Paying the Price for Success

It seems appropriate that Tuesday’s ticker-tape parade honoring the World Series champion New York Yankees will be held in the Wall Street area of lower Manhattan.

Owner George Steinbrenner is obviously bullish on his resilient team, but he will have to take stock soon of how much higher baseball’s highest payroll can go.

“I’m not happy about my payroll, but I’m proud of what we accomplished, the mental toughness and fortitude the team showed throughout the season,” he said Sunday.

“I place a high value on winning, and I think some small-market teams would benefit if they placed a similar value on winning.”

In humbling the team of the ‘90s, the Yankees didn’t beat a small-market team. The Atlanta Braves have the highest payroll in the National League, but the difference--about $66.1 million to $54.3 million, including salaries and benefits--seemed to reflect areas of roster differences that were critical in the Series.

The Yankees have a better bench, better bullpen and better balance.

“Generally, the players you acquire late in the season are acquired to fill a role here and there, to be used on a spot basis,” Atlanta General Manager John Schuerholz said. “Many of the players acquired by the Yankees late in the season became starters and were paid like it. I think it’s correct to say the difference in payrolls is in the bullpen and bench.”

Atlanta pinch hitters were 0 for 22 in the postseason, and Manager Bobby Cox, devoid of injured Pedro Borbon, a versatile piece of his bullpen, had no faith in set-up men Brad Clontz and Greg McMichael, no reliable way to go from his starters to closer Mark Wohlers.

Yankee Manager Joe Torre, by contrast, was blessed with a wide array of lineup and pinch-hitting choices from among players who are or have been starters. He juggled effectively, for example, between Wade Boggs and Charlie Hayes at third base, Tino Martinez and Cecil Fielder at first base, Darryl Strawberry, Tim Raines and Paul O’Neill in the outfield and Joe Girardi and Jim Leyritz at catcher.

He had similar options in a bullpen that was the foundation of the Yankee success. Series MVP John Wetteland was seven for seven in save chances in the postseason, and the bullpen was 6-1 with a 1.81 earned-run average overall. In the ninth inning of Game 6 Saturday night, Torre said he was more nervous than the first time he went to a dentist, but Wetteland extracted another save, and the Yankees ended the season 92-1 in games they led after the eighth inning.

Now Steinbrenner faces some expensive options that may mitigate against his usual headline-grabbing, high-salaried forays into free agency and trade.

If owners approve the new labor agreement this week, a luxury tax aimed at restraining big-market spending kicks in next year. The tax--35% on all payroll above $51 million--would cost Steinbrenner $6 million if his payroll remains at $66 million.

In addition, under the new revenue-sharing formula designed to help the small-market teams, he would owe about $6 million more. That’s a total of $12 million on top of the $66 million, and there is no easy way to get under that tax threshold since he is already obligated to about $43 million in multiyear contracts next year.

Plus, center fielder Bernie Williams, who made $3 million this year and was MVP of the American League championship series, is coming up to his last year before free agency and is eligible for arbitration; Strawberry and Dwight Gooden have options that are expected to be picked up; Girardi and Jimmy Key are eligible for free agency and in line for big raises, and Wetteland holds a 1997 option at $4.6 million.

The speculation is that Wetteland will reject the option and seek $5 million or more as a free agent on a multiyear deal, challenging the Yankees to meet those terms or consider moving Mariano Rivera, the spectacular set-up man, into the closer role.

The Rivera option represents one way for the Yankees to cope with inflation. Another: attempt to trade O’Neill and his $5-million salary next year, opening an outfield spot for Rivera’s cousin, the minimum-salaried Ruben Rivera.

Nothing is ever easy with the Yankees, and although Torre is assured of returning for the second year on his contract, there is no guarantee General Manager Bob Watson will serve his second year.

Steinbrenner has blamed Watson for the late-season acquisition of Graeme Lloyd and Pat Listach from Milwaukee, both damaged goods at the time.

Lloyd recovered from elbow problems to pitch brilliantly as Torre’s left-handed spot man in the postseason, and the Yankees have dropped the grievance they filed against the Brewers, but the Steinbrenner-Watson relationship has remained chilly at best with no clear indication how it will play out.

