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Rays: Forget whispers, Grieve all they hoped for

Some say Ben Grieve is too nonchalant and at age 24 has leveled off. The Rays and their new slugger respond: No way.

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 25, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Ben Grieve is tall, athletic and just 24 years old. He has a little more than three seasons in the big leagues and some decent numbers to show for it -- a .280 career average, 76 home runs, 303 RBI.

But because he hasn't made a quantum leap statistically, because he hasn't stepped into superstardom, there has been some criticism. Whispers that his former team was disappointed in his performance. Suggestions that perhaps he had reached a plateau.

As a former general manager, Tom Grieve knows why there is such a negative spin.

As a father, he doesn't like it one bit.

"Even if he doesn't get any better, it's hard for me as a dad to understand people looking at that as disappointing," said Tom Grieve, father of the Rays' new slugger. "But as a baseball person, I'm guilty of the same thing. You get those expectations based on whatever reason and you get disappointed. Nobody's more impatient than baseball people."

You can fault Ben Grieve for being slow, for not being the most graceful outfielder, for being a reluctant interview.

But can you blame him for not being what others expected him to be?

Grieve had a ball and bat in hand as soon as he could walk, and was just past 2 when he put on a baseball uniform for his first father-son game and refused to take it off for days. He'd constantly play -- and do well -- against the older kids in the neighborhood, and it wasn't long after that people immediately began projecting stardom for him.

He was an All-American at Martin High in Arlington, Texas. He was the second overall pick in the 1994 draft, by Oakland. He was the minor-league player of the year in 1997, going from Double A to Triple A to the majors and piling up monster numbers -- a combined .344 average with 34 home runs and 160 RBI in 151 games. He was American League Rookie of the Year in 1998.

He was good.

But there is no way he would be good enough.

"I think he suffered a little bit from those immense expectations," Tom Grieve said. "You look at that '97 season and everyone was thinking this kid was going to be the greatest player to ever come along. What you learn over the years are that the Griffeys, the Pudges, the Alex Rodriguezes are few and far between. Most kids don't perform that way."

The Rays don't seem to have any concerns. They traded closer Roberto Hernandez, who may well have been the most valuable player through their first three seasons, plus pitcher Cory Lidle to get Grieve from Oakland in a three-way January deal. They couldn't be more excited to see what -- and what more -- he can do in the middle of their lineup.

"Ben has already had a lot of success in the major leagues and it happened young," manager Larry Rothschild said. "I think one thing with him is that you've heard about him since probably before he was drafted, and that probably leads to some of the talk that he's plateaued, or whatever he's done."

Said general manager Chuck LaMar: "If he's leveling off at age 24 with the possibility of 30 home runs and 100 RBI, there's a whole lot of people in the game that would like to level off at that. I don't think Ben will accept that leveling off and we expect him to continue to improve. But to put things in perspective, he's 24 years old and he's capable this year of hitting 30 home runs and driving in 100 runs. Make a list for me of how many 24-year-olds in the game can do that."

Grieve also thinks he can do better, much better, in the coming years. Last season, he batted .279 (higher than all Tampa Bay quasi-regulars except Steve Cox), hit 27 home runs (one fewer than Rays leader Greg Vaughn) and drove in 104 runs (second to Fred McGriff's 106). And he claims he never got on a hot streak. "Production-wise it was probably my best year," Grieve said, "but I don't think it's anything close to what I could have done."

As for the idea that he's plateaued?

"I think it's the opposite of that," Grieve said. "If you go by what I've done, it's hard to say you've plateaued when you haven't had all that great numbers."

Said Tom Grieve: "I'm surprised to see people look at the season he had last year as, quote, mildly disappointing. But if you get people in Oakland to be totally honest and talk not on the record, they say they were not completely satisfied with Ben's year."

Grieve appeared to be a big part of the A's future when they signed him to a four-year, $13-million contract last spring, but they seemed to sour on him during the season and it was something less of a surprise to Grieve that they traded him.

The A's have been careful in what they say about Grieve, trying to put more of the focus on what the acquisition of Johnny Damon will do for the A's lineup. It was left for the San Francisco-Oakland media to assess Grieve, and they went at it feverishly, citing everything from his career-high 130 strikeouts to his AL record-tying 32 double plays to what one columnist called his "lead legs and manganese glove."

They also got on him for his supposed lack of passion.

Thing is, Ben Grieve grew up around the game. His father was nearing the end of his playing career when Ben was born in May 1976, then worked his way through the Rangers front office to become general manager from 1984-94 and has since been part of their broadcast team.

Ben was constantly around the clubhouse and worked for three fun years as a Rangers batboy. He relished the opportunity to hang around with the players, listening to their stories, picking up tips. He also watched how they carried themselves, how the good ones maintained that "even keel" needed to get through a 162-game schedule. Even at 10, it was something that stuck with him.

"I'd go to play my Little League games and I acted like a big-leaguer," Grieve said. "I wouldn't be yelling at the pitcher and ragging guys in the dugouts like kids at that age do. Even in high school, I was never one of those guys on the top step of the dugout. Big-leaguers didn't do that."

Grieve has maintained that same detached professionalism, and it has not always been perceived properly.

He didn't get much of a chance to talk growing up with a younger sister and older brother, and still appears to be on the quiet side. "I think some people in the media may look at him aloof. I think that's a good word," Tom Grieve said. "I hope he's polite and answers the questions, but given his choice he'd rather not do it."

Similar to McGriff, Grieve is sometimes also criticized for his on-field demeanor.

"A lot of people that don't know him or that watch him think he's nonchalant or lazy," Tom Grieve said. "As someone who I think knows him pretty well, nothing could be further from the truth. But I don't blame people for thinking that who watch him casually. When he runs after a ball, when he runs out a ball as fast as he can, he's not going to look like, say, (Texas') Rusty Greer, where you say, "Wow, look at him hustle.' Ben's body doesn't work that way. He's tall, smooth and not fast.

"People say he gives that air of nonchalance, but he has the same things working as everyone else does -- nervousness, confidence, intensity, a burning desire to get a hit."

More than anything, what Grieve likes to do is play the games. The Rays are hoping he does so, and does well, for years to come.

"What he brings offensively right now is an outstanding major-league player, but there is an upside," LaMar said. "Whether he reaches that upside or not, whether he has, quote, leveled off or not, Ben's going to have to prove that. We like him the way he is, and we like him even better with the thought those numbers can continue to increase."

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