Spring Training Roundup : Strawberry and Mets Reach a Multiyear Agreement

Darryl Strawberry, the National League’s 1983 Rookie of the Year, reached agreement on a multiyear contract Saturday with the New York Mets.

No terms were announced, but it is believed the contract is for five years, meaning Strawberry won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 1989 season. He received $220,000 last season.

Strawberry had been seeking more than the $335,000 base salary for 1985 that teammate Dwight Gooden received this year. Gooden, who won 17 games last year, was the 1984 NL Rookie of the Year.

Strawberry, who will turn 23 March 12, hit .251 with 26 home runs and 97 runs batted in last season, giving him 52 homers in his first two seasons.

The Pittsburgh Pirates say they received damaged goods when they acquired Steve Kemp in a December trade with the New York Yankees, and the veteran outfielder may not be ready to play on opening day.

However, Pirate Executive Vice President Harding Peterson said he will not renegotiate the deal that brought Kemp and shortstop Tim Foli from the Yankees for shortstop Dale Berra and two minor leaguers.

“I believe in ‘Let the buyer beware,’ ” said Peterson said, who added that Kemp underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder in January to repair a tear in his rotator cuff.

Kemp said when he heard he might be traded to Pittsburgh he instructed his agent, Dick Moss, to inform Yankees’ General Manager Clyde King about the injury.

“I never heard from Kemp’s agent,” King said. “(Kemp) couldn’t have had too bad of a shoulder because he hit nearly .300 for us.”

Houston Astro outfielder Jerry Mumphrey says he came to spring training expecting to play every day and is unhappy with Houston’s plans for platooning players.

Mumphrey, the Astros’ only representative in last season’s All-Star game, sought out Manager Bob Lillis for an explanation just after arriving at camp.

“I don’t know what the thinking is,” Mumphrey said. “All I know is that I’m coming here with the idea in my mind that I’m going to play every day. This will just make me more determined than ever to hit better right-handed.”

Mumphrey hit .290 with 83 RBIs last season. The switch-hitter batted .311 with all nine of his home runs and 58 RBIs from the left side last year. Right-handed, he hit .247 with 25 RBIs.

Ozzie Guillen looked like a throw-in when the Chicago White Sox traded 1983 Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt to San Diego for pitcher Tim Lollar and third baseman Luis Salazar.

Less than a week after the start of spring training, it appears Guillen will be the starting shortstop for the White Sox.

Manager Tony LaRussa didn’t want to put early pressure on Guillen after the Hoyt trade. But LaRussa discovered, “He can handle the attention.”

In fact, the 21-year-old Venezuelan seems to like the attention.

“No pressure,” he said. “You’ve got to play baseball the way you’re used to playing it.”