Baseball : Carew Sits and Waits for an Offer to Play

As the rites of spring continue in Arizona and Florida, Rod Carew is miles away, having escorted his three daughters on a skiing trip.

It is the first time since Carew began his professional career in 1964 that he has been out of uniform in the spring--a situation that he would like to change.

Attorney Jerry Simon, who represents Carew, said Carew is not ready to accept retirement nor any of the several feelers for nonplaying jobs he has received from major league clubs, the Angels among them.

“There are baseball people interested in hiring Rod for a capacity other than playing, but he’s not ready to consider that,” Simon said from St. Paul, Minn. “Even the Angels have expressed interest, but they understand it would be down the road some, that Rod considers it premature.”

The Angels elected not to re-sign Carew, opening a first-base vacancy for touted Wally Joyner. Instead of becoming the object of a bidding war, the 40-year-old Carew encountered a cold war, as did other free agents. The players’ association ultimately responded to that by filing a grievance, charging that the owners acted in concert to restrict free-agent movement, a violation of the bargaining agreement.

Carew’s Hall of Fame credentials suddenly seemed worthless.

Only the Minnesota Twins, Carew’s former team, have expressed occasional interest, telling Simon again recently that they will make a decision only after sorting out their spring roster.

“I can’t believe there isn’t a spot for him somewhere, and neither can Rod,” Simon said. “He believes he can play and wants to play. He isn’t ready to quit.

“He hit .280 last year, playing part of the season with a broken foot. I figured out that he hit .295 after coming back from the injury, which is still a competitive average. There’s a hell of a lot of guys out there who aren’t doing it.”

Simon said he has counseled Carew to avoid talking publicly about his situation because he is going through the mental stress of trying to grasp it.

“He’s like a fire horse who hears the bell ringing but has no place to go,” Simon said. “I’ve told him to relax, be patient and let the future unfold without forcing it.”

Meanwhile, in addition to the job feeler they have tendered Carew, the Angels have remained in contact, letting Carew know, through publicist Tim Mead, that if and when he decides to retire, they would like to sponsor a public tribute.

Nothing may have been said about it at the end of last season, Simon said, “because it was (General Manager) Mike Port’s assumption, as well as our own, that Rod would be playing somewhere. It hasn’t happened, but a retirement party is still not in order.”

At the press conference heralding Fernando Valenzuela’s signing of a three-year contract, Dodger President Peter O’Malley said championship teams deserve championship salaries.

Indeed.

The normally conservative Dodgers may replace the New York Yankees as baseball’s best-paying team. The Yankees’ 1985 salary average of $546,364 was baseball’s highest, and it was the seventh time in the nine years of free agency that the Yankees were No. 1.

The Dodgers ranked sixth last year at $424,273, but the 1986 average, with Mariano Duncan still to sign, projects to about $570,000, the overall payroll escalating from $10.6 million to about $14.9 million.

Now, starting with Mike Marshall at $650,000, the Dodgers have nine players making that or more. Bob Welch is getting $700,000, Rick Honeycutt $725,000, Mike Scoscia $800,000, Bill Madlock $850,000, Jerry Reuss $900,000, Orel Hershiser $1 million, Pedro Guerrero $1.35 million and Valenzuela $1.6 million.

Steve Boros, the new manager of the San Diego Padres, said iron man Steve Garvey will prosper from the occasional day off that Boros plans to give him.

Good luck, Mr. Boros.

Dick Williams made the same vow before Garvey played all 162 games last year and 161 of 162 the year before. Garvey has missed just the one game since returning at the start of the 1984 season from the dislocated thumb that ended his record streak of National League games at 1,207 on July 29, 1983.

Of Boros’ plans, Garvey said: “I will prepare for 177 games--162 regular season, one All-Star game and 14 postseason games. It’s up to Boros. He can rest me, but I told him that, barring injury, I’ll be ready every day. One hundred and sixty-two games, that’s my commitment, that’s what it says in my contract.

“I’ll just try to make it so he won’t want to take me out.”

Short hops: National League superiority? League President Chub Feeney won only $99 during a recent appearance on the TV quiz show “Jeopardy,” finishing third and last. . . . Going to the dogs: The new Cincinnati Reds media guide features a half-page biography on Schotzy, owner Marge Schott’s St. Bernard. The bio reveals that Schotzy will wear No. 00 this season. . . . San Diego pitcher Greg Booker, 6 feet 6 inches and 230 pounds, said of Bip Roberts, the 5-7, 160-pound second base candidate: “We have baked potatoes back in North Carolina bigger than he is.”

Carlton Fisk, now an ex-catcher, doesn’t sound enthralled about the move to left field. The last player to report to the Chicago White Sox camp, Fisk was asked about the move and said: “It’s nobody’s business but my own. It’s something I have to deal with.” . . . Attempting another comeback in the wake of his seventh knee operation, Boston Red Sox second baseman Jerry Remy said: “I’ve been to Fisk’s weight doctor. I saw a faith healer in Worcester. I even saw a voodoo specialist in St. Martin. I’ve tried everything.” . . . The only unsigned Red Sox player is catcher Marc Sullivan, who isn’t apt to knock management. He’s owner Haywood Sullivan’s son.

