Is This Spring of Their Content?

By ROSS NEWHAN

Feb. 13, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Major league baseball teams begin spring training this week in preparation for what is expected to be the first full season since 1993.

The absence of a labor agreement continues to impede the game’s recovery from the 1994 strike, but there seems to be no dispute between management and players on this: Another work stoppage would be suicidal.

“That would be reflective of total derangement on the part of everybody,” Oakland Athletic General Manager Sandy Alderson said. “I’d be shocked if there was a stoppage this year.”

In fact, there is renewed optimism. Acting Commissioner Bud Selig calls it “the early stages of a powerful recovery.”

“I don’t want to delude myself or be Pollyanish because we still need an agreement and there’s still work to be done,” Selig said. “However, all the things we have always used as reasoned barometers are positive.”

Attendance fell 20% in 1995 in response to a strike that thwarted normal winter ticket sales, delayed the season and reduced the schedule by 18 games.

Selig now cites improved ticket sales, including bustling activity at the Florida and Arizona spring training sites, as sure signs of recovery.

He also points to the $1.7-billion television contract with four networks, the favorable reaction and ratings during the expanded playoffs and World Series, the positive spinoff from Cal Ripken Jr.’s record for consecutive games, the likelihood of interleague play in 1997 and the sudden perception of baseball as a portrait of stability compared to pro football.

In the halting labor process, negotiators for management and the players have even managed to exchange bargaining proposals for the first time in a year. The irregular talks have been marked by civility and a determination to avoid the media microscope.

“The public needs to focus on the game on the field,” union leader Donald Fehr said. “There’s a lot of fan interest and anticipation building toward spring training. Our job now is to make sure the fans know there’s another great season coming and they can relax and enjoy it.”

Still, it has been a winter that has accentuated the disparity between the high- and low-revenue teams, underscored the need for a new economic system, generated fears that the new TV contract will produce another spending spree, and fueled the inequity of the players’ market, leaving a few dozen premier players to corner the financial market while the middle class continues to shrink and the supporting cast gets scale.

“The five or six clubs with a high revenue stream did the lion’s share of the bidding again this winter,” said Andy MacPhail, president of the Chicago Cubs. “It was simply a continuation of the pattern, widening of the disparity between the haves and have-nots.”

It was also another winter of widespread player movement, leaving a general perception that the Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins are baseball’s most improved teams.

MOST IMPROVED

“The Atlanta Braves are still the best team in baseball . . . but I think you can now mention the Dodgers in the same breath, clearly the team to beat in their division,” Cincinnati Red General Manager Jim Bowden said.

By signing free-agent shortstop Greg Gagne, they helped a pitching staff that was already the National League West’s best, Bowden said, giving it the confidence to keep the ball down and produce grounders, always an adventure with Jose Offerman.

“The addition of Gagne is huge,” Bowden said. “People don’t realize how huge, but they will over the course of the season.”

The Dodgers got Gagne and third baseman Mike Blowers at minimal cost. Neither required a draft pick as compensation or a prospect who figured in the Dodgers’ future. The prices elsewhere were much higher.

The Orioles dipped into their riches to sign Davey Johnson as manager, lure General Manager Pat Gillick out of retirement and acquire, among others, second baseman Roberto Alomar ($18 million for three years), reliever Randy Myers ($6.3 million for two years) and designated hitter and possible third baseman B.J. Surhoff ($3.7 million for three years). They also traded for pitchers David Wells ($3 million in 1996) and Kent Mercker ($2.825 million).

The Marlins signed free-agent pitchers Kevin Brown ($12.9 million for three years) and Al Leiter ($8.6 million for three years) and free-agent center fielder Devon White ($9.9 million for three years).

They also signed Livan Hernandez, 21, a former pitcher with the Cuban national team, to a four-year, $4.5-million deal and believe he has a chance to make their rotation.

The Cardinals, under new ownership, signed left fielder Ron Gant ($25 million for five years), pitcher Andy Benes ($8.1 million for two years) and third baseman Gary Gaetti ($2 million for two years). They also traded for shortstop Royce Clayton ($1.6 million in 1996) and pitcher Todd Stottleymre (seeking $4.3 million in arbitration) and signed Tony La Russa ($3 million for two years) as manager.

With Marge Schott’s frugality having cost the defending champion Reds Gant, Wells and Benito Santiago, among others, the balance of power in the National League Central may have shifted to St. Louis, although MacPhail doesn’t think that’s a given.

“I remember sitting here last year and having people tell me that the Cardinals had won the division by acquiring Tom Henke, Danny Jackson and Ken Hill,” MacPhail said. “But that didn’t work out. Maybe this crop will be different, but every year clubs try to buy a pennant and it doesn’t happen.

“This is a sport with no patience and no perspective. It tends to live in the here and now. We don’t draw any lessons from the past.”

ECONOMICS

There is no training camp for free agents this spring in Homestead, Fla. Of the 140 players who filed for free agency, 114 had signed through Friday, but 33 of those had signed minor league contracts.

In a winter during which Ken Griffey Jr. received a $34-million extension from the Seattle Mariners, becoming the first player to average $8 million a year, and David Cone signed a $19.5-million contract with the New York Yankees, becoming the first pitcher to average $6.5 million a year, dozens of veterans quickly accepted whatever they could get.

Paul Molitor, for example, went from $4.5 million with Toronto to $2 million with Minnesota. Wade Boggs went from $4.6 million with the Yankees to $2 million with them. Roberto Kelly went from $3.7 million with the Dodgers to $525,000 with Minnesota. Jose Oquendo went from $2 million to $250,000 with the Cardinals.

