Karsay Determined to Elbow Way Back to Majors

Right-handed pitcher Steve Karsay doesn’t measure the success of his starts with the Modesto A’s by any number that shows up in the box score, but instead by how his elbow feels when he’s done.

Lately, he’s been doing well. By any measurement.

Karsay was once of the major leagues’ most-promising young pitchers. Today he is back in Class A, trying to work his back from major elbow surgery, and posting a 2.45 earned-run average with no walks in 29 1/3 innings along the way.

“It’s gradually getting better the more I throw and the more exercises I do,� Karsay said. “I would like to be in the big leagues this year, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. They want to take it step by step. [The Oakland Athletics] want me for 1997; 1996 is not a big priority. Spring of 1997 is when I want to be 100%.�

Karsay, 24, was the Toronto Blue Jays’ first-round pick in 1990 out of Christ the King High in Middle Village, N.Y. He quickly progressed through the Blue Jay organization until 1993, when he was sent to the A’s along with outfielder Jose Herrera in a trade for Rickey Henderson just before the trading deadline.

A few weeks later, he was starting in the major leagues. He was 3-3 with a 4.04 ERA in eight starts with the A’s at the end of 1993 and he began the 1994 season in the major league rotation.

He started four games, going 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA. Then his elbow started to bother him, and he underwent his second arthroscopic surgery in less than three years.

Nearly a year of rehabilitation didn’t alleviate the pain, so Karsay and the A’s opted for the pitcher to have tendon-replacement surgery--known as Tommy John surgery.

The decision put an end to his hopes of a quick comeback.

“It’s something you don’t want to go through,� Karsay said. “You avoid it at any possible measure, but it’s something that had to be done if I ever wanted to pitch at 100% again. They said I needed it and if I didn’t get it, I’d probably need it down the road.

“Better to have it when you are young and have time to recuperate.�

Karsay went to spring training this year--eight months after surgery--hoping to make the major-league roster, but instead he was sent to Modesto to slowly rebuild his arm strength.

He began the season starting every fifth day, but throwing only 30 pitches. He gradually worked up to 65, before suffering a setback a few weeks ago. He’s back to 40.

“I think I’ve been through every emotion there is this year,� he said. “It’s been a really tough and frustrating year for me. I think the only people that would know that are the people who have gone through the surgery.

“You feel so good at points, then you feel so bad that you have to miss a month or a month and a half. You say to yourself, ‘Is this really worth it?’ There have been times that I’ve just wanted to shut it down.

“There are a lot of ups and downs of rehabilitation. I keep making strides. This is just somewhere I have to be in the process of getting back to Oakland.�

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A vote on Tuesday in Fairfield, a city midway between Oakland and Sacramento, will go a long way toward shaping the 1997 Cal League.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on a proposal to build a $17 million sports complex that would include a $10.5-million ballpark.

Joe Gagliardi, Cal League president, said if the stadium is approved, Fairfield will get a team in 1997, though he won’t say which one. They’re not as secretive in Fairfield.

“We have negotiated the major deal points with the Modesto A’s,� said John De Lorenzo, Fairfield’s community services director.

The Modesto City Council recently approved $3 million in renovations to dilapidated John Thurman Field, providing the Oakland A’s renew their player development contract with the Modesto franchise. But that doesn’t seem likely.

The Oakland A’s have made it clear they are unhappy not only with the facilities in Modesto, but the poor support from the city. The Modesto A’s are lagging near the bottom of the Cal League in attendance.

“The [renovation] proposal doesn’t appear to go far enough to solve the problems,� Oakland General Manager Sandy Alderson told the Modesto Bee. “We’re looking for something comparable to what exists elsewhere in the Cal League.�

That means Fairfield.

If the city doesn’t approve the ballpark--and De Lorenzo said “the outcome of this thing is in doubt up until the vote�--no one is quite sure what will happen to the Modesto A’s.

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Gagliardi also told the City of Ventura it would be guaranteed a franchise if it passes a measure to build a new ballpark. Although a proposed Ventura stadium seems to be caught in political red tape that would make it a longshot to be ready for 1997, Gagliardi is optimistic.

“I’m probably more positive about Ventura than I am about Fairfield,� he said.

The Visalia Oaks and Stockton Ports have both filed applications with the National Association--minor league baseball’s governing body--to move to Ventura, but both applications have expired.

Dan Chapman, Stockton’s general manager, said the franchise is likely to stay in Stockton in 1997 if Ventura does not have a new ballpark ready in time.

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The Ranch, new ballpark of the San Bernardino Stampede, has had its opening delayed again. Originally expected to be ready for the start of the 1996 season, the stadium had its opening pushed back from Aug. 12 to Aug. 26, just in time for the final six games of the season.

Todd Johnson is at it again. Johnson, a catcher for the Bakersfield Blaze, has been taking the mound more frequently for the pitching-thin Blaze. In 13 games, he’s 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA and 3 saves. But the Cleveland Indians, who loaned Johnson to the Blaze, say they have no plans to make him strictly a pitcher.

“Not unless he comes to us and makes a case for it,� said Gordy Gutowsky, an assistant in the Indians’ player development department.

First baseman Danny Buxbaum, perhaps the top prospect on the Lake Elsinore Storm, has been placed on the disabled list for the fourth time this season. A dislocated shoulder may keep him out for the remainder of the season.