Baseball / Ross Newhan : New Dodger Matt Young Says His Arthritic Condition Is Under Control

The Dodgers once had a vaunted left-handed pitcher named Sandy Koufax who decided to retire at the height of his success because of arthritic pain in his elbow.

Do they now have another left-handed pitcher whose career could end prematurely because of arthritis?

The Dodgers are aware that Matt Young, the relief pitcher acquired from the Seattle Mariners last Wednesday, requires medication to control arthritis that became evident in 1984.

They are apparently not concerned about it, and neither is Young.

“Too much was made about it in the first place,” said Young, 28. “I haven’t had a problem for 2 1/2 years.”

When the problem surfaced, Young said, it affected his lower back and knees, and he made only 22 appearances in 1984, his second season with the Mariners.

At that time, according to Bob Harrison, the Mariners’ special assignment scout and a family friend, Young was told by doctors that he might be able to pitch only one more year.

“Not true,” Young said. “I was told that it could be controlled by medication, and it has been. I was also told that I didn’t have to worry about building up a tolerance to the medicine.”

Young said his father has rheumatoid arthritis but that he doesn’t believe his own condition is hereditary.

Dodger Vice President Al Campanis said he relied on the recommendation of Phil Regan, who was Young’s pitching coach in Seattle for the last two years and is now the Dodgers’ advance scout at the major league level.

Said Regan, who recommended Young for relief work: “In the last two years, Matt never refused the ball as either a starter or reliever.”

Indeed. Young started 35 games in 1985, then appeared in 65 in 1986, making a successful transition to the bullpen.

Mel Didier, a Dodger special assignment scout who tailed Young “like a bird dog” through the latter stages of the 1986 season, said he had no qualms about Young’s health and durability.

In alluding to two other Dodger left-handers, Didier said: “I’m not ridiculing Carlos Diaz and Ed Vande Berg as nibblers, but Matt Young was one of the hardest throwers in the American League, and he can pitch three days in a row with outstanding stuff. I know because I saw him do it.”

As a proven and available left-handed reliever, Young was one of the hottest commodities at last week’s winter baseball meetings.

There was wide-spread disbelief that the Dodgers got him as cheaply as they did, yielding unproven starter Dennis Powell and second base prospect Mike Watters, of whom Didier said: “The only way he would fit in soon with us would be if (Steve) Sax broke his leg.”

Said an American League general manager: “The Mariners talk about Matt Young like he’s Cy Young and then they give him away.”

There was similar disbelief when the Mariners failed to land either Mark Gubicza or Danny Jackson for outstanding rookie Danny Tartabull, who batted .270, hit 25 homers and drove in 96 runs.

“We feel awfully good about the fact that we were able to keep our front line pitching intact,” Kansas City Royals General Manager John Schuerholz said after parting with Scott Bankhead for Tartabull.

A former Olympian and the Royals’ No. 1 draft choice in 1984, Bankhead was 8-9 as a rookie last season, yielding 14 home runs in 121 innings, an average of one every 8.6. Now he has to cope with the Kingdome, a home run haven.

“The one bad thing I thought about is that it’s not the ideal place to pitch,” Bankhead acknowledged. “I’ll just have to improve my concentration and learn how to overcome it.”

Why would the Mariners part with Tartabull? A large factor was their apparent unhappiness with his work habits. They wanted to accelerate his 1987 move from second base to the outfield by sending him to the Arizona Instructional League this winter, but he refused, saying he was tired.

They also reportedly considered him too individually goal-oriented and disruptive of team chemistry, which is interesting since they are now negotiating with Dave Kingman, that great chemist and fine fellow, hoping he will become their designated hitter.

The Royals, in the meantime, seem thrilled to have Tartabull, believing he will strengthen an offense that was 13th in a 14-team league in each of the last two years.

He will play right field initially but could move to third base if George Brett has to move to first, replacing Steve Balboni, who may face back surgery. The key factor for the Royals was finding a legitimate power hitter to bat behind Brett and prevent pitchers from working around him.

Schuerholz cited Tartabull’s 157 strikeouts and said: “He strikes out too frequently to bat him fourth right now, but he may eventually move into that role. Our feeling is that even batting fifth or sixth, he improves the overall offense and makes it tougher to pitch around George (who hits third).”

There is also another hitter on the Kansas City horizon. His name: Bo Jackson.

Philadelphia Phillies Manager John Felske says he will keep Von Hayes at first and play Mike Easler in left, where Easler is sure to remind Phillie fans of Greg Luzinski. Easler went to the Phillies last Thursday for the inconsistent Charlie Hudson after demanding to be traded unless the New York Yankees renegotiated his contract.

Can Easler, a designated hitter with the Yankees and Boston Red Sox for the last three years, hit enough to compensate for anticipated fielding problems?

“All I know is that we now have an awfully good hitter ahead of (Mike) Schmidt, Hayes and (Glenn) Wilson,” Felske said.

It will also be easier now for the Phillies to trade former left fielder Gary Redus. The Dodgers admittedly want Redus to play center field, but the Phillies want a left-handed relief pitcher and have already rejected Vande Berg.

The Boston Red Sox failed to make a trade at the winter meetings but figure they are better off anyway with the departures of Matt Young and Tim Leary to the Dodgers. Leary was 3-0 against Boston last season with the Milwaukee Brewers, and league batting champion Wade Boggs was 1 for 15 against Young.

Will Leary remain as the fifth starter or be included in a deal for a center fielder?

Only time will tell. The Dodgers, however, may want to consider how he finished the season: A complete-game shutout against the Detroit Tigers and a seven-inning, one-run, four-hit pitching performance against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Edwin Correa, 12-14 as a 20-year-old Texas Ranger rookie last season, is considered one of the American League’s brightest pitching prospects, but he won’t be seen on Friday nights or Saturday afternoons next year.

The Rangers are willing to include a contract clause excusing Correa from those games because he is a Seventh-day Adventist. Correa was 2-4 in that time frame last season, and Manager Bobby Valentine said he could see a dilution in the rookie’s concentration level.

The Rangers hope this will give them an edge in the attempt to sign Correa’s 16-year-old brother, Ramser, who is considered the top pitching prospect in Puerto Rico and is also a Seventh-day Adventist.

There were only seven trades involving 28 players at last week’s winter meetings at Hollywood, Fla.. Among the reasons:

--The priority of many clubs in re-signing their own free agents.

--The absence of a trading deadline tied to the last day of the meetings. There is no deadline until July 31.

--The proliferation of complicated contracts, making it difficult to get quick answers.

--The initiation by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth of quarterly owner meetings, reducing the convention’s business agenda from five days to three.

The key factor, however, is perceived to be the absence of a trading deadline.

“They need the deadline if they want to put some fire back in the meetings,” St. Louis Cardinals Manager Whitey Herzog said before leaving the meetings.

“I mean, that Friday deadline was big. If I left early, I damn well made sure I got a Saturday paper to find out what happened. I don’t think anybody will run off the links or lake to find out what happened here.”