Belated props for the Garland/Karchner deal

[southsider2k5]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...1,2631803.story

 

A reliever for six seasons with the White Sox and Cubs, Matt Karchner sat in enough bullpens to develop the ability for knowing just when the phone might ring.

 

It is a knack he still possesses.

 

"I would be a fool if I said I wasn't expecting someone to call me about the trade, especially with [White Sox pitcher Jon] Garland still undefeated," Karchner, 37, said Wednesday with a chuckle on the phone from his home in Berwick, Pa. "I guess it's my claim to fame."

 

Karchner has yet to print any "I Was Traded For Jon Garland T-shirts," but the former right-handed pitcher admitted the Cubs-Sox deal that grows more infamous with each Garland start has come up more than ever this spring.

 

Either players at Susquehanna University, the Division III school where Karchner is head baseball coach, have brought it up or friends in Karchner's hometown have.

 

If Garland, who goes for his seventh victory without a defeat against the Orioles on Thursday night at U.S. Cellular Field, makes a run at the Cy Young Award, Karchner kidded his career might be reduced to the answer to a White Sox trivia question.

 

"I was just a piece of property in that deal," he said.

 

A piece of property the Cubs mortgaged their future to acquire.

 

Two days before the July 31 trading deadline in 1998, needing a setup man to stay in contention, the Cubs traded the 18-year-old Garland for Karchner in one of the best deals former Sox general manager Ron Schueler ever made.

 

Garland was struggling at Class A Rockford at the time, just 4-7 with a 5.03 ERA, and Karchner was coming off his best season in '97, when he went 3-1 for the Sox with a 2.91 ERA and 15 saves.

 

But Karchner never approached the potential then-GM Ed Lynch predicted when he made what threatens to go down as one of the most lopsided in franchise history, somewhere between Lou Brock and Dontrelle Willis on the list of good ones who got away.

 

"Maybe it helped Garland get an opportunity a little quicker and get his feet wet when he might not have if he stayed with the Cubs," Karchner said. "It made a big difference for him. I'm not sure it did the same for me."

 

Even before the trade, Karchner had reached a point in his career when baseball started feeling like a job more than a joy. It eventually affected his attitude as much as his pitching. Former Cubs manager Don Baylor kept Karchner at Triple-A Iowa for most of the 2000 season for being too negative. The Cubs finally released him in September 2000.

 

Facing off-season surgery on his shoulder, Karchner decided against a comeback attempt and happily walked away after six seasons, 223 appearances, 21 victories, 27 saves and four surgeries.

 

"I had trouble getting out of bed in the morning and lost my drive," said Karchner, a college third baseman at Bloomsburg University converted into a professional pitcher. "I had worked my butt off to learn how to pitch. But it's too hard to play the game when you're always fighting injuries. I started missing my [two] children growing up, and all of a sudden the money wasn't so important."

 

He returned to Berwick upon retirement and scratched his baseball itch by helping out at a youth instructional school. A light went on.

 

When Susquehanna, a school of 1,900 students in Selinsgrove, Pa., lost its baseball coach a month before the 2004 season, Karchner answered the ad.

 

Athletic department spokesman Jim Miller promises the 16-42 record in Karchner's first two seasons will reverse itself once his first recruiting class enrolls next year.

 

"He's pretty natural at it," Miller said.

 

Asked if he might use the experience to build a bridge back to a major-league dugout, Karchner scoffed.

 

No chance," he said. "I just want to settle on coaching college kids who keep it as a game and aren't playing just for the money."

 

As much as Karchner eschews the economics of professional baseball, he still follows his former Chicago teams, the White Sox more than the Cubs.

 

"My heart's on the South Side," he said.

 

He gets a kick out of seeing former teammate Ozzie Guillen manage, talks every now and then with some friends in the Sox organization and pulls for Garland to get 20 victories.

 

"Wouldn't that be something?" he said. "If it pays off that huge, then they will really look like geniuses for making that trade, won't they?"

[Harry Chappas]

Karchner should throw out the first pitch for a cub /Sox game, with Dennis Lamp, and Steve Trout. The Sox could subtly tout it as guys who pitched for both teams.