Baseball / Ross Newhan : Bowie Was Wrong: Since Free Agency, Parity Has Taken Over

The warnings came from then-Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and the owners who were pulling his strings. Free agency, they said, would destroy baseball’s competitive balance, making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

The results have been just the opposite. Parity rules. Consider:

--Assuming that the Angels, Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox join the New York Mets as division champions, 21 of the 26 teams will have won at least one division championship since the start of free agency in 1976.

--Other than the Kansas City Royals’ successive division championships in 1984 and ‘85, no team has won consecutive titles since the New York Yankees in 1980 and ’81.

--None of this season’s four prospective titlists have been in a playoff since 1982.

--The title in the American League East, assuming the Red Sox hold on, will have been won by a different team in each of the last six years, which means that 1987 should belong to the Cleveland Indians.

The Montreal Expos are not expected to retain either Tim Raines or Andre Dawson, both eligible for free agency.

That disturbs Hubie Brooks, who may be asked to move to right field, replacing Dawson. Brooks said he won’t do it, that if he had to do it over again, he might not have agreed to the Mets’ request to move from third base to shortstop in ’84.

“I’m tired of being the nice guy,” he said. “I don’t want to cause trouble, but if those two guys are going, what will we have? If they’re not here, I don’t think I want to be here.”

Rumors:

--President Dallas Green of the Chicago Cubs is thinking about moving Manager Gene Michael into a personnel position, replacing him with coach John Vukovich.

--Yankee owner George Steinbrenner will fire General Manager Clyde King, making him a scapegoat for the Yankees’ failure to land Seattle Mariners shortstop Spike Owen, who was traded to the division rival Red Sox.

Billy Martin first denied making the comments, then said they were meant to be off the record. Don Zimmer isn’t buying any of it.

Martin was quoted in a suburban New York City paper as saying he would fire the entire Yankee coaching staff and accused Zimmer, the third base coach, of disloyalty to Manager Lou Piniella.

Zimmer said he has heard Martin accuse him of disloyalty before. This time, Zimmer said, the real source seemed to be Steinbrenner.

“George confides in Billy, and Billy is scouting the club,” Zimmer said. “I can read between the lines. I’ll make it easy for them. I’ll quit. I don’t even want to be near this (bleep) place (Yankee Stadium).”

Steinbrenner defended broadcaster Martin, saying he works in the media and can say what he wants. Of Zimmer’s response, Steinbrenner said: “If Zim said that, I’ve lost a lot of faith in him.”

The Astros are said to be quietly concerned about relief ace Dave Smith’s ailing elbow, fearing it will be more of a playoff problem than Nolan Ryan’s ailing elbow.

Now that his Mets have clinched the title in the National League East, General Manager Frank Cashen says of the playoffs and World Series: “All things being equal, we should win. We have the best team.”

Are the Mets one of the best teams ever?

Said St. Louis Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog: “Their infield has (Wally) Backman and (Tim) Teufel at second base and (Rafael) Santana at shortstop. I don’t think you can consider them one of the best teams ever.”

And this from Herzog, on Met Manager Davey Johnson: “I thought Harry Caray invented baseball. After reading Davey’s book, I think Davey did.”

A suburban columnist brought up the subject of Angel Most Valuable Player and tabbed Mike Witt. Not bad.

Credit Witt for taking the Angels into the seventh inning or later in 29 of his 30 starts, for providing a consistency and dominance second only to Boston’s Roger Clemens.

There are others, too.

Credit Doug DeCinces for shaking off his contract uncertainty and supplying a remarkable second half--a .287 batting average, 15 home runs and 54 RBIs since June 22--that should, though may not, reaffirm his status as the Angel third baseman for 1987 and beyond.

Credit Brian Downing for maintaining that infectious aggressiveness and consistent productivity--18 home runs and 84 RBIs--despite his own contract uncertainty and a struggle with a strength-sapping virus.

Credit Bob Boone and Dick Schofield and Kirk McCaskill for considerable contributions of their own, but tab Wally Joyner as the one and only Angel MVP.

It was Joyner who supplied the elixir of youth and re-ignited confidence as the RBI man the Angels lacked in 1984 and ’85. He made his mark during the critical first half when the Angels still might have been thinking about the failure of 1985, still might have been questioning the decision to let Rod Carew go, still might have been wondering where that one more bat would come from.

It was suggested earlier that a case could be made for Joyner becoming the league’s MVP. That probably would be stretching it now. He has only 20 RBIs and 2 home runs since the All-Star break. He may not even be Rookie of the Year, considering Jose Canseco’s impressive statistics.

But Angel MVP, the P translating to both player and personality? The talk of the town, when they needed that, too? It’s still Wally’s World.

The Angels may be fortunate that the American League playoffs will open in Boston rather than in Anaheim, where it would have opened had baseball not reached an agreement with the National Football League on conflicting schedules.

Clemens will now pitch the playoff opener at night and, possibly, will face the Angels once in a twilight start at Anaheim. He might otherwise have had two twilight starts at Anaheim.

How tough is the Lord of the Ks in the shadows? Pitching the first game of a twilight/night doubleheader against Milwaukee last Tuesday, Clemens struck out 5 of the first 6 batters and 10 in all en route to his 23rd win.

It seems likely that the Kansas City Royals will cut Bret Saberhagen’s salary the maximum 20% in the wake of a season in which he is 6-10. Saberhagen, 20-6 last year, got a raise from $160,000 to $925,000 in arbitration. A 20% cut would reduce that to $740,000.

Saberhagen is not happy at the prospect, saying he still tried as hard as he could, but he will be better off taking the 20% cut than risking arbitration again.

A player who receives a salary increase of 100% or more in arbitration and files again the next year can be cut more than 20%, meaning that the Royals could file for any figure they choose, with the arbitrator choosing between that figure or the one Saberhagen filed.

The Dodgers’ Orel Hershiser, whose salary went from $212,000 to $1 million in arbitration, is governed by the same rule, though it is unlikely the Dodgers will consider a 20% cut, even though Hershiser has gone from 19-3 to 13-12. In 6 of the 12 losses, the Dodgers were shut out.