Fox, Disney Deny It, but Both Would Like to Hog Spotlight

Given the sometimes nasty competition between Fox and Disney on the cable and other business fronts, it seems natural to think that a bit of one-upmanship permeates their philosophy now that they are baseball neighbors.

Both deny it, saying they can’t afford to react to what the other is doing, but can we believe that?

Either way, the Angels and Dodgers have never been locked in a more lively, expensive and ongoing winter.

First competing for Randy Johnson, now they are among clubs battling for Kevin Brown and Roger Clemens.

This, in the first winter that Fox has owned the Dodgers and Disney made its first big foray into free agency, committing $80 million to acquire Mo Vaughn as the Angels’ first baseman.

“We targeted Mo Vaughn from the time the season ended,” said Tim Mead, the Angels’ vice president of communications. “This wasn’t a case of [Disney chairman] Michael Eisner saying, ‘OK, go out and see who you can get.’ This was all about doing right for the Angels. Mo Vaughn was the right person.

“I never once heard the Dodgers or Fox mentioned. I mean, we’re not out to win a perception war, we’re out to win a championship. We could have changed the perception, for instance, by signing Darryl Kile for $6 million [per season] last year, but it might not have been best for the club. Mo Vaughn is best for the club.”

Said Dodger President Bob Graziano: “We obviously want to remain strong in this market, but not to the extent of one-upping Disney or feeling we have to make a move every time they do. I mean, the market can obviously support two teams, so I take a broader approach. I spend more time watching what our competition in the National League in general and the NL West in particular is doing. Those are the teams we have to beat to reach the World Series, and that’s our goal. We only compete with the Angels in a handful of games.”

The Dodgers started the 1998 season with a payroll of about $48 million. They ended it, including incentives and termination pay, at $60.7 million based on management figures obtained by The Times. They are now at about $73 million headed for more than a record $85 million if Brown is signed. Fox has given General Manager Kevin Malone permission to do what it takes.

Brown and agent Scott Boras are expected to meet with Rupert Murdoch and staff in Los Angeles before Friday’s start of the winter baseball meetings in Nashville.

“The new ownership is willing to sustain the payroll in order to bring a championship team to Los Angeles, but that can’t last forever,” Graziano said. “However, I’m confident that we can grow the revenue over time that will allow us to make sense of all this.”

Whether that includes a new Dodger Stadium is still under consideration.

The Angels, of course, have a new park, which plays into their willingness to increase the payroll. With incentives and termination pay included, they finished 1998 at $54.1 million.

Using management calculations, they seem certain to be over $60 million in 1999, possibly challenging $70 million if Brown is signed.

Clearly, the luxury tax incorporated into the new collective bargaining agreement has not been a deterrent to the high-revenue clubs.

Neither Brown nor Clemens would be a luxury. Both clubs need a proven No. 1-caliber pitcher, but whether either can satisfy Toronto in a trade for Clemens or satisfy Brown in years and dollars is uncertain. The certainty is that Fox and Disney will be keeping an eye on each other, no matter what they say.

WHAT PRICE?

It would be remiss of the Dodgers and Angels not to take a run at Clemens, but there is more to this than a simple trade. The Blue Jays want three major league players, including a pitcher, and are not apt to take any player who can demand a trade after one year, such as Angel center fielder Jim Edmonds.

On the flip side, while Clemens is guaranteed a comparatively modest $5.5 million next year and $6.35 in 2000, he too can demand a trade after his first year with a new team, which means that team, in an attempt to retain Clemens, would have to renegotiate his contract after ’99. The Rocket, of course, would likely demand a yearly salary comparable to the

$13.1 million that Johnson will be receiving from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Clemens is at the top of his game but will be 37 a year from now. Do you give up three players on the possibility that you can retain and re-sign him at

$13 million? Or do you keep the three players and go six years at $13 million per for Brown, who will turn 34 in March? The Brown sweepstakes now appears wide open. The New York Yankees can best satisfy Toronto in a Clemens trade, but the industry feeling is that the hometown Houston Astros will ultimately acquire him for a package including pitcher Scott Elarton and outfielder Derek Bell.

