Baseball : Players Figure to Get Shortchanged in This Partnership

In a fervent belief that their economic relationship with the players has to be revised and convinced finally that collusion won’t be tolerated, baseball’s owners say they are willing to form a partnership with the players and share the wealth.

So much for semantics.

A complicated concept that has been under discussion with the Players Assn. since it was first proposed in a secret meeting July 19 seems to be nothing more than a sophisticated salary cap that would:

--Restrict players with zero through six years of service to one-year contracts.

--Rid the owners of two of their least favorite things: arbitration and agents--at least in the zero-through-six classification.

How does it work?

The details--still apparently subject to revision--haven’t been completely revealed, and both sides are adhering to a gag rule imposed at the July 19 meeting.

This much is known:

--Players with zero through six years of service, a group comprising about 70% of the major league work force, would be paid according to a salary scale based on statistical ranking and service time.

--Starting pitchers would be in one statistical category; relief pitchers in another; outfielders, first basemen, third basemen and designated hitters in a third, and catchers, second basemen and shortstops in a fourth.

--Salaries would be shared by the 26 clubs, the money coming from baseball’s central fund, which has various revenue sources, including television. Baseball’s four-year contract with CBS and ESPN, which becomes effective next year, will provide $1.45 billion.

--The salaries for free agents will also be determined by a service and performance scale, but those details are even less clear.

Donald Fehr, executive director of the Players Assn., is currently briefing his membership on this and other issues likely to arise in the collective bargaining negotiations of this winter.

Among the players concerns:

How much revenue are the owners willing to share? How are intangibles such as leadership and a willingness to advance runners at the risk of statistical loss evaluated if only a scale is used to determine salaries? Will it be team play or every player for himself?

New commissioner Fay Vincent, asked about the concept in Milwaukee the other day, refused to discuss it.

He described himself as an incurable optimist who believes rational people will turn the bargaining negotiations into a morality play, making sensible judgments based on right and wrong.

“But in the nature of things, it’s not appropriate for me to comment right now,” Vincent said. “Diplomacy is best done in quiet. This is delicate stuff.”

Former commissioner Peter Ueberroth took an active role in ending both the umpires’ strike that greeted his administration and the players’ strike of 1985.

Vincent, a lawyer who held top- level positions with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Columbia Pictures, boasts negotiating credentials.

Will he become involved if a strike or lockout seems imminent next spring? “When these negotiations come to an inevitable crescendo, I think leadership can make a difference,” he said. The players like to claim that they are entitled to their large salaries because they are in the entertainment business in the same manner as Johnny Carson and Tom Hanks.

Vincent was definitely in the entertainment business at Columbia. Are his obligations as commissioner similar?

“They’re considerably different,” he said. “At Columbia we were always trying to develop new products, new films, new tastes. It’s the reverse with baseball. Here we’re trying to protect the wisdom that has made it an American institution, and it has to be approached with great care.

“Bart (Giamatti) liked to say that there is a magical, mystical connection between baseball and the public, and he was right. I don’t want to tamper with that.”

An unfortunate and undeserved aspect of the Montreal Expos’ second-half collapse is that Manager Buck Rodgers may be made a scapegoat, according to reports from Canada.

The Expos are 28-33 since the All-Star break and had lost 27 of their last 41 games.

The crusher was the Chicago Cubs’ three-game sweep last week, after which Rodgers said his club stunk and couldn’t beat the Cicero Giants, let alone the Cubs, the National League East leader.

What happened? Rodgers said he isn’t sure. He said it’s particularly difficult to analyze because he has five of the healthiest starting pitchers in baseball at a time when most everyone else is short of pitching.

He said he was disappointed that some of his players did not respond to the most natural motivation of all, a pennant race, and when it comes to the finger-pointing that is inevitable at the end of a frustrating season “the players seldom point at themselves.”

This was something of a do-or-die year for the Expos and their veteran nucleus. They gave up three young pitchers in the trade for Mark Langston.

Then, in August, they traded a top infield prospect, Mike Blowers, to the New York Yankees for John Candelaria in a move that reportedly divided the front office.

But with all that, the Expos never got Rodgers the one thing he needed most: a left-handed hitter for the middle of the lineup.

And now, with the Expos having failed to win, free agent Langston is likely to leave for Oakland, Los Angeles or San Diego, initiating a mass border crossing.

Outfielder Hubie Brooks and pitchers Bryn Smith, Andy McGaffigan and Pascual Perez are among the other Expos eligible for free agency, which may have been a problem in itself.

“The last year before free agency can be a tough deal,” Rodgers said. “Some guys go out and have a career year. Others can’t handle the pressure of free agency staring them in the face.” Did that happen with the Expos? Rodgers refused to point a finger.

Rodgers is not alone. Art Howe, manager of the fading Houston Astros, was wondering about his team’s intensity after Tuesday night’s 9-0 loss to the San Diego Padres. “There was nothing on the bench tonight,” he said. “If guys need to be told to get fired up when they are still in a pennant race, there’s a problem.”

Added pitcher Jim Deshaies: “For some reason, this club does not have a second-place mentality. Every year, if we can’t win, we seem to accept being nowhere close.”

The fading New York Mets are pointing fingers at the New York media, ripping the negativism. Several of the Mets have complained, including Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson, who said the other day that they want out.

“Most of the players have a love-hate relationship with New York,” Manager Dave Johnson said, attempting to restore order. “When you’re going good it doesn’t get any better. When you’re going bad it doesn’t get any worse.”

Said Ron Darling: “We’ve created this monster by winning 95 games a year and having some of the biggest names in baseball on this team. What that means is we’re expected to do it every year. We’ve spoiled these people. It’s not like St. Louis where they win 90 games one year and 70 the next and they leave you alone.”

The Cardinals lost their next six games after rallying from a 7-1 deficit to defeat the Cubs, 11-8, in the opener of last weekend’s three-game series.

At that point the Cardinals were only a half-game out and may have taken the Cubs for granted, Manager Whitey Herzog said.

“We must have over-celebrated when we came back to win that game,” he said. “I mean, we haven’t come back to earth yet. We’re still on planet seven.”

Right fielder Tom Brunansky was on cloud nine when the Cardinals picked up his option for 1990 at $1.5 million. “You can’t play in a better place than St. Louis,” the former Angel and Minnesota Twin said. “The only negative thing is the size of the ballpark. If they brought the fences in about a half mile, Pete (Guerrero) and I would be very happy.”

Some telling statistics in the NL East:

--The Cubs have met the challenge, going 26-20 against the Mets, Cards and Expos, including a 14-3 record since the All-Star break.

--The Mets are 21-6 against the last place Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves, but 57-63 against everyone else.

--The Cardinals have blown it against the lowly Pirates, losing 10 of 15 overall and seven of nine in Busch Stadium.

What’s it like in the Mets clubhouse these days?

Well, when the struggling Strawberry, with no home runs and two RBIs in his last 92 at-bats, was unable to play against the Phillies Wednesday night because of a bad back, Gary Carter turned up the sarcasm and said: “Oh no, our leader has gone down.”