“I am proud of my contributions to a world championship team,” said Watson, an executive-of-the-year candidate. “I am proud to be the only minority general manager coming up to the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s major league debut. I have a second year on my contract and that’s all I’ll say about that for now.”

The Braves also have tough decisions. They will certainly pick up the option on Tom Glavine, re-sign free-agent-eligible John Smoltz and allow Steve Avery ($4.25 million in ’96 salary) to leave as a free agent.

Less certain is how the Braves relieve an outfield logjam created by the anticipated return of injured David Justice, the emergence of young Andruw Jones and Jermaine Dye and the postseason fall from grace of Ryan Klesko. At some point it is expected that either Justice or Klesko will be traded, but Justice may have to reestablish his physical credentials first, and Klesko was so buried and so inept against left-handers in the postseason that he didn’t seem like the same player who hit 34 regular-season home runs.

Nevertheless, club president Stan Kasten said it’s possible “we may field our best team ever next year,” citing the ongoing strength of the rotation and the development of Jones and Dye in combination with Justice’s return.

Atlanta has been to the World Series four times in the last five years, but won only once. The Braves may be the team of the ‘90s, but they have a Series record of 11-14 in that time.

“Experience is one thing, execution is another,” Smoltz said, referring to offensive and defensive lapses that haunted the Braves against New York.

It was a marvelous series of subtle and overt turning points, big plays and small, a series in which the Braves could and did raise legitimate complaints about questionable umpiring, but can only blame themselves for three consecutive losses at home.

That’s the stuff of a long winter, but then again, this may have been fated.

The Braves may have been matched against a team of destiny, a team of 1,001 stories.

There were the comebacks of Gooden, Strawberry, Key and David Cone; the in-season acquisitions and post-season contributions of Fielder, Hayes, Lloyd and David Weathers, and the compelling impact of Torre’s bid to reach the World Series for the first time in a year in which a brother died and another received a heart transplant after a 12-week wait.

“I think the thing with my brother who passed away and my brother Frank [who received the transplant] has taken the game and put it more on a personal playing field,” Torre said. “I think maybe this humanized the game.”

Said outfielder O’Neill: “So many things go on in your life, all the trials and tribulations, and it almost seemed like Joe has been going through them all at once. Yet, he never put pressure on us, he never brought it to the ballpark.”

In the visitors’ clubhouse at Yankee Stadium Saturday night, as the Braves prepared to leave as losers, Schuerholz said that reasonable thinking people “would see this organization as having ongoing success. I’m surprised and disappointed we didn’t win after being ahead 2-0, but that disappointment doesn’t diminish our success of the last five years.

“Sooner or later, somebody has to look at the other clubhouse and tip their cap and say, ‘well done.’ They played with heart and tenacity and grit. Sooner or later you have to say, ‘well done, guys.’ I’m saying it and I’m not ashamed to say it.”

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Baseball Payrolls

Payrolls and average salaries for the opening day rosters of the 28 major league teams.

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TEAM PAYROLL AVERAGE N.Y. Yankees $52,945,464 $1,825,706 Baltimore 49,358,503 1,974,340 Atlanta 47,930,000 1,843,462 Cleveland 46,244,127 1,712,745 Chicago W.S. 41,940,000 1,677,600 Cincinnati 40,719,333 1,357,311 Boston 39,426,000 1,408,071 St. Louis 38,916,667 1,255,376 Seattle 38,354,526 1,420,538 Colorado 38,191,823 1,316,959 Texas 35,869,987 1,281,071 San Francisco 34,792,225 1,288,601 Dodgers 34,647,000 1,237,393 Chicago Cubs 31,454,000 1,164,963 Florida 30,079,500 1,156,904 Philadelphia 29,723,500 958,823 Toronto 28,486,708 1,095,643 San Diego 27,249,172 1,048,045 Houston 26,894,000 1,034,385 Angels 26,892,500 896,417 New York Mets 23,456,500 808,845 Minnesota 21,961,500 757,293 Detroit 21,941,000 877,640 Pittsburgh 21,253,500 787,167 Milwaukee 20,232,000 722,571 Oakland 19,404,500 746,327 Kansas City 18,480,750 684,472 Montreal 15,410,500 616,420

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