Add Garvey: He’s one of the few major leaguers who uses an aluminum bat, but it’s only during the first two weeks of spring training. “The pitchers are ahead of the hitters at this point, and I’d break too many bats if I didn’t use an aluminum one,” he said. “I’d also risk hurting my wrists because I’m pretty much of a free swinger.” . . . What’s In a Name? Consistency if it’s the family of Luis A. DeLeon, the former San Diego pitcher now with Baltimore. DeLeon’s father was Luis A. DeLeon, as are his four brothers and his new son. In each case, only the middle name is different. Asked for an explanation, DeLeon said, “I don’t know. It’s crazy.”

The Baltimore Orioles are still putting shortstop Jackie Gutierrez through a series of mental tests in the wake of some bizarre behavior in the winter leagues.

Gutierrez reportedly kept a gun in the clubhouse, took off his clothes on the field and entertained teammates by whistling at his position--that is, when he showed up for the games.

Bobby Brown, the American League president, is weighing an Oriole request to void the winter trade in which Gutierrez was obtained from Boston for relief pitcher Sammy Stewart.

The thought was that Gutierrez, if he didn’t move to third base himself, might enable the Orioles to move shortstop Cal Ripken there, freeing third baseman Floyd Rayford for a catching assignment.

American League umpires are always thankful when Billy Martin isn’t in the Yankee dugout, but successor Lou Piniella may be just as emotional. Mike Ferraro, the Kansas City third-base coach and a close friend, predicts that Piniella will be ejected at least 30 times.

Bret Saberhagen, in the wake of an arbitration victory that raised his salary from $160,000 to $925,000, asked that a drug-testing clause be included in his contract. “I thought that since I’ve gotten such a good contract, if the Royals had any qualms, I have nothing to hide,” Saberhagen said. “We have to get the bad image out of baseball.”

The Royals are scheduled to play 46 games during the first 51 days of the season, which works to the advantage of their acclaimed pitching staff, Manager Dick Howser said. “You usually sit around with a lot of off days early in the season,” he said. “We still don’t know how the weather will be, but with our staff this should give us a chance to get everyone ready and going.”

Rick Sutcliffe, who experienced the Cy Young Award jinx last year when he was 8-8 after suffering hamstring, groin and shoulder injuries, is already penciled in to start the Chicago Cubs’ season opener. Sutcliffe threw on four straight days this week and pronounced himself fit.

His golf game seems to be in shape, too. He recently won two local club tournaments, which didn’t seem to excite club President Dallas Green, obviously concerned about the effect on Sutcliffe’s shoulder.

“He’s the only guy who hasn’t congratulated me,” Sutcliffe said. “I guess I better hang up the clubs.”

The Minnesota Twins’ team physician welcomed the club to spring training with a lecture on the evils of drugs, saying you can test positive merely by being in a car with three people who are smoking marijuana.

Relief pitcher Ron Davis said that another dangerous place is the Oakland Coliseum. The haze, he suggested, isn’t caused by the fog off the bay.

“Out in Oakland, I can test positive just by being in the bullpen,” he said. “That’s why I don’t go out there until the seventh inning.”

More short hops: Former owner Calvin Griffith sings the first verse on a new video by the Twins. It isn’t known if the thrifty Griffith demanded to be paid. . . . The suspicious Yankees called Rickey Henderson’s Oakland dentist to confirm that he would be delayed in reporting to camp because of root canal surgery.

Texas Rangers outfielder Pete Incaviglia, who hit 48 homers in 75 games at Oklahoma State and is now attempting to follow Bob Horner and Dave Winfield as a college player who skipped the minors en route to the majors, demonstrated his strength the other day by hammering a batting practice pitch through the outfield fence rather than over it. Of course, the pitch was a 45-m.p.h. lollipop thrown by Manager Bobby Valentine

Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Johnnie LeMaster, who has a .223 lifetime batter average and a fielding percentage only slightly higher, said: “I don’t think there’s a shortstop in this league that can do anything I can’t do, and I can do some things other shortstops can’t, including Ozzie Smith.” The one thing LeMaster did last year that no other shortstop would be interested in doing was play for three last-place teams: the Giants, Indians and Pirates.

The Angel halo may come to represent a zero on the scoreboard. The projected lineup, with rookie Joyner at first base and George Hendrick, he of the silent voice and bat--he hit .122 last year--in right, has no player with a higher 1985 average than Brian Downing’s .263.

The damage from Thursday’s gas explosion at the Milwaukee Brewers’ new complex at Chandler, Ariz., was estimated at $50,000, but repairs on the coaches’ room, manager’s office and home clubhouse are expected to be completed by midweek.