Unlike in the NFL, baseball’s guaranteed contracts really are guaranteed. That means teams pay a high price for their miscalculations. The Texas Rangers are taking a five-year bath on Chan Ho Park, just as the White Sox once suffered with Jaime Navarro.
But the Colorado Rockies, and soon the New York Yankees, are trying to change that.
They hope that if their overpaid players mess up badly enough, as Jason Giambi did by confirming his steroid use and Denny Neagle did when he was arrested with a prostitute, they can wiggle out of their commitments.
Colorado is hoping to use the morals clause in Neagle’s contract to get out of the last $19 million it owes him. The Yankees continue to study a similar option with Giambi, who batted .208 last season and is still owed $82 million.
Good luck on that.
Highly placed Major League Baseball executives see the attempts to void contracts as long shots.
“There have been some attempts, but they have not been upheld,” said Rob Manfred, MLB’s top labor lawyer.
Rockies owner Charlie Monfort denied that the decision to terminate Neagle was financially motivated.
“The monetary aspect never entered into our decision,” Monfort said. “There is a pattern of action that doesn’t represent what the Rockies are about. I feel sorry for Denny and his family. He definitely made a mistake. But we have a lot of young, good-character kids we need to protect. We [can’t] condone this.”
The arrest Dec. 3 was the second in 14 months for Neagle, who signed a five-year, $51 million deal at the 2000 winter meetings. He was charged with driving under the influence in October 2003 and pleaded guilty to driving with impaired ability.
This is a bad time for owners to start looking for loopholes. The union, driven by input from the players themselves, is cooperating with owners on efforts to strengthen policies to test for steroids and other performance-enhancing substances.
Ownership needs to breed a climate of trust, not fear that management investigators are going to start digging through garbage cans.
No goodbye kiss
By his own admission, Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty was “very surprised” that the Yankees signed second baseman Tony Womack to a two-year contract. Even though he didn’t have a deal with him, Jocketty was penciling Womack into his 2005 plans.
“We had agreed we were going to offer him arbitration and that they wouldn’t accept it, and that would give us time to work out a deal,” Jocketty said. “But I guess [Womack and his agent] didn’t want to wait or they didn’t believe us.”
The Cardinals, who are working hard to re-sign shortstop Edgar Renteria, are taking a look at a reunion with Placido Polanco, who was traded from St. Louis to Philadelphia in the Scott Rolen deal. But even if they can sign Polanco, he will cost draft-choice compensation and won’t fill the need for a leadoff man.
The Cardinals’ in-house options at second include Bo Hart and Hector Luna. They might have to go that way if they re-sign Renteria.
Caveat emptor
Texas’ decision to sign Sandy Alomar Jr. as a backup for catcher Rod Barajas came after Alomar had failed a physical with the Philadelphia Phillies, who had planned to sign him.
Alomar’s passion for the game keeps him playing despite chronic knee injuries, delaying his bright future in management. You wonder if he was misled by Texas about his role.
The Rangers would be set with Barajas and Gerald Laird at catcher but soured on Laird when he hit .224 after returning from a thumb injury suffered in a play at the plate in June. The Rangers had wanted Laird to play winter ball, but he opted to take time to get his thumb completely healthy.
GM John Hart said the signing of Alomar was “what’s best for the club,” but how long will it take them to reconsider next spring? Laird, who is better than both of the White Sox’s catchers, apparently will open next season in Triple A. The Sox should see if they can get him before Hart wises up.
Comeback trail
Commissioner Bud Selig, who had surgery Monday in New York to remove a cancerous lesion from his face, kept his vow to be back at work in his Milwaukee office by the end of the week. He actually spent the day there Thursday.
Doctors believe the cancer was limited to the melanoma that was removed but will continue to monitor his health.
On second thought
Fearing that he was getting squeezed out in his efforts to sign an elite starting pitcher, Phillies GM Ed Wade moved quickly to sign Jon Lieber.
The former Cubs workhorse got a three-year, $21 million deal–the Jaret Wright package–that was beyond what Cleveland could offer. It was a nasty turn of events for Indians GM Mark Shapiro, who had already lost out in bidding for Troy Percival, Armando Benitez, Brad Radke, Dustin Hermanson and Wright.
Shapiro shifted his attention to Matt Clement but reportedly had his doors blown off in bidding. It now appears he’ll have to pick from the leftovers.
Cleveland’s interest in Radke contributed to Minnesota paying $18 million over two years to retain him.
“Twins players have shown a certain degree of loyalty in recent years,” Shapiro said. “They don’t always think the grass is greener someplace else. It was clear all along that his priority was going back to the Twins, and what they offered was fair. That’s a signing that is good for the game.”
With as much young talent as any team in the majors, the Indians are considered a team on the rise. But the loss of Omar Vizquel and the inability to make impact signings means they’re not much of an immediate threat to Minnesota.
“It’s not about winning the World Series in December and January,” Shapiro said. “It’s about winning games from April through September. When your barometer for off-season success is the public’s reaction to any moves you make or don’t make during the winter, you’re setting yourself up for failure.”
Whispers
Though he sometimes comes off as a goof, you’ve got to like the passion of Florida owner Jeffrey Loria. He persuaded Al Leiter to sign with the Marlins, convincing him they can be a serious contender. The city of Miami should take Loria’s threat to move the franchise to Las Vegas as a wakeup call on its stadium efforts. … … Atlanta is working hard to pull off a trade for Tim Hudson. … Troy Glaus’ contract with Arizona includes $250,000 a year to pay for his wife’s equestrian career. … Kansas City remains interested in Sammy Sosa but can do a deal only if the Cubs pay a significant amount of Sosa’s contract.
