Owners Throwing the Players a Curve

Baseball players and their agents claim collusion. Owners and executive contend common sense.

But whether it’s a collective effort or an individual one, the result is the same: Major league owners, having seen losses mount in the tens of millions, are moving to tighten their grip on the game.

Kirk Gibson, this year’s top free-agent prize, has not heard from a single team. Nor has free-agent reliever Donnie Moore, who had 31 saves and a 1.92 earned-run average last season.

Long-term contracts are suddenly harder to get. So are multimillion-dollar ones. Drug testing, which the players union has opposed, is being written into individual player contracts.

The average salary in the major leagues is more than $360,000. And owners are saying enough is enough--while stressing their actions are being done independently and individually.

“There’s no question they’re trying, in the course of one winter, to get back to where they were in 1975,” says player agent Peter Rose.

Cleveland Indian president Peter Bavasi, whose team is for sale, plays down the trend. He says owners are just being practical.

“You’re seeing a spirit of common concern by the owners,” he says. “There’s a fellowship coming back to the game.”

Commissioner Peter Ueberroth says it’s all in the best interest of the game.

“Collusion? I can’t take that seriously,” he said. “The losses have built up and built up, and it just can’t continue. Common sense has taken over.”

Owners stress that their actions are being taken individually. But Lee MacPhail, a longtime baseball executive and the outgoing head of the Player Relations Committee--the owners’ bargaining group--recently sent a letter to owners with ideas on how to deal with future contracts.

MacPhail’s letter detailed financial problems facing the game and suggested the owners be careful in giving long-term and big-money pacts.

At this year’s winter meetings, usually a breeding ground for trades and a forum for free-agent discussions, several top player agents spent the week walking around, usually alone.

“There’s a very, very unified effort to close off negotiations, specifically with Kirk,” says Gibson’s agent, Doug Baldwin. “We’re at an absolute dead end right now. We haven’t heard from a single team.”

This follows last year’s winter meetings, when teams lined up to talk to free agents like Bruce Sutter, Rick Sutcliffe and Fred Lynn.

In Gibson’s case, the Detroit Tigers have offered a three-year contract worth $3.9 million. Gibson wants a five-year pact. The Tigers have until Jan. 8 to sign Gibson or lose him, and in the meantime all other 25 teams are staying away.

“Not to downgrade the tremendous talents of Kirk Gibson, but maybe the other clubs feel he’s not worth what the Detroit club is offering to pay him,” Bavasi said.

Yet at age 28, Gibson, an outfielder who batted .287 with 29 home runs, 97 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases last season, is the kind of player who would have attracted tremendous attention in the past. In addition, procedural changes this year allow any team that wants to pursue a free agent to go after him.

Still, no takers.

“What’s happening is the 26 individual clubs are individually recognizing there is a meager return on their enormous investments in free agents,” Bavasi said. “We’re going back to basics, like putting more money in our farm systems.”

Sutter, who signed a six-year contract worth $1.25 million with the Atlanta Braves, finished with a 4.48 ERA--the worst of his career. Sutter also just underwent surgery.

Sutcliffe, the National League Cy Young Award winner in 1984, re-signed for millions with the Chicago Cubs and went 8-8 last year during an injury-plagued season.

Don Aase, a journeyman reliever who finally posted good numbers with the Angels during an injury-filled 1984, was given a multi-year, multimillion-dollar contract by Baltimore. Aase had a 3.78 ERA last season and was not what the Orioles had hoped for.

“I think the owners need to concentrate on being financially responsible, in an individual way,” said Malcolm Prine, head of the consortium that recently purchased the ailing Pittsburgh Pirates. “Vigilance is required.”

Adds Bavasi: “For the good players, salaries will continue to escalate. But they won’t keep going up so much for the lesser players.”

In some cases, teams are experimenting with other ways to reduce their costs. Several major-league teams are considering going with 24-man rosters, one under the limit.

“We have to cut back somewhere,” San Diego Padre general manager Jack McKeon said. “How often does the 25th player on a team get to play?”

Rose, who represents Moore, said the owners “felt a need to stop the salary spiral.”