After turning down a one-year offer worth about $2.5 million from the White Sox last month, Roberto Alomar signed with Arizona on Tuesday for about a third as much.
A colossal blunder, right?
Far from it, contends Alomar’s agent, Jaime Torres.
“Robbie has saved enough in his career to live off the interest,” Torres said. “He wanted to sign where he would be happy.”
Torres said the 12-time All-Star turned down five offers that were more lucrative than the one he signed with Arizona, which guaranteed him $1 million, $350,000 of which will be deferred without interest until 2009.
“Robbie walked away from $7.5 million over two [years], $3 million over one, $2.5 million over one, $2 million over one and $1.5 million over one,” Torres said.
Torres wouldn’t say which teams offered what, but St. Louis, Los Angeles, Colorado and Montreal were known to have had interest.
Torres doesn’t count the Sox among the final group. He said the proposal he discussed with Sox general manager Ken Williams–a one-year deal worth $2 million plus $1 million deferred without interest–was not a solid offer because it was contingent on Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s approval.
“Kenny said, `If I can sell it to Jerry,'” Torres said. “When an offer is made with a condition, then it’s not an offer.”
The Sox have a different perspective, contending Williams and Alomar verbally agreed to a one-year deal worth $3 million during a one-on-one discussion in August. When Williams called Torres to hammer out the agreement, Sox officials say the agent sought two years.
Williams, while saying he regrets that he couldn’t re-sign Alomar, was surprised to hear Torres’ contention that a formal offer was never extended.
“I’m disappointed that it didn’t work out, but I’m even more disappointed that Robbie felt that at some point he was disrespected or not communicated with,” Williams said. “This he said/she said thing is not worth my time. I’m not going down that road. I’m more interested in seeing Robbie in spring training and embracing him. I still care about him.”
While haggling over money with Torres in early December, Williams knew he had an alternative at second base in Willie Harris. And Harris won’t cost the Sox much more than the $300,000 minimum.
“There was plenty of time to work it out if [the Sox] had serious interest,” Torres said. “They wanted to sign him to a deal without my involvement.
“I respect Kenny and we’ll work [together] again. But signing with Arizona might be the best thing for Robbie.”
Alomar has spent much of his off-season in the Phoenix area, working with fitness trainer Mark Versteegen and looking to buy a home.
At 35, Alomar has decided to recommit himself to the game, Torres said. Perhaps that’s a result of two consecutive subpar seasons. A lifetime .301 hitter, Alomar batted .266 in 2002 for the Mets and .258 last year, a decline that could hurt his chances of being elected to the Hall of Fame.
“It’s a commitment to training and getting the best he can get out of his body for the next 3-4 years,” Torres said. “Robbie took a little longer [to do that] than he should have. He wants to finish his career the right way and get back to those numbers he produced in Cleveland.”
Because Alomar was convinced a fresh start in Arizona was the answer, he basically threw himself at Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo.
It wasn’t the first time Alomar has taken less money. He gave up as much as $2 million per season to sign with Cleveland in 1999 so he could play with his brother, Sandy Jr.
But the Indians’ five-year deal still was worth $37 million, a far cry from Arizona’s offer.
“He told me, `Jaime, I understand your job is to get me the best contract,'” Torres said. “He apologized to me. I said, `No, my job is to get you where you’re going to be happy and everything will fall into place.'”
