Angels Don’t Get Ryan but Do Get Criticized

Nolan Ryan accepted a $2-million guarantee from the Texas Rangers Wednesday, disappointing a friend and man he admires, Angel owner Gene Autry.

There was no hint of admiration in the response of John McMullen, owner of the Houston Astros, Ryan’s former club.

He accused Ryan of negotiating in bad faith and knocked Autry for helping re-generate the free-agent market with aggressive offers to Ryan and Boston Red Sox pitcher Bruce Hurst.

The latter, having apparently decided to accept the San Diego Padres’ 3-year, $5.2-million offer over the $5.5-million offers of the Angels and the Boston Red Sox Wednesday morning, reportedly informed the Padres later that he was severing negotiations in a dispute over contract language and would reopen talks with the Angels and Red Sox today.

It is unclear where that situation rests. Angel General Manager Mike Port said he planned to return to Anaheim early this morning and that he has had no indication from Nick Lampros, who represents Hurst, that the Angels are still in the running.

“I’m still going on the assumption that Bruce is headed in another direction,” Port said.

Autry had left Atlanta in mid-day, believing he had been rebuffed by Ryan and Hurst and unaware that McMullen was speaking harshly of him.

Reached at his Los Angeles home later, however, Autry said he has known of McMullen’s displeasure, but that he didn’t feel he had done anything more to raise the bidding on Ryan than had the Rangers and San Francisco Giants.

He said he would not have been involved with free agency at all if the signing of Mike Moore by the Oakland Athletics and his own Bob Boone by the Kansas City Royals had not convinced him he had to stay competitive. He then instructed Port “not to get outbid.”

“Everyone else seemed to be doing it again and I wanted the fans to know we are willing to get some players,” Autry said. The Angel owner was en route to the airport when McMullen alluded to the generous era before collusion and said, “We’re going back to the lunacy of before and it was all started by Autry, who has a love affair with Ryan. The interesting part is that he (Autry) lost out. That shows you what a folly it all was.”

Ryan, 41 and baseball’s all-time strikeout leader, will receive a $200,000 signing bonus from the Rangers, a $1.6 million guaranteed salary in 1989 and a $200,000 buyout if the Rangers fail to pick up a 1990 option at $1.4 million.

A club source said a variety of Angel plans boiled down to 1 year at $1.9 million with additional incentives or 2 years at about $3.3 million.

“It was always clear that the Angels were the place where the most money was,” Ryan’s attorney, Dick Moss, said.

Ryan, however, said his decision was based on an unwillingness to leave Texas and uproot his family. The Ryans live on a ranch in Alvin, Texas, 30 miles from Houston and 275 from Arlington, where the Rangers play.

McMullen scoffed at that, saying the reason Autry lost out was “because of the differential in state taxes,” there being none in Texas.

“It was a monetary decision (by Ryan),” he said. “What I’m concerned about is so many mediocre players making so much money. We paid Ryan $10.9 million over 9 years. You can figure out how many wins he had for us for that.”

A frequent victim of poor support, Ryan was 42-47 over the last four years and a modest 12-11 in 1988, despite a 3.52 earned-run average and a National League leading 228 strikeouts.

McMullen said he was “not ashamed” of how the Astros negotiated with Ryan but said Ryan and Moss operated in bad faith by failing to show up for a series of scheduled appointments.

Ryan and Moss had both left Atlanta before McMullen vented his anger and could not be reached for comment.

At a news conference earlier, Ryan said only that he did not re-sign with the Astros because their $1.3 million offer wasn’t comparable to those of the Rangers, Angels and Giants.

It is suspected, however, that he was also wounded by 1) the Astros’ initial offer of $800,000, a 20% cut from 1988, and 2) the club’s decision not to offer arbitration, meaning he would have had to re-sign by Wednesday or he could not have re-signed until May 1.

“I’m certainly disappointed that the Houston situation didn’t work out,” he said at the news conference.

“Houston is my home. I went there in 1980 (after leaving the Angels as a free agent in a contract dispute) with the intention of ending my career there and pitching in another World Series in an Astros uniform.

“I feel fortunate that I was able to spend nine years at home. I appreciate the opportunity John McMullen gave me and respect his decision.”

Ryan said his own decision, to pull up stakes at this point in his career, was the toughest he has ever made.

Likewise, he said, rejecting Autry and Giants’ president Al Rosen, another friend, was equally difficult.

“The opportunity to keep my family in Alvin represented the most workable situation and was the overriding factor,” Ryan said. “I’m also a diehard Texan. It just didn’t come down to money. I didn’t play city against city or club against club. “

Another factor, Ryan said, was the Rangers’ active role at these meetings and their obvious desire to win. He cited the acquisition of Julio Franco and Rafael Palmeiro in separate trades totaling 13 players.

In turn, the acquisition of Ryan, General Manager Tom Grieve said, represented one of the greatest days in club history. The Rangers had offered to guarantee the second year, but Ryan said he preferred to take it a year at a time.

“When I signed my last three-year contract with the Astros, I thought I’d be out of the game when it ended,” he said. “I’m at a point now where I don’t make predictions about longevity. I pitched as well last year as I ever have.”

In assorted proposals to Ryan and Hurst, the Angels had put approximately $8.8 million on the table Wednesday night and still had nothing to show for it as they prepared to leave Atlanta. If it turns out that Hurst is lost as well, Port said he did not plan to pursue any other free agents, such as Jim Clancy or Doyle Alexander.

He said the club’s starting nucleus of Mike Witt, Bert Blyleven, Dan Petry, Chuck Finley, Willie Fraser and Kirk McCaskill is better than that of many clubs, providing those pitchers are healthy.

He acknowledged that Ryan and Hurst would have made it better.

“We ran a good race,” he said. “It’s just that there are no silver or bronze medals.”