Taking the Hard Line

Jarrod Washburn said he will not initiate long-term contract discussions with the Angels before free agency and will not consider accepting less than market value in any proposal the team might make, a stance the Angel ace acknowledges could lead the team to trade him before he becomes eligible for free agency in 2005.

“I understand that,” he said. “I know that’s the business of the game.”

Washburn rejected a long-term contract offer from the Angels two years ago and did not receive one this year. He said he no longer is interested in trading less money for the security of a guaranteed long-term deal and is prepared to accept the risk of injury or poor performance over the next two years.

“In past years, I would have taken the security and played for a discount,” he said, “just for the security reason. Now -- not that I don’t want the security -- I’m willing to go year-by-year and take my chances.

“I’m not saying I’m going to leave when I get the chance. I want to see what happens in the next two or three years. There are a lot of guys with contracts coming up. If everybody in this room is gone because of contracts and we’re rebuilding, I don’t know if I want to be a part of that.”

General Manager Bill Stoneman said he would not discuss Washburn’s contractual status or the possibility of a trade. “I’m not going to speculate on the likelihood of any particular guy being moved,” he said.

He did say, however, that he does not envision a rebuilding phase in coming years.

“Whatever we do, we want to win, period,” Stoneman said. “This should be a strong organization. We should be good for a long time.”

Two years ago, Washburn said, the Angels offered him a three-year, $5.6-million contract, an offer he and agent Scott Boras rejected as unreasonably low. Pitcher Ramon Ortiz accepted the same offer, plus a fourth-year option and signing bonus.

The Angels renewed Washburn’s contract for $350,000 last year and agreed on a one-year contract for $3.875 million this year. With a projected salary about $6 million next season, he could make more than $10 million over those three years.

He was disappointed, as was first baseman Scott Spiezio, when Stoneman did not offer long-term contracts last winter. Arte Moreno, the Angels’ new owner, said he would refer any player interested in contract talks to Stoneman, who prefers not to negotiate during the season.

The contracts of outfielder Garret Anderson, third baseman Troy Glaus, catcher Bengie Molina and pitchers Troy Percival, Kevin Appier, Aaron Sele and Ortiz expire after the 2004 season, although the Angels hold 2005 options on Molina and Ortiz.

Washburn, 28, emerged as the Angel ace last season, finishing fourth in American League Cy Young Award voting and starting the first game of the playoffs and World Series. He went 18-6 with a 3.15 earned-run average, the most victories by an Angel pitcher since 1991. His career .602 winning percentage is the best in team history.

He is 7-9 this season with a 4.30 ERA, the lowest among the Angel starters. The Angels have scored two runs or fewer in seven of his nine defeats. In a year in which he missed much of spring training because of a sprained shoulder and has recently been hampered by a sore hip, he has given up a league-high 22 home runs.

In 1992, pitcher Jim Abbott was two years from free agency--as Washburn is now--when he rejected a four-year, $16-million offer from the Angels. The team then traded him to the New York Yankees.

That trade long preceded Stoneman’s tenure. In 2000, in his first year as general manager, with Anderson and outfielder Jim Edmonds months away from potential free agency, Stoneman traded Edmonds to the St. Louis Cardinals and kept Anderson, largely because he believed Anderson was more interested in staying in Anaheim. Three weeks later, Anderson signed a four-year contract extension.

Stoneman nearly traded outfielder Darin Erstad to the Chicago White Sox in 2001, when Erstad was months away from free agency and unsure whether he wished to remain with the Angels. Disney executive Paul Pressler quashed the deal. Later, after Erstad declared he wanted to stay, Stoneman and agent Jeff Moorad negotiated a four-year extension in three days.

In 2001, Percival criticized team executives for disclosing details of contract negotiations and vowed to leave as a free agent the following year if the Angels did not trade him first. After club president Tony Tavares resigned, and after the Angels fortified their roster with Appier, Sele and designated hitter Brad Fullmer, Percival signed a two-year extension.