“It takes on special importance for us because Roger lives here,” Astro General Manager Gerry Hunsicker acknowledged. “He’s like Nolan Ryan reincarnated.”

DESERT OASIS

The Diamondbacks have committed almost

$117 million to free agents Johnson, Todd Stottlemyre, Steve Finley, Armando Reynoso, Greg Swindell and Greg Colbrunn since the end of the season. The Johnson, Stottlemyre and Finley contracts all include deferred salary, as do the contract Matt Williams renegotiated last year and the Bernard Gilkey contract the Diamondbacks inherited in the trade with the New York Mets. The significance is that the Diamondbacks don’t expect their 1999 payroll to soar into luxury-tax terrain in only their second year. The deferments will keep the payroll somewhere in the range of

$45 million to $50 million--still a healthy leap from the $32.8 million of 1998.

“It’s creative structuring,” managing partner Jerry Colangelo said. “If anyone thought we were a cash cow, that all we were doing was putting money in our pockets, that couldn’t be further from the truth. We’re trying to run a business, put money back into the product, build something people will be proud of.”

A cash cow, of course, is exactly what the Diamondbacks are.

They drew 3.6 million, sold a major league-high 36,000 season tickets and have advertising guarantees that easily underwrite the payroll.

Colangelo raised ticket prices 12% in the wake of a 65-97 inaugural season, but the signings have produced a sharp increase in season-ticket sales while stirring industry consternation and new charges of expansion excess.

“All that really matters is reality, and what we are doing, what everybody is doing, is trying to compete,” Colangelo said. “Why is it not OK for us to do something and it’s OK for the Yankees or anybody else, for that matter? I’ll say again what I’ve said before--if anybody asks why, they should first look in the mirror, then go about their own business.”

THE NOTEBOOK

* San Diego has now lost Ken Caminiti and Finley, the two principals in the 1994 trade with Houston that led to the division titles of 1996 and ’98. The Padres offered Finley three years with a vesting option that could have taken a four-year package to $16 million, $4 million less than the Diamondbacks guaranteed.

Finley, who has been working with fitness guru Marv Marinovich this winter, remains a premier center fielder with a seemingly deteriorating bat. After batting .298 with 30 homers in 1996, he hit .261 and .249 the last two seasons, with 14 homers in ’98. The Padres believe Ruben Rivera has unlimited potential, but he was ultimately ticketed to replace Tony Gwynn in right, not Finley in center.

* The loss of Albert Belle and Robin Ventura strips the Chicago White Sox offense. Frank Thomas remains, but second-year Manager Jerry Manuel has no illusions.

“These are going to be trying times,” Manuel said. “We’re going to have to regroup, refocus and redirect. We may have to go to a different philosophy. We’ll be trying to manufacture runs while the other teams are banging the ball out of the park.”

* In clip-and-save comments during his introductory news conference in Baltimore, Belle said he has made great strides in his approach, that he has learned how to channel his emotions, that he recognizes now that fans are a “vital part” of the game and he enjoys “interacting” with them. Baltimore Sun columnist Kevin Cowherd isn’t sure. He compared Belle to former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, currently being held in England for extradition to Spain, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity.

* There are three automatics among first-year players on the Hall of Fame ballot: Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount. Carlton Fisk and Dale Murphy will require more study.

* Introduced as the new Philadelphia left fielder, Ron Gant said it was exciting being Mark McGwire’s teammate in St. Louis, but “the way everything was set up for McGwire, I thought it hindered our club in the long run. I mean, because the lineup was set up for him [to bat third instead of fourth], it shortened our lineup and we weren’t as effective as we could have been.”

* Although they don’t have a verbal or contractual agreement they would be forced to honor, the Phillies are concerned that Curt Schilling will follow the example of Clemens and demand a trade, believing his team has not done enough to become a contender.

* How excited was he to learn of Clemens’ availability? “Toronto is now on the speed dial button on my phone,” Cleveland General Manager John Hart said.