Buyout Ends Strawberry’s Rocky Career With Dodgers

In what they are calling a mutual decision, the Dodgers bought out Darryl Strawberry’s contract Wednesday, ending the controversial outfielder’s career in Los Angeles and a four-year saga of turmoil and trouble.

Strawberry, 32, who completed a drug treatment program at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage on May 4, was not present at a hastily called news conference at Dodger Stadium. However, Gene Orza, associate general counsel of the Baseball Player’s Assn., said Strawberry plans to play baseball again but not in Los Angeles, his hometown.

“His doctors and Darryl believe that a change of environment, while not absolutely necessary for his rehabilitation recovery, is conducive (for him) to focus on the best interest of Darryl Strawberry,” Orza said. “On that basis, it was suggested that all parties agree that Darryl cease to play in Los Angeles.”

Terms of the buyout agreement were not disclosed, but advisers for Strawberry, who has not played since June 16 of last season, said they were happy with the settlement.

Strawberry has already been paid $852,400 this season. He had $2,147,541 left on his contract for the remainder of this season and $5 million for 1995, the final year of his five-year, $20.25-million contract that he signed before the 1991 season. That signing followed a stormy eight-year career with the New York Mets.

Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, would not comment on the size of the settlement, nor the Dodgers’ feelings about it.

Strawberry has to clear 10-day release waivers before another team can talk to him, unless it wants to pick up his remaining $7-million contract.

“I’m grateful to the Dodgers and the city of Los Angeles for the opportunity to have played in this great city,” Strawberry said in a statement. “I regret that I did not live up to everyone’s expectations, but I have received a lot of support during the period of rehabilitation and I will always be thankful for it.”

Regardless of the monetary commitment, it is clear that the Dodgers are relieved to end a saga that began during the 1992 season, when Strawberry injured his back and eventually underwent major surgery. His only productive season here was his first, 1991, when he led the team in a pennant drive, hitting 28 home runs and driving in 99 runs. During the next two seasons, he played in 75 games, hitting 10 home runs and driving in 37 runs. In that time, he led the team only in controversy and distractions.

“I had great expectations, as I explained, when we signed Darryl,” Claire said. “He was in the prime of his career and all you had to do was look in the record books to see what he had accomplished. As far as his age, his coming back to the city of Los Angeles was a tremendous opportunity for the Dodgers.

“Our hopes and plans were that Darryl would keep us in contention while we developed our young outfield talent and be a key player for the team. He did a great deal for us in ‘91, and I still say his back injury led to his downfall in ’92 and ’93.”

The Dodgers’ young outfield talent is developed now, and is one of the reasons they are in first place in the National League West. But Claire, who said he was not directed by Dodger owner Peter O’Malley to cut Strawberry loose, said the team’s success is not the reason for the resolution. All parties said the decision was mutual, with Strawberry giving instructions to the players union that he wanted an amicable resolution. Claire said the negotiations, which began 10 days ago, were cooperative.

“My thoughts were that a change was best for Darryl and for the Dodgers, but it wasn’t as though that thought could override everything,” Claire said. “If the union said, ‘No, we are not going for it,’ then we would have gone ahead with Darryl as part of a (minor league) rehab program and taken that on a step-by-step basis, depending on how the team was doing, or maybe looked at a trade.

“We could have simply released him, but then we would have been responsible for the full contract, and that’s something we didn’t want to do. We looked at every facet of the contract, and this was the best resolution.”

Claire, who has dealt with Strawberry through myriad controversies, said the former superstar was emotional Wednesday morning when they met at a Downtown law office to sign the agreement. He also said Strawberry appeared to be in the best physical condition he has seen.

“It was a sadness that ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t do more here,’ ” Claire said. “He had tears in his eyes when he talked about his hopes and how he felt he had let people down. I told him he had given all the effort he could, but he was emotional about that.”

Strawberry has moved to the Palm Springs area, and is still in outpatient rehabilitation. Robert Shapiro, his attorney, said Strawberry needs to go somewhere away from his hometown, where some people from his past may not support the new direction he is trying to take.

The final turn in the road that led to Strawberry’s end with the Dodgers came during the team’s final spring Freeway Series game against the Angels, when Strawberry failed to appear for the game. Claire, who had tired of Strawberry’s continual controversy and distractions, was furious. He admitted that the team was on the verge of releasing him. But the next day, Strawberry checked into a drug and alcohol problem and, within days, began rehabilitation.

Strawberry’s admission of a substance abuse problem came on the eve of opening day, and was a large surprise to the Dodgers, who had seen Strawberry lead the team in work ethic during spring training. His back apparently healed, Strawberry had been moved from right field to left in an attempt to avoid injuries more common to players making the longer throws from right field. The Dodgers were also counting on him as their cleanup hitter.

But Shapiro said the pressure of trying to come back was too much for Strawberry. And when Strawberry entered the treatment center, it was all but certain that his days as a Dodger were over.

Teammate Brett Butler said Wednesday: “I think the reaction for the players came in (the spring) when Darryl fell, and the thought process, at that time, was that it was over, and the team was not going to allow that--or this announcement today--to interfere with what we are trying to accomplish, and that is to win the division and the World Series.

“We won’t allow this to get involved--we are doing too well. I think the players will just dismiss this and go forward.”

Times staff writer Chris Baker contributed to this story.

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