Cubs’ Dawson Awaits Turn for Big Money

On a warm Arizona day in early March, Andre Dawson and his agent, Dick Moss, went to the Chicago Cubs, hat--and glove--in hand.

Unwanted by every major-league club in a free-agent freeze out, Dawson and Moss took a gamble. They gave Cubs President Dallas Green a blank contract and told him to fill in the amount.

So desperate was Dawson to play for the Cubs, he was willing to accept practically anything to end negotiations that Green called a dog-and-pony show. Green, critical of signing high-salaried free agents, had to be talked into accepting the offer.

Some six months, 48 homers and 130 runs-batted in later, the situation has reversed. Now it is Green who must concoct a deal to sign Dawson for 1988 and beyond. He has seen the 33-year-old right fielder keep the Cubs competitive this year at the bargain-basement price of $500,000 ($200,000 in incentives were tacked on when Dawson made the All-Star team and avoided the disabled list as of mid-season).

“I guess about the most fair thing for Andre and the Cubs would be to let an arbitrator decide what is fair,” Green says.

By major-league standards, Dawson next year should expect about $2 million--a 400% increase.

Green has already pared the Cubs payroll, ranked second in the majors at the start of the season. He got rid of two of the high-salaried pitchers he signed after the division-winning season in 1984--Dennis Eckersley to Oakland and Steve Trout to the New York Yankees. He also dispensed with another $1.5 million in salaries by letting Gary Matthews and Ron Cey go.

“My feelings haven’t changed,” Green says. “I still don’t believe in multiyear contracts.”

For Dawson, that translates to a maximum two-year deal.

“For one thing, 1989 will be a major turning point for baseball,” Green says. “It’s the year the TV deal runs out and there is the threat of a player strike.”

Dawson, not eligible for free agency this time, and Moss have held a few meetings with the Cubs this year. Dawson is seeking the same kind of security he sought last year from his former team, Montreal. But there is a major difference.

“The Cubs’ organization, the team, the city and everyone involved, has treated me really very well,” Dawson says. “I would like to play here for another five years. I enjoy it and don’t see any trouble in getting it done.”

If an arbitrator must decide, Dawson can present awesome statistics. As he promised, playing on natural turf during the day at Wrigley Field, Dawson became the majors’ leading home-run hitter. He surpassed 100 RBI with eight weeks to go in the season, and despite a sluggish last three weeks easily led the league in runs-batted in.

However, player salaries apparently have stabilized. By accepting $500,000 a year ago, Dawson may have reduced his chances for a significant increase in 1988. If the Cubs offer Dawson $1 million next year, they can argue he is receiving a 100% raise.

Green can also point to Dawson’s history of injury problems.

“We have to consider protection if Dawson doesn’t have a big year; for example, next year,” he says.

The Cubs, owned by the Chicago Tribune Co., may want to pay Dawson big money, but for only two years. To do that, the Cubs might want to trade some high-salaried players like Keith Moreland ($1.2 million), Jerry Mumphrey ($850,000) and Bobby Dernier ($750,000).

In any event, Dawson sits in a much better position than he did last March in Arizona. And this time Green won’t get to fill in the blank.