KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals Friday gave up on former Cy Young Award winner Vida Blue, giving the 34-year-old left-hander his release after a disappointing 0-5 showing this season.
The Royals replaced Blue, who also had a 6.01 earned run average in 19 appearances, with Eric Rasmussen, who had an 8-1 record and 2.28 ERA for the Louisville Cardinals this season. Rasmussen was purchased from the Cardinals by the Omaha Royals earlier this week.
The release of Blue rids the Royals of the last remnant of one of the worst trades in their history, which sent future National League All-Star Atlee Hammaker and two other players currently on the San Francisco roster (pitcher Renie Martin and second baseman Brad Wellman) to the Giants for the the 1971 Cy Young winner and reliever Bob Tufts. Tufts was traded to Cincinnati earlier this season.
'It's never easy,' Kansas City manager Dick Howser said of the release of Blue. 'And it's certainly not easy when you're dealing with a guy with a career like Vida. It's the toughest thing a manager has to do. It was confusing. Vida put together some good innings and pitched well for parts of games. But the results weren't there.'
'No manager in baseball has been more patient with a pitcher than Dick Howser was with Vida Blue,' Kansas City general manager John Schuerholz said. 'No organization in baseball has been more patient with a player than the Kansas City Royals were with Vida Blue.
'It's no secret Vida Blue has struggled this year and we decided that Vida wasn't going to help us win any more ball games. We evaluated our pitching staff and decided that the move we had to make to open a spot on the roster for Eric Rasmussen was the release of Vida.'
'I'm glad it's all over,' Blue said. 'I guess it's best for both parties. That's the way the ball bounces.'
The Royals acquired Blue prior to the 1982 season and he went on to post a 13-12 record with a 3.78 earned run average and a team-leading 103 strikeouts. He opened the 1983 season in the Kansas City rotation but after an 0-3 start, the Royals replaced him there in late May with Bud Black.
Blue lost two more games, both spot starts, and had the worst ERA on the staff at the time of his release. In 85 innings, Blue allowed 96 hits and 35 walks. He struck out 53, which still leads the club, but also allowed 12 homers.
'I hate to see any guy get released, especially a guy who has meant so much to baseball as Vida,' Kansas City second baseman Frank White. 'But it's going to happen to me some day. You've just got to play the hand you're dealt.
'It happened to Willie Mays in San Francisco, to Hank Aaron in Atlanta, to Gaylord Perry in San Francisco. Sooner or later your number is going to come up. The scary thing is that you don't ever know when that time will come. One day they'll just tap you on the shoulder and say, 'The man wants to see you.''
Blue has a 191-143 lifetime record with a 3.13 earned run average. He won the Cy Young Award while with the Oakland A's in 1971 when he finished 24-8 with a 1.82 earned run average and had two other 20-win seasons.
'I wish I knew why he struggled here,' Kansas City catcher John Wathan said. 'We explored all the possibilities and the only thing we could come up with was his control. He couldn't hit the spots that he did throughout his career and even last year.
'But I respect him for his aggressiveness and competitiveness. He kept going out there and trying. He didn't make excuses and he always went after them (hitters). He always felt his next start would be the one that would turn him around. I enjoyed playing with him.'
Blue was in the fifth year of a six-year contract with four option years.
