Pena’s Deal Good News for Tettleton

The marketplace has been crazy. The players are getting dollars that are absurd. Players have been overpriced, and it impacts every other signing. Lord almighty, it’s crazy.

--Boston Red Sox General Manager. Lou Gorman at 1988 winter meetings

And that was last year.

Remember those wild and crazy days? Free-agent left-hander Bruce Hurst bolted the Red Sox for a three-year, $5.25 million deal with San Diego. Gorman responded with his fiery “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” speech.

Now it seems sweet Lou has joined the latest free-agent spending spree. He’s the guy who signed catcher Tony Pena to a three-year, $6.4 million contract. That’s $1.15 million more than Hurst received as the top-priced free agent last year.

Lord almighty, it’s crazy.

“I’ve always said we have a healthy skepticism about free agents,” Baltimore Orioles President Larry Lucchino said. “I probably should say we have an even stronger skepticism in light of some of the more questionable or unusual signings, to put it diplomatically.”

The Pena signing could have the most dramatic impact on the Orioles, who now face the daunting prospect of a salary arbitration hearing with catcher Mickey Tettleton. Pena, a defensive specialist, last season batted .259 with four home runs and 37 RBI for St. Louis. Tettleton, in 11 fewer at-bats, batted .258 with 26 homers and 65 RBI.

Think The Mick is smiling now?

After Tettleton, the Orioles have little to worry about; most of their players have fewer than three years of major-league experience, the tenure required for salary arbitration. Even so, the skyrocketing salaries are disturbing to Lucchino -- and by extension, to principal shareholder Eli Jacobs as well.

The Orioles didn’t lack for revenue while setting a home attendance record last season, but their local radio and television contracts are minuscule compared to rival clubs in larger markets. Lucchino might sound as if he is taking the high ground with his guarded approach to free agency, but who’s kidding whom?

True, Jacobs owns a controlling interest in companies whose annual revenues reportedly exceed $5 billion. But the Orioles are a separate interest, and they probably don’t produce the income necessary to compete in an inflated free-agent market. Besides, players more often than not choose California sunshine over East Coast grit.

“We’re not crying,” Lucchino said. “We’ll go out and do the job with the resources and tools we have available. They can use dollars. We’ll use man-hours ... You try not to have other clubs determine how you run your club. We will stick to our game plan. But inevitably, we’re in this together. The things that other clubs do have some impact on us.”

Why, Oakland left fielder Rickey Henderson recently was awarded a contract worth more than the Orioles’ entire payroll as of Aug. 31. The scorecard -- uh, ledger sheet -- reads: Henderson $12 million (over the next four years), Orioles $10.8 million. And Henderson’s contract might be the most reasonable of all, given the current market conditions. His agent, Richie Bry, said he could have reached a more lucrative deal with another club.

By most accounts, the most outlandish signing so far was executed by Daddy Ballbucks himself, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. The three-year, $5.7 million deal Steinbrenner gave Montreal pitcher Pascual Perez was almost directly responsible for the three-year, $6 million pact Perez’s teammate Bryn Smith finagled from St. Louis. Of course Smith is worth more than Perez. He might have been 10-11 last season, but at least he has a history of finding the ballpark.

One thing is certain this winter: No one will cry, “Collusion!” Not with Candy Maldonado getting $825,000 from Cleveland after batting .217 and watching San Francisco’s stretch drive from the bench. Not with Gary Pettis, a career .239 hitter, getting $2.66 million for three years from Texas. Not with utility infielder Dave Anderson, bad back and all, getting $1.1 million for two years from San Francisco.

To think, the true Marks of inflation -- Langston and Davis -- have yet to be established. Never mind that Langston faltered for Montreal down the stretch. He’s now seeking a five-year deal worth at least $15 million. Jack Morris, a superior pitcher to Langston in his prime, twice failed to receive respectable offers after the collusion era began in 1985. Andre Dawson grew so exasperated he gave the Chicago Cubs a blank check. Everything was so ... civilized. Not to mention illegal.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling when you talk about the type of money they’re paying players now,” Orioles Manager Frank Robinson said from his home in Bel Air, Calif. “You talk in terms as if it’s hundreds of dollars. You say, ‘A guy’s making a million dollars, that’s not bad.’ It’s mind-boggling talking about a guy who gets a million dollars or $2 million, and saying, ‘it’s a bargain.”

The Orioles decided not to pursue their free agents -- pitcher Dave Schmidt, pitcher Mark Thurmond and catcher Jamie Quirk -- even before the current frenzy began. Oh, their coffers are indeed brimming; in fact, they had to pay the city of Baltimore an additional $5.1 million in rent and admissions taxes as the price of their 1989 success. But club officials have been wary of free agency since the ill-fated classes of 1985 (Don Aase, Lee Lacy, Fred Lynn) and ’87 (Schmidt, Ray Knight, Rick Burleson).

Salary arbitration, however, is something no team can avoid, which is why Tettleton is in an unusually strong bargaining position. Granted, Tettleton missed 29 games after undergoing left knee surgery on Aug. 5 and struggled in September. But he finished with career highs in every offensive category but stolen bases. In one stretch he went 97 games without making an error. At $290,000, he was an absolute bargain.

Knowing this, Tettleton’s agent, Tony Attanasio, wasted no time when the season ended. He contacted the Orioles with a multi-year proposal for his client. Earlier this month, even before the free-agent bidding began, Attanasio said his proposal was “non-negotiable.” At that time he hadn’t heard from the Orioles. But he wasn’t the least bit upset.

“I hope they don’t respond,” Attanasio said then. “They know, as well as I know, that if it ever gets to arbitration, it’s curtains for them. Mickey is just too strong. He can’t lose. He becomes a free agent at the conclusion of the 1990 season. I don’t have to tell you what the demand for a switch-hitting catcher with good defensive skills would be on the open market.”

Not anymore, he doesn’t.