Morris Is Available, but Are Angels Willing to Pay the Price?

In this second chilling winter for free agents, the Angels must take a stand today on three of their own: Bob Boone, Doug DeCinces and Brian Downing.

Eventually, the Angels may also have to make a decision on Jack Morris, the free-agent Detroit pitcher who has notified them by letter that he would like to play for them.

General Manager Mike Port said that Morris sent letters to other clubs as well.

Are the Angels, who spent a fortune on free agents before pulling back in recent years, interested in Morris, who had a 21-8 record in 1986?

“We are not interested in a bidding contest, and I’ve told his agent (Dick Moss) that,” Port said. “I reminded him that they made the initial contact and I told him, ‘Tell us what you want and we’ll see if we can hack it.’ I expect to see Dick Moss in Florida.”

Morris made $850,000 last season. His only offer has come from the Tigers, two years at $2.4 million. That may be out of the financially conscious Angels’ league, considering their recent history and that they are now trying to cut back with Boone, DeCinces and Downing.

The situation is this:

--Any club that does not offer arbitration to a free agent of its own by midnight tonight gives up negotiating rights to that player until May 1.

--A free agent who is offered arbitration by his club has until Dec. 19 to accept or decline.

--If he agrees to settle his negotiations by arbitration, then he is also agreeing to stay with his club and give up free agency.

--If he declines the arbitration offer, his club has until Jan. 8 to sign him, after which it cannot sign him until May 1.

The Angels seem almost certain to offer Boone, DeCinces and Downing arbitration, extending their negotiating rights to Jan. 8. Port, however, refused to be definitive before leaving for the winter baseball meetings here.

If anything, he was contradictory. Asked if he would offer arbitration to all three, he said: “Maybe not.” Then, alluding to the status of his negotiations with the three, he said:

“I’m comfortable with things right now, but I can’t tell you that we’re going to be able to sign all three within the range we’d like. I can only tell you that we do hope to finalize all three.”

Having already elected not to re-sign Reggie Jackson, Rick Burleson, Ruppert Jones, Doug Corbett, Terry Forster and Vern Ruhle, it is believed that the contract range the Angels have in mind for Boone, 39, DeCinces, 36, and Downing, 36, does not go beyond a one-year guarantee.

All three are known to want more and have been talking, through their agents, with other clubs--though it is suspected that none of the more than 60 free agents have received an offer from clubs other than their own.

Boone, DeCinces and Downing are all coming off three-year contracts that guaranteed them $2.75 million, $2.7 million and $2.025 million, respectively.

Attorney Arthur Rosenberg, who represents Boone and is talking with other clubs, said of the Angels: “If it was strictly dollars, I believe we could get together. But we’re looking at two years, and they’re looking at one. Right now, we’re at an impasse.”

Attorney Ron Shapiro, who represents DeCinces, said that he, too, is looking for a multiyear contract. “This club knows what Doug does when he signs a multiyear contract. He produces. He doesn’t sign and quit. We’ve exchanged proposals. We’ll keep talking,” Shapiro said.

Neither Downing nor his agent, Tom Reich, could be reached for comment.

The three Angels have to be concerned as to what they might encounter on the allegedly open market.

As anticipated, the owners appear to be collectively ignoring an attractive collection of free agents, just as they did last winter.

That collection includes the Detroit battery of Morris and catcher Lance Parrish, Montreal outfielders Tim Raines and Andre Dawson, Atlanta first baseman Bob Horner and Boston catcher Rich Gedman.

Last year, Angel relief pitcher Donnie Moore and Detroit outfielder Kirk Gibson, the biggest names among the free agents, did not receive one offer from another team before the Jan. 8 deadline for signing with their own teams. Both capitulated on the eve of the deadline rather than face the unknown.

The players’ association filed a grievance charging the owners with having acted in concert to violate the collective bargaining agreement. The hearing on that grievance is still in progress.

In the meantime, the union is reportedly urging current free agents to test the owners’ solidarity by going beyond Jan. 8, rather than re-signing with their own clubs.

And there is speculation that Morris and Raines are prepared to do that.

There is also the possibility of a modest free-agent breakthrough before the winter meetings end Wednesday.

Four clubs, among them the Dodgers, are pursuing former Angel Burleson, who returned from his long battle with shoulder injuries to hit .284.

The other interested clubs, according to Jack Sands, Burleson’s agent, are Baltimore, Texas and Oakland. Sands said that the Orioles and the Rangers seemed to represent the best opportunity and that he hopes to have a contract by Wednesday.