Kile Signed With Air of Confidence

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A quality pitcher signs with the Colorado Rockies as a free agent?

A curveball specialist elects to pitch in the rarefied air of Coors Field, where bad breaks are often orbited toward Boulder?

It’s not as if Darryl Kile didn’t have other offers or is new to the National League.

Not as if he didn’t know what he may be getting into or that he and agent Barry Axelrod didn’t have their sanity questioned.

“I can’t tell you how many people said we were nuts,” Axelrod said in reflection. “I can’t tell you how many people reminded Darryl, ‘You’re a free agent, you don’t have to sign there.’ ” So why did he?

Well, the Rockies’ offer of $24 million for three years was a significant factor, but Kile, coming off a 19-7 season with the Houston Astros, is simply at a point in his career, Axelrod said, where “he’s more confident and more assured than he’s been in the past and feels he’s ready to take on a challenge and overcome it. His feeling is that if you make good pitches you can strike out people in Coors Field as well as the Astrodome.”

Kile is also at a point in his career, Axelrod said, where he realizes “you can’t be married to statistics.”

In other words, Axelrod explained, if his earned-run average (2.57 in 1997) inflates some in the altitude, the bottom line is the added wins that a generally potent offense can help him produce, providing that offense remains as potent with rookie first baseman Todd Helton and recently acquired second baseman Mike Lansing attempting to compensate for the departure of free agent Andres Galarraga.

Kile has made only two appearances in Coors Field. He has an 0.68 ERA and a 1-1 record and believes he has the mental and physical ability to adjust when his basic curve isn’t working because he throws more than one variety.

For the Rockies, Kile became something of an obsession. They needed an ace. They needed someone of Kile’s caliber to stand up and say he isn’t afraid to pitch in Coors Field. They needed to make their offer so attractive that Kile wouldn’t be tempted by the new riches of the Arizona Diamondbacks or the recurring pleas of the hometown Astros.

Houston was limited after taking on the remaining $20 million of Moises Alou’s contract and didn’t offer more than $20 million to Kile, who received $1.75 million in a career-best ’97.

“Darryl was willing to take less to go back, but only if the Astros made it palatable,” Axelrod said. “We couldn’t look foolish, especially after [pitcher] Wilson Alvarez got $7 million a year [in a five-year, $35-million contract] from Tampa Bay. We told the Astros where they needed to be, but they wouldn’t or couldn’t get there.”

So Kile took a breath and accepted the challenge of a Rocky Mountain high, with Axelrod telling him, “you’re going to be the Ferguson Jenkins of Coors Field.”

He referred to the Hall of Fame pitcher who won 20 or more games for six consecutive seasons in the hitters’ haven of Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

BENCHMARK

The average major league salary increased 19% to $1.3 million in ’97 and seems likely to increase that much or more in ’98.

A telltale sign, Dodger Vice President Fred Claire said, are the significant increases being given journeymen role players. Tampa Bay, for instance, signed outfielder Dave Martinez this week for two years at $3.75 million.

In addition: The New York Yankees gave two-year, $1.6-million contracts to infielders Dale Sveum and Luis Sojo. The Astros signed outfielder Dave Clark for two years at $1.4 million. The Rockies re-signed catcher Jeff Reed for two years at $2.6 million, the San Francisco Giants re-signed catcher Brent Mayne for two years at $1.45 million and the Toronto Blue Jays signed catcher Darrin Fletcher for two years at $4.35 million.

“I’m not demeaning any of those players,” Claire said. “It’s just part of the escalation we’re faced with from premium players to role players and an indication of the shorter supply of these type players.

“If you have a younger player who’s able to perform [in that role] his value is that much greater because of your ability to control his salary.”

It’s an escalation at the lower end that has affected Claire’s imperative need to improve the Dodger bench while maintaining a $43-million payroll.

So far, he has taken a comparatively low-ball route: re-signing catcher Tom Prince as backup to Mike Piazza, adding free-agent outfielder Trenidad Hubbard and claiming outfielder Matt Luke, whom he says has a solid chance to make the team, off Yankee waivers.

WHO’S AT SHORT?

Some Dodgers aren’t sure it should be the Montreal Expos’ Mark Grudzielanek despite his offensive credentials.

One veteran cited his 59 errors over the last two years--playing home games on a synthetic carpet--and said:

“Let me put it this way: If you have a team built on pitching, I would think you’d want the strongest possible defensive combination at shortstop and second base. We don’t need an offensive shortstop.”

The Dodgers, of course, might not be able to deal for Grudzielanek anyway, although Claire insists he has options through trade and free agency and that the situation could be clarified this week.

As of Monday, any free agent who has not been offered arbitration by his former team can be signed by a new team without that team owing compensation in the form of amateur draft picks. With the passing of the arbitration deadline at midnight tonight, there is expected to be a new wave of signings, including a Yankee deal for designated hitter Chili Davis and a Cleveland contract for Dwight Gooden.

Two free agent shortstops, Jose Vizcaino and Shawon Dunston, both class A in the compensation rankings and both high on the Dodgers’ possibility list, become even more attractive without the compensation burden.

Neither is expected to be offered arbitration by their former teams--the Giants in Vizcaino’s case and the Chicago Cubs in Dunston’s.

MARKET MANIA

Rumors continue to roll out of Boston regarding the Red Sox’s interest in sending shortstop John Valentin to the Dodgers for Ramon Martinez, reuniting Ramon with brother Pedro, whom sources say has been quietly working on a five-year, $50-million contract with the Red Sox. The Dodgers won’t trade Martinez, and Valentin’s contract, likely to reach $5 million in arbitration, still seems too rich for the Dodgers’ current hold-the-line frame of mind. . . .

Likewise, Claire flatly denies speculation out of Cleveland that the Dodgers are interested in Marquis Grissom (who embarks on a five-year, $25-million extension in ‘98) should the Indians reacquire free agent center fielder Kenny Lofton. “We couldn’t do that without moving a like salary and that’s not going to happen,” Claire said of Grissom. . . .

The Diamondbacks and Devil Rays, as anticipated, have been key players in the latest market escalation.

The Diamondbacks, by giving third baseman Matt Williams a five-year, $45-million extension on top of the five-year, $34-million deal for shortstop Jay Bell, have committed $15.8 million per year to the two players on the left side of their infield. Then, after being snubbed by Kile, they signed free-agent pitcher Willie Blair to a three-year $11.25-million contract Friday night. Blair had never won more than seven games before winning 16 with Detroit last season.

The Devil Rays’ signings this week of Alvarez (who has never won more than 15 games in a season) and Martinez follow the four-year, $22.5-million signing of closer Roberto Hernandez and the trade acquisition of Fred McGriff (who is owed $10 million over the next two years). Now the Devil Rays are believed close to signing two more free agents: Yankee third baseman Wade Boggs and Seattle first baseman Paul Sorrento, who would presumably share the first base and DH role with McGriff. . . .

The free-spending expansionists are drawing fire throughout baseball. Even Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, he of the $20-million deal for Kenny Rogers among other suspect signings, jumped on Arizona’s Jerry Colangelo for the Bell deal, telling the New York Times that agent Scott Boras “took Jerry Colangelo over the coals. He made him look like a fool.” . . . When business is so good that Disney chairman Michael Eisner can take a $565-million stock option, one has to wonder how the Angels have the gall to raise ticket prices 27% across the board while refusing to pay a significant price for one more established pitcher and/or hitter who could enable them to win the American League West.