No trade for Clemens yet
Thanks to Brown, winter meetings a big deal
Posted: Saturday December 12, 1998 08:41 PM
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Be patient: Clemens probably won't be traded this weekend AP |
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Thanks to Kevin Brown and
the Los Angeles
Dodgers, baseball set a new magic number -- $105 million -- and sparked
an immediate firestorm.
Brown became the first baseball player to break the $100 million barrier,
agreeing Saturday to a seven-year contract with the Dodgers. The contract
is full of other perks, plenty to lure the free-agent pitcher.
"We feel like we logically evaluated the marketplace," Dodgers general
manager Kevin Malone said. "I understand we will be criticized."
It didn't even take 10 minutes.
"This is an affront to baseball," Sandy Alderson, one of baseball's
executive vice presidents, said after attending the announcement. "This
just accentuates the problems we've been talking about, the disparity
between small-market and large-market teams."
The deal means teams now have spent more than $1 billion on this year's
free-agent class since the World Series, a record spending spree. Six of
the richest clubs -- Anaheim, Arizona, Baltimore, Los Angeles and the New York Yankees and
Mets -- have shelled out $716 million for just 25 players.
Brown's signing overshadowed everything else at the winter meetings,
including trade rumors about Roger Clemens
and a discussion by team doctors and trainers about androstenedione, the
supplement used by Mark McGwire.
There was, however, this interesting development: control over umpires,
held by the AL and NL for a century, will soon be transferred to Alderson
at the commissioner's office, a high-ranking source told The Associated
Press.
Umpires came under heavy criticism during the postseason. That, plus the
different umpiring styles in the leagues, prompted baseball to seek greater
control. The move is set to be finalized when owners meet in mid-January.
In other player moves, the Cincinnati Reds signed
infielder Mark
Lewis to a one-year deal and former NL MVP Terry
Pendleton retired at age 38.
Brown's deal, fueled by money from Rupert Murdoch's broadcasting empire,
had all of baseball talking at the Opryland Hotel. In a season full of big
numbers -- 70 homers by McGwire, 125 wins by the New York Yankees and 2,632
straight games played by Cal Ripken -- the
$100 million mark was astonishing.
The signing also set up a great opening day matchup next April 5 at
Dodger Stadium -- Randy Johnson,
recently signed to a $52.4 million deal by the Arizona
Diamondbacks, against Brown.
"I am looking forward to being part of the re-establishment of a winning
tradition," Brown said in a statement.
Brown, who turns 34 in spring training, went 18-7 with a 2.38 ERA last
season in leading the San Diego Padres into
the World Series. The year before, he helped the Florida Marlins win
the championship.
"I would have to say we're the favorites to win the division," new
Dodgers manager Davey Johnson said.
The signing came exactly one year after the Boston Red Sox
announced the signing of pitcher Pedro
Martinez to a then-record $75 million, six-year contract. Malone,
formerly the Montreal
Expos GM, knew this move would cause some griping.
"It's unfair in my mind," Malone said. "Just like in society, there's a
lower class, a middle class and an upper class.
"I've been on the other side," he said. "I've been on the club with the
lowest payroll. I've talked to other GMs, they all tell you the same thing
-- 'If I were you, I'd make the same deal."'
Well, maybe not.
"I don't mean to criticize Kevin Brown, but it's a truly tragic day for
baseball," Padres majority owner John Moores said.
"It's extraordinary. It confirms my worst fears about what would happen
if we let Murdoch buy the Dodgers, and I think it represents a continuation
of a very bad series of events in baseball after a spectacular season."
Cleveland Indians
GM John Hart was in the audience when Malone, agent Scott Boras and the
Dodgers announced the move.
"It doesn't guarantee them anything except a long-term commitment," Hart
said.
Commissioner Bud Selig, out all day, returned to his home in Milwaukee
and found his telephone answering machine filled with messages from owners.
"I have nothing to say," Selig said.
As part of the deal, the Dodgers will give Brown the use of a private
plane 12 times per season to commute to Los Angeles from his family home in
Macon, Ga. -- in fact, the deal specifies how long the coast-to-coast trip
must take.
He also gets a no-trade clause, plus a hotel suite for road games.
Brown's contract set a record both for total dollars and average annual
value ($15 million). The previous high for average salary, $13.33 million,
was set when first baseman Mo Vaughn agreed
November 25 to an $80 million, six-year contract with Anaheim.
The previous high for dollars was set October 23, when catcher Mike Piazza
agreed to a $91 million, seven-year deal with the Mets.
Clemens, meanwhile, was still in Toronto while the Blue Jays tried to
fulfill the five-time Cy Young Award winner's demand for a trade.
"There have been no Roger Clemens discussions today," Blue Jays GM Gord
Ash said.
An all-day meeting by team doctors and trainers included a report by two
Harvard researchers on androstenedione, the muscle-building supplement used
by McGwire and about 100 other major and minor leaguers.
According to the researchers, there is not enough evidence to determine
androstenedione's overall effect on athletes. Baseball will commission a
study by a team from Harvard to look into the supplement, which is banned
by the NFL, NCAA and the Olympics.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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