Rays manager, who fought his way off bench repeatedly as a player, loves to give reserves shot at bigger roles.
By TOM JONES
Published February 23, 2004
[Times photo: Toni L. Sandys]
Damian Rolls benefited from his manager's open-door policy, starting 96 games at three positions after opening the season as a role player.
ST. PETERSBURG - If you don't like your role while playing for Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella, there's a simple solution.
Do something about it.
Don't whine to teammates. Don't complain to the media. Don't sulk in the corner. Instead, grab a bat and drive in a run. Pick up a ball and strike someone out. Get on first and steal second.
Just do something.
"So you're not happy with that role? Go out and win some baseball games," Piniella said. "That way you can start changing it. You can make me change it."
Perhaps more than any manager in baseball, Piniella believes in giving bench players a chance to become starters. He doesn't care about contracts or status, but he does have a hankering for RBIs and batting averages.
A player playing for Piniella can climb from the 25th man on the roster to a steady pinch-hitter to a starting job if he can perform.
"It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens over time," Piniella said. "There's no question. You go out and put a guy in to play and he helps you win a ballgame. And put him out there again and he helps you win a ballgame. Sooner or later you come to the ballpark and that pen starts writing the name by itself."
Damian Rolls is such a name. Last season, Rolls didn't have a steady job in spring training. He was, maybe, a fourth outfielder. Piniella considered trying him at second base. At most, Rolls was seen as a spot starter, filling in here and there, while spending most of his time riding the bench and pinch running.
Then, boom, a hole opened at third base, Rolls was swinging a hot bat and he ended up starting 96 games. He played 68 at third base, 23 in rightfield and five more in left and would've started more if he had not missed a month with a fractured thumb.
"For the blue-collar workers that were here before all the changes, they were excited with Lou coming in because all the politics were gone," Rolls said. "With Lou, (if) you earn the job, you win the job. All you can ask for is an opportunity, and that's what Lou does: gives you an opportunity."
Perhaps Piniella has an affinity for the blue-collar bench guy because that's the type of player he was.
When he played for the Yankees, Piniella rarely started the season as an everyday player. Stuck behind big names such as Mickey Rivers, Oscar Gamble, Roy White and Reggie Jackson, Piniella would spend most of April and May sitting on a bench.
"By midseason I was a regular and by postseason and World Series, I was a regular," Piniella said.
All because Piniella produced. Just as Mark McLemore, who climbed off the bench to the starting lineup while playing for Piniella in Seattle, did. It's what could happen this season with Eduardo Perez or Deivi Cruz or Brook Fordyce or Robert Fick. All they have to do is win a game. Then another. And maybe another.
"It's a beautiful thing playing for a guy like that," Rolls said.
In the meantime, even if they aren't starting, players are expected to produce for Piniella. The way Piniella sees it, the Rays' chances each game depend not on the starting nine but the entire 25-man roster.
"We got a nice versatile bunch with experience that we can rotate this thing around good all year," Piniella said. "I like to play everybody anyway. Everybody will get playing time."
