Port Banking on New Way to Succeed

It used to take the Heimlich maneuver and a sturdy crowbar to dislodge money from the wallets of Angels management. Nowadays, Mike Port, the team’s vice president, hands out multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts as if they were valentine cards.

Most recently, it was shortstop Dick Schofield who benefited from Port’s generosity. Before him, outfielder Chili Davis. And before him, outfielder Claudell Washington.

Three players, three three-year contracts worth almost $10 million. Go figure.

Someone must have slipped Port a pen that works this year. He has become the dotted line’s friend, defender of free enterprise, the ballplayers’ strangest bedfellow.

Remember the old days when negotiating with Port was like having your ear hairs plucked? Remember how agents used to emerge from the sessions, amazed at Port’s resolve, his stubbornness? Sure they expected Port to play hardball, but what they didn’t expect was for him to own an iron mitt.

Port was the Teflon negotiator. No proposal stuck--except his own. He would wear you down like a whetstone.

Now this. Now Mr. Happy Mike. Mr. Carefree Mike. The iron mitt has been stored away, thanks to a directive from owner Gene Autry. Autry wanted Port to lighten up. He has. In the process, he’s also lightened Autry’s savings account.

Suddenly, you find yourself asking, “Is there a tightwad in the house?”

Everyone goes home relatively happy these days. The list begins with pitcher Mike Witt, who got the big money last year, and includes catcher Lance Parrish, designated-hitter Brian Downing, pitcher Kirk McCaskill, reliever Greg Minton, Schofield, Davis and Washington.

Even oft-disgruntled first baseman Wally Joyner is somewhat pleased by his recent Angel agreement--a one-year, $920,000 (plus incentives) deal, and Bert Blyleven, who hasn’t signed yet, probably will add another $1 million to the ledger.

The significance of all this wheeling and signing is that for the first time since Port was placed in charge of contracts, the Angels enter a season without a single arbitration case hanging overhead. No bickering. No back stabbing. No nothing.

Of course, peace of mind comes with a price tag attached. In no time at all, Port has increased the player payroll from about $11 million in 1988 to about $16 million in 1989.

So what do the Angels get for their money? Hard to predict just yet. On paper, they own a catcher (Parrish) with a history of a sometimes booming bat as well as a bad back; a pitcher (Blyleven) with 254 career victories, of which a grand total of 10 came last year; an outfielder (Washington) who would have led the Angels in batting average last season, but who also brings a reputation--deserved or not--of playing well during the last year of a contract, but not the first; a shortstop (Schofield) who anchors the Angels’ defense but also needs to do more than hit .239, his average in 1988; an outfielder (Davis) who led the team in runs batted in, but also committed 19 highly entertaining but often costly errors; and a first baseman (Joyner) who has served the Angels well--and isn’t afraid to remind them or anyone else of that fact.

Most appealing about the Angels’ financial change of heart is that it ends a lot of arguments. What-ifs take a vacation.

For instance, this will be the season of no excuses. No player, especially Joyner, can blame a slow start on the trials and tribulations of contract worries. No one can harbor ill will over a failed arbitration hearing, because there won’t be any. No one can say Port wasn’t surprisingly accommodating in his negotiating stance.

Money was dished out. Terms were accepted. Everyone should be pleased, right?

That’s what Angel management is hoping. The thinking is this: A happy clubhouse is a productive clubhouse. Spring training headlines will feature baseball, not bargaining. The only chatter the Angels will hear is in the infield, not behind Port’s back.

At least, that’s the plan.

Port is many things, but he’s not stupid. He has tried frugality and failed. He has tried to get by with a bench that included, at times, Junior Noboa, Chico Walker and George Hendrick--with predictably poor results. Now he tries something new: reason and fair market value.

Only a season’s worth of games will tell if the plan works, if stability creates victories. Port wanted a team focused on spring training and nothing else. He got it, but it cost about $5 million.

He wanted a content Schofield, Davis and Washington, a satisfied Joyner, an eager Blyleven and Parrish. Port got those, too. But will attitude translate into higher batting averages or more home runs? We’ll see.

These are the new Angels, whether they know it or not. Port saw to that by opening Autry’s checkbook and scribbling away and also by hiring Doug Rader as manager. But does new mean improved? Better yet, does it mean finishing any higher than fifth in the very competitive AL West?

In a word, nope. But it’s a start.