Life after Mo
Red Sox look elsewhere after Vaughn rejects final offer
Posted: Thursday November 12, 1998 10:42 PM
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After Vaughn rejected Boston's offer, the Red Sox may go after names like Albert Belle, Bernie Williams and Robin Ventura AP |
BOSTON (AP) -- Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette hit the road Thursday
needing to fill several vacancies: a first baseman, a slugger, a .300
hitter and a team leader.
All because one man, Mo Vaughn, didn't
like what Duquette was offering and decided not to return to the only
organization he's played for since he became a pro in 1989. Duquette left
Naples, Florida, site of the negotiations, to pursue other free agents,
team spokesman Kevin Shea said.
"He had planned all along to do this" even if Vaughn had signed, Shea
said.
Vaughn, who topped Boston with 40 homers and a .337 batting average last
season, earned $6.6 million in the last year of a three-year contract. On
Wednesday, he rejected a five-year deal worth $62.5 million, including a
$2.5 million buyout if the team chose not to exercise an option for 2004,
according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
That would have equaled the average of the $75 million, six-year contract
that made pitcher Pedro
Martinez the highest-paid player in baseball history before last
season. And it was close to Anaheim's opening offer of $72 million over six
years for one of the top free agents in this year's group.
"Our offer was extremely generous," Shea said. "We were actually
optimistic."
The Red Sox, however, did not include a no-trade clause. And the team
called the offer its final one, according to Tom Reich, Vaughn's agent. The
club had said it wanted the Vaughn issue settled quickly so other free
agents would still be available to them if he decided to leave.
That wasn't the case two years ago when Roger Clemens
left for Toronto after the top free agents already had signed. Boston
didn't get a No. 1 starter until the following season, when it traded for
Martinez.
So who will the Red Sox go after?
After the Vaughn talks ended, Duquette mentioned outfielders Albert Belle
and Bernie
Williams, third basemen Robin Ventura
and Ken
Caminiti and first baseman Rafael
Palmeiro.
"The Red Sox are a team that Robin would want to play for," John Boggs,
Ventura's agent, said Thursday. "They're very close to winning."
Before Vaughn's decision, Boggs was contacted by Mike Port, Boston's vice
president of baseball operations. The Red Sox appear to be among about four
teams in the running for Ventura, who likely would command more than the
average annual salary of $7.2 million that Detroit gave free agent third
baseman Dean
Palmer this week.
The Red Sox are set at third base with John Valentin,
although he could move to second if Ventura signs.
Belle, who played with Ventura last season on the Chicago White Sox,
had a far less cordial relationship with his teammates and fans. But he hit
.328, third in the AL. And he was first with a .655 slugging percentage and
second with 49 homers and 152 RBIs.
Caminiti, plagued by injuries while with San Diego this year, and
Palmeiro appear to be leaning to teams other than the Red Sox. Williams,
who has met with the Arizona
Diamondbacks, is expected to visit Boston and Baltimore next week.
The Red Sox chose not to take advantage of a 15-day period in which they
had exclusive rights to sign Vaughn. On Friday, the first day he could
receive other offers, Anaheim made its bid.
On Tuesday, the Red Sox offered a $60 million, five-year deal. They added
the option year with $2.5 million buyout on Wednesday.
"We wanted to get him signed and go about our business," Shea said.
They accomplished only the second part of that goal.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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