Mile high demands
Walker looking for lucrative, long-term deal from Rockies
Posted: Friday February 19, 1999 07:53 PM
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Easy rider: Walker, the '97 NL MVP, is looking for a deal similar to what Anaheim gave Mo Vaughn. AP |
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Larry Walker
had everybody's attention Friday, and it had nothing to do with his early
spring-training arrival aboard a purple Harley-Davidson that could be heard
five blocks away.
Walker, the reigning NL batting champion, said he won't hesitate to leave
Colorado if the Rockies don't sign him to a long-term contract consistent
with baseball's spiraling salary scale.
It doesn't help matters that Walker feels Colorado ownership is being
critical of him despite a two-year span that has seen him win two Gold
Gloves, the batting title and the National League MVP award.
"Right now in my mind, with the things that have been said about me, I
don't see myself in this clubhouse next year," he said. "This is my last
year as far as the way I see it.
"I get told things that are said about me. I don't have to hear them from
the goat's mouth. ... That's the way the saying goes. I'm not calling [the
Rockies] a goat.
"Hopefully something will get done. It's not like I'm throwing an
ultimatum at them: Get it done by spring training or else I'm leaving.
That's not the case."
Walker, who will make $5.075 million in the final year of a five-year
contract, said he is disappointed in both his agents and the owners for not
getting a deal done sooner.
He also said he will break off contract talks if an agreement is not
finalized by Colorado's season-opener on April 4.
"I've been here four years now and I like it here," he said. "That hasn't
changed at all. But I'm capable of playing elsewhere. I can hit [outside]
Coors Field. I've hit at other places, and I've proven that, so I'm not
afraid to go anywhere else."
Colorado owner Jerry McMorris could not be immediately reached for
comment.
Though he would not mention specific numbers, the 32-year-old Walker said
he wants to play until he's 40, and he would like this to be the last
contract of his career.
Given that mathematical outline, the Rockies likely will have to be
somewhere in the neighborhood of the six-year, $80 million contract the Anaheim Angels gave
free-agent first baseman Mo Vaughn or the
seven-year, $91 million deal the New York Mets needed to
re-sign catcher Mike Piazza.
"He's a professional and it's his time," Rockies manager Jim Leyland
said. "It's his time to take advantage of all the great things he's done on
the baseball field. That's the way the system is. More power to him."
Walker, who arrived at spring training five days early, followed his 1997
MVP season by hitting .366 with 23 homers and 67 RBIs last year. He also
won his fourth career Gold Glove and played in his third All-Star Game.
The strong numbers prompted the Rockies to offer Walker a four-year, $32
million extension in November, but Walker declined. He then watched as
Vaughn, Piazza and Dodgers pitcher Kevin Brown set
a gaudy new precedent. Brown received a seven-year, $105 million contract
that included charter flights for his family to fly from Georgia to Los
Angeles during the season.
"Making $5 million this year is a lot of money right now," Walker said.
"The minimum's a lot of money. Guys making $200,000. You ask any family in
the country and the majority of them are going to say that's ridiculous.
That's three, four, five years work for some people. Other people, it's
more.
"There's a market that's been set for somebody of my standard. We all
know where that's at. We've seen it with the contracts that have been going
out this year. It's not something I have to really spell out. You look in
the paper. You look at other contracts and you figure out where I'm at. We
have yet to get there."
The swelling free-agent market is just one bargaining chip in Walker's
favor. Taking a page from former Montreal teammate Tim Wallach, Walker
worked out fastidiously this winter and appears leaner and stronger than in
previous years.
"I guess I don't want to read about how I'm a big fat tub of goo lying
around doing nothing," Walker said. "It was fun working out. You feel
better about yourself. I don't think it's something I have to do, but it's
something that's fun and it's good for me, so why not do it?"
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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