4 former UM stars eye majors> Bordick to start again, but Swift’s arm ailing

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Three years ago, former University of Maine All-American righthander Billy Swift was on top of the world.

He had established himself as one of the premier pitchers in the game after winning 21 games for the San Francisco Giants and finishing second to Atlanta’s Greg Maddux in the Cy Young Award balloting.

In addition to his 21-8 record and his 2.82 earned run average, Swift had thrown a career-high 232 2/3 innings.

But since that season, Swift has been on the disabled list six times and he is currently sidelined with tendinitis in his bicep.

Colorado’s Swift is one of four former Black Bears currently in major league spring training camps prepping for the season.

Veteran Mike Bordick is back as the starting shortstop for the Oakland Athletics; lefthander Larry Thomas has the inside track at earning a job as a short reliever for the Chicago White Sox, and Mark Sweeney, who is battling for a job as a utility player, is playing some first base and outfield for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The 34-year-old Swift had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 12 to repair frayed connective tissue in his rotator cuff. He didn’t start throwing again until Dec. 20.

“Everything is fine there,” Swift said earlier this week.

But the tendinitis has left him frustrated and pondering an uncertain future.

“I’ll probably start the season on the DL,” said Swift. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take [to get ready].”

Swift threw two scoreless innings in a recent exhibition game but said “my arm felt like crap. My arm was fatigued. It wasn’t what I expected.”

The arm was sore the following day and he has rested it ever since.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have pitched in a game but I had to test it,” said Swift.

On the positive side, Swift said he can throw all of his pitches again including his nasty slider, which deserted him when he developed the arm trouble last season. However, he won’t be throwing his slider, sinker or change-up for a while.

“I’ve got to let the tendinitis calm down,” said Swift, who is on medication and taking treatments for it. “I’m not going to pitch in a game again until it’s back to 100 percent. I’ve got to get it strong and build up the endurance.”

He said doctors told him the strength in the arm was good prior to the bout with tendinitis.

Despite being limited to two pitches [sinker and change-up] and pitching in pain, he was pitching his home games in hitter-friendly Coors Field. Swift managed to go 9-3 withy 4.94 ERA and help lead the third-year Rockies into the playoffs for the first time.

Swift said the Rockies could be right back in the hunt for a playoff berth this year.

“We have a good team. We should do well. We have a few more starters than we did last year. If (Bret) Saberhagen and I come back, we should do OK,” said Swift, who hurled six innings of seven-hit, four-run ball in what eventually became a 7-5 Colorado win over eventual world champion Atlanta in the National League playoffs.

Saberhagen also had off-season surgery.

Swift has a career mark of 78-62 with a 3.61 ERA.

Bordick hit .264 last season with a career-high eight homers. He drove in 44 runs and scored 48. His .983 fielding percentage was fourth best among AL shortstops.

The Athletics have a new manager in Art Howe, who replaced the departed Tony LaRussa. LaRussa is the new manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

“Things are looking all right. I’m healthy, I’m out there playing every day and I’ve got a good relationship with the new manager,” said Bordick. “Art is a great guy. He’s easygoing and that’s really good for this team because there are so many young players. That will take the pressure off.”

Individually, Bordick said he would like to “pick up my average a little bit. I want to stay as consistent as possible. Art’s going to utilize me the same way Tony used me offensively. I’ll be trying to get bunts down, move the runners and execute hit-and-runs. That’s going to be a big part of the team this year. If I can execute those things, the hits will come.”

Bordick has hit first, second, third, eighth and ninth so far in spring training.

The Winterport native, who enters the season with a career average of .263, said he isn’t happy about playing his first six home games in Las Vegas because renovations to the Oakland Coliseum aren’t complete.

“It kind of stinks but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” said the 30-year-old Bordick. “We’ve got to get the games in and we’re fortunate Las Vegas opened their doors to us.”

He thinks the A’s could surprise some people in spite of their youth.

“We’ll obviously be an underdog,” said Bordick. “But the team chemistry has come along pretty well and we should be able to push runs across the plate. We’ve got to be solid defensively and I think our pitching staff will surprise some people. Our staff is young but they have major league experience and won’t be intimidated.”

Larry Thomas and Mark Sweeney, both 26, are looking to establish themselves after breaking into the majors last season.

Thomas was 4-1 with a 1.34 ERA at Birmingham (AA) of the Southern League and was called up to the White Sox, where he had a 1.32 ERA in 17 appearances totaling 13 2/3 innings. The southpaw was used primarily against lefties and that will be his role again this year.

“I was told before spring training that the job was mine to lose and then they told me recently that the job was mine,” said Thomas. “Things have gone well. I’m throwing well. It’s spring training so I’ve been working on stuff. My velocity is up two or three miles an hour over last year. I just want to try to do the same thing I did last year.”

Thomas pitched winter ball in the Dominican Republic and said it was beneficial even though “I got screwed on the money.” He faced a lot of quality hitters like major leaguers Raul Mondesi, Julio Franco and Sammy Sosa.

“I worked on my change-up and made a lot of progress with it and I faced good competition, which is what I wanted to do. And I did really well against it,” said Thomas.

Thomas feels the White Sox can make a run at Cleveland in the AL Central.

“We have just as good a lineup as Cleveland. Actually, I think ours is better,” said Thomas. “They might have a little better pitching but if Jason [Bere] and Wilson (Alvarez) come around and (Kirk) McCaskill pitches well as the fifth starter, we’ll be right up with them.”

The lefthanded-hitting Sweeney, who could not be reached for comment, hit .351 in AAA between Vancouver and Louisville a year ago and hit .273 after being called up by the Cardinals. Sweeney, who was traded to St. Louis by the California Angels, had two homers and 13 RBIs in only 77 at-bats and made his mark as a reliable pinch hitter.