Morris Offers to Sign One-Year Yankee Contract

Free-agent pitcher Jack Morris, shopping around for a new team after nine seasons with the Detroit Tigers, met with George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, Thursday and offered to sign for one year and let an arbitrator decide his salary.

Morris and his agent, Dick Moss, also presented Steinbrenner with several other packages rejected by the Minnesota Twins this week. The proposal of a one-year contract was not given to the Twins.

Morris, 31, the winningest pitcher of the 1980s, said he was willing to sacrifice the long-term security sought by most free agents for a one-year deal with New York because the Yankees are a contender and he is confident of his ability to win for them.

“The rap has been that you can’t give pitchers long-term guaranteed contracts because they’re not going to come through and be worth the money you give them,” Morris said after meeting with Steinbrenner. “I’m willing to try to prove that to be wrong.”

The meeting created an interesting scenario. It was Moss who successfully argued the 1975 Andy Messersmith decision that essentially created free agency, and Steinbrenner was the first owner to take advantage of the system.

There has been an apparent free-agent freeze over the past year, with no prominent player changing teams or getting outside offers. The players’ union has protested the action, filing a charge of collusion against the owners.

Steinbrenner called the offer to go to arbitration “unique.” He said he will study all the proposals received from Morris and Moss, but that he will not be rushed.