BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Herzog Joins in an Angels’ Family Squabble

Interesting, isn’t it? For almost all of the six years that Wally Joyner has ruled over that World of his as the indisputable favorite of the Orange County fans, he apparently has been anything but that to Angel owners Gene and Jackie Autry.

Senior Vice President Whitey Herzog, clearly frustrated by the attempt to resolve contract differences with the free agent first baseman, took the issue out of the closet Sunday, suggesting he has been caught in the cross-fire of Joyner’s animosity toward the club and the Autrys’ animosity toward Joyner.

“If there wasn’t animosity on both sides, this deal would have been done by now,” Herzog said.

“I feel like a damn divorce lawyer trying to decide who gets custody of this kid, and after two months it’s kind of made me realize that maybe it’s best if we don’t sign him.”

It’s still uncertain how this will play out. The Angels and Joyner basically are agreed on a four-year contract totaling $15.750 million.

The problem is that Joyner wants $10 million of it in salary and bonus before 1994, when there is a threat of a work stoppage.

The Angels have offered $9 million, but Herzog seemed confident he could compromise at $9.5 million.

But will he? Will he reopen talks that ended Friday when the Angels pulled their offer off the table?

Herzog said the decision was his, and he would make it within two days.

He said he has to wrestle with the thought of closing the deal and listening to the Autrys complain for four years if the man he considers the Angels’ best player doesn’t earn it.

Animosity?

Jackie Autry seemed puzzled. She said Herzog may have been talking out of a sense of frustration, having had a fill of agents and having been close more than once to thinking he had a deal.

“I’d prefer not to comment because I didn’t hear what he said, but Gene and I have always thought highly of Wally as a person and player, and our offer shows that,” she said.

It might also show an awareness of Joyner’s popularity with the fans. Herzog acknowledged that Jackie Autry agreed to another $750,000 when Joyner balked at $15 million, but Herzog pointed out that it is common practice to front-load contracts and pay players less in the year of a possible work stoppage.

The Autrys’ refusal to yet do that with Joyner, Herzog implied, underscores their animosity. And what does that animosity stem from? Herzog didn’t hesitate. He cited the ’86 playoffs, which the Angels lost to the Boston Red Sox when Joyner was sidelined because of a staph infection, and the sprained ankle that sidelined Joyner in September, when some close to the organization felt he was only protecting his .301 batting average.

A malingerer?

Suspect tolerance, perhaps?

“If a player is injured and the doctor says he can’t play, it’s not an issue the owner can question,” Jackie Autry said.

“It’s out of our hands, not something we can or would hold against a player.”

Maybe, but there’s more. Sources familiar with the Autrys’ thinking say they have questioned Joyner’s intensity at times, wondered why he seldom gets his uniform dirty on defense and believed, as a quality player, he is a nonfactor in the clubhouse.

They have gone through yearly contract battles with him since he was a rookie, losing twice in arbitration, the stuff of animosity on both sides. But Joyner, who came to the winter meetings in the hope of talking to Herzog, said:

“I have no animosity or hard feeling toward them. I can’t answer for them to me.”

Agent Michael Watkins said the animosity has almost “been a matter of course the last couple years,” and attorney Barry Axelrod added, “if it’s still from ‘86, it’s time to get over it or Wally should have been somewhere else a long time ago.”

Maybe now is the time, although it is still not clear what Joyner’s options are, other than a return to Anaheim via the Angels’ arbitration offer or the four-year deal, if it is put back on the table.

One thing is certain.

Herzog’s machinations are at work in this. On a day when he sent a message to Joyner by trading for Von Hayes, who can play first, as well as the outfield, and showed his frustration with agents by hurling invectives at Dennis Gilbert, who represents Danny Tartabull and Bobby Bonilla, Herzog also stressed that the Joyner contract deadline wasn’t his idea; that he may have had a deal if left to work on his own and that if he’s going to fail in this job he wants it to be on his own terms.

In 1980, Herzog stormed into the winter meetings and rebuilt the St. Louis Cardinals with a series of trades. Wheeling and dealing is far more difficult now. There are far more roadblocks than animosity.