Gaetti Re-Signs With Twins for 3 Years : He Rejects a Richer Bid From Dodgers; Leibrandt Rejoins Royals

Steve Sax returned to the forefront of the Dodgers’ third base plans Thursday when free agent Gary Gaetti chose to re-sign with the Minnesota Twins.

Acknowledging that the Dodgers presented an even more lucrative proposal, Gaetti agreed to a three-year contract for $4.3 million.

The Angels also suffered a free-agent setback when left-handed pitcher Charlie Leibrandt decided to remain with the Kansas City Royals, agreeing to a two-year contract for a guaranteed $2.5 million, plus the opportunity to earn $250,000 a year more in incentives.

Mike Port, the Angels’ executive vice president, refused to say whether he made a specific offer, but Leibrandt, a winner of 33 games over the last two years, described the Angels as “one of my choices.”

He added, however: “Kansas City was always my first choice. It was just that up until Tuesday of this week, I seriously thought I wouldn’t be playing another year here. There had been very little movement in our conversations.”

Leibrandt and Gaetti had to return to their 1987 teams by midnight tonight or they would have been ineligible to return until May 1.

Both said they would have gone elsewhere if they had remained unsigned after tonight’s deadline.

Six free agents, all pitchers, still face that deadline. They are Dave Smith, Larry Andersen and Danny Darwin of the Houston Astros, Atlee Hammaker of the San Francisco Giants, Bill Gullickson of the New York Yankees and John Candelaria of the New York Mets.

Gullickson is reportedly on the verge of accepting an offer from the Tokyo Giants.

Smith, the most prominent of the six, earned $700,000 in salary and bonuses while posting 24 saves and a 1.65 earned-run average in 50 relief appearances with the Astros last year.

The Astros have reportedly offered a two-year contract at $900,000 a year, but Smith wants three years. He was said to be in Oakland Wednesday, meeting with A’s executives. He has told Houston reporters that if he is not signed by tonight, he will not return to the Astros.

Gaetti, meanwhile, agreed to a unique contract that apparently still requires some decisions.

After being paid $900,000 last season, when he hit 31 homers, drove in 109 runs and won his second Gold Glove for fielding excellence, Gaetti will receive $1 million this year, then $800,000 in 1989 and $500,000 in 1990.

Those comparatively modest figures represent a tax hedge for Gaetti and a bargain for the Twins, who retained Gaetti when they agreed to include a $2-million signing bonus that Gaetti can receive in three cash installments this year or that the Twins will put in an annuity to be paid at a date to be determined.

Gaetti and the Twins agreed to the $4.3-million total Thursday morning after Gaetti reportedly rejected a three-year, $3.6-million offer Wednesday night, seemingly putting the Dodgers in an advantageous position.

Executive Vice President Fred Claire refused Thursday to reveal the Dodgers’ offer. In a prepared statement, he said: “We were very serious in our desire to sign Gary Gaetti. We made him a substantial offer and negotiated with his agent in good faith. Gary chose to remain with his teammates and the club that initially signed him. We respect his decision and wish him well.”

Claire later said that he was prepared to continue negotiations Thursday morning and was disappointed when agent Jim Bronner called to tell him of Gaetti’s decision.

Claire said, however, that he didn’t believe that the Dodgers had been used as a bargaining wedge.

“I can appreciate Gary’s thinking,” he said. “The way it was explained, he had done a lot of soul-searching and wasn’t prepared to make the move to Los Angeles. It was important to him to remain with the team he had signed with and been part of for so long.”

From his Chicago office, Bronner said that the Dodgers never made a specific, three-year offer, but had thrown out a figure Wednesday night that was bigger than what Gaetti eventually signed for.

“Had the Twins not made the dramatic improvement this morning, I think there was a very good chance Gary would have become a Dodger this afternoon,” Bronner said.

Gaetti, whose new contract also calls for $150,000 a year in incentive bonuses based on league and playoff awards, said at a press conference Thursday that he would have been giving up too much to leave Minnesota.

“This is my home now,” he said. “I like my manager, my teammates, my stadium. I have a warm feeling in regard to the intangibles. I mean, we survived too many rough years here to walk out after finally winning a world’s championship. They say it can’t be won two years in a row. We want to prove it can.”

Claire, meanwhile, said that both he and Manager Tom Lasorda have talked with Sax about the move to third base and that they have been assured he will approach it with a good attitude.

Sax will begin the transition at a Dodger Stadium workout Monday, with coach Joe Amalfitano doing the tutoring--and Tracy Woodson and Jeff Hamilton providing the competition.