Angels Sign Moore; Tigers Retain Gibson : Relief Pitcher Will Get $1 Million a Season in 3-Year Contract

Sometimes, real life truly does imitate baseball. In a game more important than any they played during the summer of ‘85, the Angels waited until the ninth inning of their contract negotiations with their finest relief pitcher before deciding that, yes, it was time to give the ball to Donnie Moore.

At approximately 4:20 p.m. Wednesday afternoon--less than five hours before the free-agent re-enlistment deadline--the Angels came to terms with Moore, signing the man who saved 31 games for them last season to a three-year contract reportedly worth a guaranteed $1 million a year.

The same kind of game was being played in Detroit, where the Tigers signed free-agent outfielder Kirk Gibson to a three-year contract “moments before” a midnight deadline that would have prevented the team from re-signing him before May 1.

Tiger spokesman Dan Ewald said shortly after midnight he knew of few other contract details, adding that the Tigers’ longstanding offer to Gibson of $3.9 million over three years was “in the ballpark.”

For Moore and the Angels, it was, in the end, a swift resolution to a laborious negotiation process that dragged on for six months and seemed hopelessly stalled just 24 hours earlier.

With talks apparently broken off after Tuesday’s non-productivemeeting with Angel owner Gene Autry, and with at least one of Moore’s agents ready to leave town, General Manager Mike Port broke the silence with a cursory phone call, a meeting was hastily arranged, and less than 1 1/2 hours later, a deal was completed.

“Yesterday would’ve been too easy,” Port said, grinning from behind a podium at Wednesday evening’s press conference. “This made for much greater drama.”

It was easy to laugh at that point, with Moore happily modeling an Angel cap for photographers, and the Angel bullpen in stable condition for 1986.

But for the preceding 24 hours, there had been few smiles--on either side.

Angered by what he called “the Angels’ stubbornness,” agent David Pinter had prepared to leave his Anaheim hotel Wednesday morning.

“I called Mike Port and said goodby in the morning,” Pinter said. “We weren’t going to sign for $2.7 million for three years (the Angels’ original offer). I’d rather go somewhere else and sign a one-year contract for $1 million, just for the principle.

“My advice to my client was to not take their offer. I thought Donnie Moore was going to be a free agent.”

But before heading for the airport, Pinter was talked into spending the afternoon at Disneyland by his wife. He agreed, hoping it would take his mind off the situation.

“I’m glad I stayed,” he would say later.

While Pinter was exploring Space Mountain, Port placed a call to Peter Rose, Moore’s other agent. The reason: Moore’s quote in the morning newspapers, saying he would sign a three-year contract--”a good three-year contract.”

Rose: “Mike had some questions about what would make for a ‘good three-year contact.’ I told him that rather than sit here and talk on the phone, why don’t I come on in?”

Port and Rose agreed to a 3 p.m. meeting and, within 90 minutes, forged a larger agreement. By the time Pinter made it to the Angels’ Anaheim Stadium offices, the contract was ready to be typed.

According to Rose, the urgency of the moment helped bring about a settlement.

“Why is it that you don’t get down to serious writing until you’re faced with deadline?” Rose told a group of reporters. “You don’t know if the club has made its best offer unless you get to the 11th hour. Then, you do it or else.”

Port had said Tuesday that the Angels had made their best offer, reportedly $2.68 million for three years. Wednesday, he said the two sides “found ways to mutually compromise.”

The final compromise will earn Moore a signing bonus of $450,000, a guaranteed $850,000 for each of the three years, plus performance incentives. If Moore wins the American League Cy Young Award or Most Valuable Player award or Rolaids Fireman of the Year award or The Sporting News Relief Pitcher of the Year award, he would earn $125,000 for each award. If he finishes second for any of those, he would earn $75,000, or $50,000 for third. The performance bonuses are limited to $250,000 in any one year.

With Moore back to join Stewart Cliburn and newly acquired Gary Lucas, the Angels will enter the 1986 season with possibly their strongest bullpen ever.

In Detroit, Tiger spokesman Ewald said that Gibson’s agent, Doug Baldwin, “has the contract before him now in Seattle. All he has to do is sign it and return it.”

Gibson, 28, led the Tigers in 1985 with a .287 batting average and contributed 29 home runs and 97 RBIs.

The New York Yankees also came to contract terms with free-agent catcher Butch Wynegar and pitching brothers Phil and Joe Niekro several hours before the midnight deadline.

Financial terms of the contracts were not disclosed. The three players were the only Yankees to become free agents.