Owners apparently have learned to deal with the current system. The average salary has stabilized at just over $1 million and the median salary had fallen from $450,000 before the strike to $275,000 last year. Young players close to the $109,000 minimum continue to replace fringe veterans, who are simply released or not tendered contracts. A record 48 players were not tendered in December.

Even if owners have a better handle on the system, it doesn’t change the need for a new one, MacPhail said, because the rich keep getting richer.

“We now have 12% of the players receiving 54% of the compensation,” MacPhail said. “Neither the players nor the union can be happy with that, and the imbalance could eventually threaten team chemistry, creating problems in the clubhouse.

“The system . . . benefits the top 10% of players and the top 25% of clubs. Last year, there were 12 teams that finished more than 20 games behind, four that finished more than 30 and one that finished more than 40, and that was with three divisions in a short season. I don’t know how that helps fans, players or owners.”

The answer, of course, is what has eluded the labor negotiators for three years now: more revenue sharing among the clubs and a cap or tax that restricts payroll growth. In the meantime, some teams begin spring with no hope.

While the Orioles, Yankees and Braves pushed their payrolls close to $50 million, the Montreal Expos were stuck at $20 million. Said Manager Felipe Alou of his team, “It’s going to be a long year. In today’s game, it’s tough to compete with teams that spend $60 million a year. Better yet, it’s just not fair.

“Last year we saw Larry Walker, Ken Hill and John Wetteland march off because we couldn’t pay them. Then Marquis Grissom goes and we get back a few rookies. What kind of deal is that? I mean, right now, I may have three or four rookies in the lineup. Most teams open camp with a plan. I can only speculate.”

LABOR

Things may be looking up, but nothing is certain. A management proposal of Nov. 15 was the first in eight months. It took the union three months to respond last week. Management promises a response to that within 14 days. Everyone is on the same page, talking about a payroll tax, but differences over the rate, threshold at which it would kick in and length remain.

In the meantime, owners have been discussing a revenue-sharing agreement that could be enacted even if the bargaining agreement remains unresolved.

And the game continues to operate under the rules of an agreement that expired two years ago because a federal court issued an injunction in response to the National Labor Relations Board’s claim of unfair labor practice by the owners.

“I don’t really believe the credibility of the game can be repaired until there is an agreement,” said Randy Levine, management’s fifth lead negotiator since the dispute began. “We need a long-term deal, a partnership that puts everybody on the same page with the same goals.”

LANDSCAPE

Sparky Anderson is playing golf in Thousand Oaks. Buddy Bell now manages the Detroit Tigers. And there are new managers in Cincinnati, Ray Knight; Oakland, Art Howe; St. Louis, La Russa; Baltimore, Johnson, and the Bronx, Joe Torre. And Arizona has named former Yankee manager Buck Showalter its manager, although the expansion Diamondbacks won’t begin playing until 1998.

Some of the replacement players of last spring remain, but two of the game’s stars, Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield, have retired.

The Angels are accompanied to Arizona by the ghost of their late-summer collapse, while the New York Mets believe they are about to awaken memories of their Tom Seaver-led, country hardball rotations of the past.

As Livan Hernandez bids for a spot in the Florida rotation, another Cuban, Osvaldo Fernandez hopes to make the San Francisco Giants’ staff, and another, the highly touted Rey Ordonez, could emerge as the Mets’ shortstop.

While Ripken prepares for another summer of 162 games as Baltimore’s shortstop, Ozzie Smith hopes to return from a series of injuries as the St. Louis shortstop, but the acquisition of Clayton could produce a volatile situation.

Jack McDowell and Julio Franco are with the Cleveland Indians, solidifying Cleveland’s status as prohibitive favorite in the American League Central, where the Chicago White Sox have rebuilt their lineup, having acquired Danny Tartabull, Tony Phillips and Harold Baines as support for Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura.

Ryne Sandberg returns to second base for the cross-town Cubs after a year of retirement, but his old keystone partner, Shawon Dunston, is now with the Giants.

The Indians are hoping former second baseman and designated hitter Franco can play first base--he won the equivalent of a Gold Glove at that position in Japan last year--and the Boston Red Sox are relying on Jose Canseco’s becoming a regular right fielder again. The Red Sox are also hoping that Wil Cordero, the recently acquired former Expo shortstop, can move to second base.

The Colorado Rockies are trying to move right fielder Larry Walker to center, and the Philadelphia Phillies are moving catcher Darren Daulton to the outfield. Santiago will be his replacement.

Accompanying Molitor back to his St. Paul roots with the Twins is former Twin Rick Aguilera, who was signed to a three-year, $9-million contract in the hope that one of baseball’s best relief pitchers can became a starter again.

Rickey Henderson, the former A’s left fielder, is now with the San Diego Padres, a teammate of Wally Joyner, the former Angel and Kansas City Royal first baseman.

Fans will definitely need scorecards this spring. There are even new owners with the A’s, Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and, perhaps, Angels. The Angel purchase by Disney hinges on an agreement with the city of Anaheim by mid-March for $110 million in renovations to Anaheim Stadium.

Disney chairman Michael Eisner said recently that with all of baseball’s problems, he considered it the perfect time to buy in--providing he gets the renovations and a new lease. In many ways, leverage is the name of the game as baseball once again observes the rites of spring.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Spring Training Sites

Here are the locations of major league baseball’s spring training camps, which are scheduled to open in the next week:

ARIZONA

1. Oakland Athletics, Phoenix

2. San Diego Padres, Peoria

3. Seattle Mariners, Peoria

4. San Francisco Giants, Scottsdale

5. Angels, Tempe

6. Chicago Cubs, Mesa

7. Milwaukee Brewers, Chandler

8. Colorado Rockies, Tucson