Probable successor to Giambi not hyped
By Gregg Bell -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 5:30 a.m. PST Friday, March 8, 2002
TUCSON, Ariz. --

The A's appear to be adopting the old "Hogan's Heroes" Sgt. Schultz approach to their top rookie prospect this spring.

"We know NOTHINGGGG-UHH!!!"

They are mum on any talk of their projections for Jason Giambi's heir
at first base, Carlos Peña, whom scouts see as baseball's best
prospect at that position.

"Any expectations we have of Carlos are private," general manager
Billy Beane said Thursday morning while his team was on a bus to
Tucson. "And so far in spring training, he's met those private
expectations."

That's a 180-degree departure from the lofty bar the A's set last
season for heralded second baseman Jose Ortíz, the 2000 Pacific Coast
League MVP for Sacramento.

After vowing in March never to demote Ortíz, even if he struggled
early in 2001, the A's did just that after he hit .217 in 11 April
games, then pulled a hamstring.

The A's supposed second baseman for the next five years never
returned to Oakland. Instead, Ortíz went to Colorado in the crafty,
three-team July trade for right fielder Jermaine Dye that boosted the
A's into their second consecutive postseason.

Ortíz responded with 13 home runs in 53 Rockies games to validate the
A's views that he was ready for the big leagues.

But this month, you'd sooner find rain in the Arizona desert than a
lofty A's guarantee on the 23-year-old Peña -- even though he's
Giambi's presumed replacement.

Even though Oakland gave up top Sacramento pitcher Mario Ramos, 2000
Minor League Player of the Year Jason Hart and two other prospects to
get Peña and reliever Mike Venafro from Texas in January.

Even though Peña launched a mammoth blast off Arizona pitcher
Jonathan Johnson for his first A's home run in the fourth inning of
the A's interminable, 16-15 loss to the Diamondbacks at Tucson
Electric Park. Peña's moon shot soared over the 388-foot sign in
right-center field, past a 25-foot-wide grass berm, over a perimeter
chain-link fence and onto a street outside the stadium.

"Did it?" Peña asked afterward of his third hit in 12 spring at-
bats. "Wow! That's cool."

And even though the rookie is already raising Arizona ire. On the
first pitch he saw following his majestic blast, Peña was drilled in
the back between the numbers by 32-year-old reliever Mike Myers, a
veteran of four National League teams.

"It's not a given that he's our starting first baseman," manager Art
Howe said this week, refusing to leave his post as chief sentry of
Peña's potential.

Howe did say, cautiously, that Peña is "doing well," adding that he
is impressed with his ability to hit line drives to all fields.

He then insisted that the veteran of just 22 major-league games has
to show that he can consistently handle big-league pitching this
month to win the job from converted catcher Scott Hatteberg and
designated hitters Jeremy Giambi and Olmedo Saenz.

In truth, Peña would have to seriously flail this spring to not win
it.

Hatteberg has been shaky at times at first base this month, though
Beane likes his hitting enough to keep him as a catching and corner-
infield backup. Giambi, a below-average fielder, is entrenched as the
starting designated hitter. And Saenz, who had two throwing errors at
third base Wednesday, looks far slower and older than his listed age
of 31.

"I don't view it as putting pressure on Peña," Beane said of what the
A's are still calling a "competition" at first base. "I view it as
making him better.

"Anyone who makes spring-training evaluations in baseball is a fool.
An absolute fool."

And Peña, an engaging, impressively ambitious man who walked away
from a 3.3 grade-point average in engineering at Northeastern
University in Boston after Texas drafted him 10th overall in 1998, is
no fool.

He said he sees how the A's have gone out of their way to make his
spring transition as smooth as Peña's graceful batting stroke.

"Absolutely. I'm very grateful for how comfortable they've made me
feel," Peña said before scarfing down cold sausage pizza in the
clubhouse Thursday. "There's no pressure whatsoever.

"I know, we all know, all the coaches know that pressure doesn't
help. You have to let talent express itself."

His nearly 500-foot blast spoke volumes. So did Peña.

"I stay awake in my house worried about how spring training's going
to go," he said. "I have dreams. I want to become a great baseball
player, an impact player, a superstar.

"(Speculation) takes away from my concentration."

So with Peña, the A's are concentrating on not speculating.