotten past San Diego in the playoffs.

In the meantime, amid continuing lobbying by the club and city, the Cubs’ North Side neighborhood is reportedly yielding a little in its court-supported opposition to the installation of lights at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have promised they would play only 18 night games and install 10,000 more seats and 40 luxury sky boxes.

On the other hand, why bother? They may be better off playing all their home games elsewhere. They are 10-11 amid Wrigley’s supposedly friendly confines and 17-7 on the road. They are also 12-4 on synthetic surfaces, such as Busch Stadium’s.

The key to the Cubs’ success?

“Andre Dawson is the reason they are where they are,� Atlanta Manager Chuck Tanner said. “He makes them tick. He’s their MVP. He’s their Michael Jordan.�

Detroit Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson has a plan for relief ace Willie Hernandez, who has pitched only three times this year and remains sidelined by a mysterious calf injury.

“If he’s hung up, there’s no sense worrying about him,� Anderson said, obviously chipper over the work of relievers Mark Thurmond and Mike Henneman. “I’ll just leave him at the hospital all year.�

Left-handed hitters are 2 for 20 against Thurmond and right-handers are 2 for 30 against Henneman.

Jack Morris, the Detroit bellwether, has been rocked for three home runs in three of his last four starts, but Morris has won two of them and the Tigers have won all of them.

Morris has allowed 61 homers since Aug. 4, 1985, but 45 have been hit with the bases empty and the 16 others with just one on.

Why is Morris vulnerable to the home run?

“My stuff is too good to be trying to fool people,� he said. “I’m coming at you. Here it is. You or me. Good luck.�

Baseball Notes The Minnesota Twins’ Bert Blyleven has permitted 20 homers in 11 starts and figures to threaten the major league record he set last year, when he allowed 50. Blyleven has yielded one or more homers in each of his last 17 starts. . . . Center fielder Bob Dernier of the Cubs suffered a bruised hip and strained shoulder making a game-saving catch against the Cincinnati Reds’ Dave Parker Tuesday. Said Dernier: “I’m treating the shoulder with Tylenol and Budweiser.� . . . The San Francisco Giants’ Mike Krukow, who has won 1 of 11 starts since winning 20 last year, may have retained his spot in the starting rotation by going the distance Saturday against Montreal, although he did give up six runs. Krukow has allowed 31 earned runs in 25 innings of sixve May starts, a span in which opposing hitters are batting over .400.

A recurring hamstring injury has put Giant shortstop Jose Uribe on the disabled list for the third time in seven weeks. . . . For reasons known only to themselves, Giant outfielders Jeffrey Leonard, among the National League leaders in hitting, and Chili Davis have generally stopped talking to the press. It’s a break for the writers. . . . Tim Raines has done a convincing job of showing the Dodgers that they erred in not signing him. In six games his Montreal Expos have played against the Dodgers, he’s had 10 hits in 25 at-bats, 4 of them doubles, scored 7 runs and driven in 3 more. The Expos have won five of those games. . . . The Texas Rangers opened the season 1-10, got back in contention at 14-16 but had fallen out again by losing 12 of their last 15. In that 15-game span, the Rangers made 21 errors, batted .234 and had an earned-run average of 5.78. “You have to wake up from a nightmare sometime,� Manager Bobby Valentine said wistfully.

Since moving from leadoff to the No. 3 spot in the Boston batting order May 5, a satisfied Wade Boggs had hit .405 through Thursday, had 4 home runs to equal his career high of 8, and driven in 15 runs in 21 games.