Dodgers Hoping $36 Million Buys Some Leadership

It was an explosive, coming-of- age season that Raul Mondesi had in 1997, his fourth full year.

The Dodger right fielder slugged 30 home runs, stole 32 bases, drove in 87 runs, had 42 doubles and batted .310 while remaining an intimidating defensive force, daring runners to try for the extra base.

His reward: A four-year, $36-million contract that can soar to $60 million if the Dodgers pick up the two option years--baseball’s eighth-highest contract based on average annual value and the fourth-largest behind that of Pedro Martinez ($90 million), Frank Thomas ($80.7 million) and Gary Sheffield ($72 million) based on the $60-million potential.

Strange business.

One day Mondesi is whining to a reporter and dredging up that familiar negotiating ploy of feeling unappreciated--after all, he might have had to play for a paltry $5.3 million in 1998 if he had lost in arbitration--and wanting out because the Dodgers have failed to meet his multiyear demand.

The next, he is expressing love and gratitude to the Dodgers for having given him the largest contract in club history.

Appeasement?

Another example of baseball’s soaring and out-of-whack salary structure?

Confirmation of the Dodgers’ belief that the sale to Rupert Murdoch will be approved, providing the resources to help underwrite the Mondesi deal and, eventually, Mike Piazza’s even bigger contract?

Many factors came together for Mondesi, but one thing is certain: $60 million demands maturity and carries inherent responsibilities--on and off the field. He must continue to improve his discipline at the plate and lead a more disciplined lifestyle. He must be willing to join Ramon Martinez as a leader among the Latino players in a diverse clubhouse that needs cohesion.

Mondesi, 26, might have been thinking about that at last week’s Dodger Stadium news conference that was called to discuss his contract.

When it ended, he walked over and hugged Piazza, whose reasoned comments about the problems that can be created by so much diversity in a midseason story in The Times had led to sharp rebuttal by Mondesi in La Opinion.

“Whereas Raul wouldn’t have been remotely ready for a contract of this magnitude a couple years ago, now he is,” Jeff Moorad, Mondesi’s agent, said. “He recognizes the responsibility that comes with it. He’s proud of the fact that the Dodgers stepped up and gave this kind of contract to a Latino player. There’s no doubt that was important to him. It may be an overused term, but this negotiation was about respect more than anything.”

Respect, of course, translates to the number of zeros at the end of the contract. On the road to $60,000,000, Mondesi didn’t display much maturity or responsibility when it came to his agents.

Dissatisfied with the pace of negotiations, and with Moorad suddenly hospitalized because of a life-threatening virus, he switched to agents Adam Katz and Tom Reich in mid-December. Katz and Reich, trying to meet Mondesi’s desire for a quick deal, reached what they believed was a satisfactory conclusion with club counsel Sam Fernandez: either a two-year contract at $13.5 million or a three-year deal at $24 million.

“A three-year contract would have left Mondesi a free agent at [30],” Katz said. “The deal was 99.9% done. All Raul had to do was sign off on it, but at that point someone lured him back [to Moorad].”

Moorad refused to discuss the game of musical chairs Mondesi played with his agents. But Katz, reflecting on the four-year, $36-million guarantee Mondesi ended up with, said, “In Tom and my opinion, it’s significantly diminished [compared to their three-year deal]. He got one more year guaranteed, but gave away two option years to the club. Options years are valuable. You have to get something significant in return if you’re going to give them away.”

Mondesi is owed salaries of

$11 million and $13 million in the option years, but the Dodgers are not obligated to a buyout if they do not exercise the first of those options and would owe a comparatively modest $1 million if they picked up the first option but not the second.

Agents are always apt to dissect each others’ signings, particularly when there is a question as to who is owed the commission.

Dodger Vice President Fred Claire is only interested in the done deal.

“We’re rewarding past performance and acknowledging what we expect in performance and behavior,” he said of the Mondesi contract. “There is a responsibility and we’ve talked to Raul about it. The Hispanic players look to Raul as they do to Ramon. He carries a standard. How he acts, on the field and off. How he prepares. How he plays. If he falls down in any way, he lets a lot of people down, but he’s shown significant maturity and continues to grow. No one takes the game more seriously or plays harder.”

In addition, Claire said, Mondesi, already “as good as any player in the game,” should be approaching the most productive period of his career, and the Dodgers now have six years of control, having bought out two years of arbitration and four years of free agency, including the two option years.

It was expensive, of course, and critics wonder why the Dodgers acted so quickly considering Mondesi wouldn’t have been eligible for free agency until after the 1999 season. Claire, however, said it would have only gotten more difficult and expensive to have waited a year, putting Mondesi on the eve of what is known as the walk year, only a year away from free agency, the tenuous position the Dodgers now find themselves in with Piazza.

Under contract in 1998 for $7.5 million, Piazza has indicated he is reluctant to negotiate until the ownership change is approved.

Because a vote appears unlikely before the start of spring training, Piazza will probably test the market next winter--eventually topping, perhaps, the $90 million Pedro Martinez can earn with the Boston Red Sox.

Mondesi will receive $7 million this year--a $2-million bonus and $5-million salary--and Claire said that’s only $1 million more than the Dodgers had budgeted for the right fielder in the attempt to keep the payroll in the same $43-million neighborhood as last year.

And Claire insisted that the pending sale, the likelihood that Murdoch will be eventually approved, had nothing to do with the Mondesi commitment.

“It’s business as it has been,” he said of the contract, adding: “I’m sure Fox will want to follow the Dodger philosophy, which hasn’t been to sign a lot of free agents but to maintain and retain our own.”

In that regard, he added, “We hope to make Piazza a Dodger forever.”

COMING AND GOING

The return of Jose Vizcaino and Eric Young provides Dodger Manager Bill Russell with a chance to start a home-grown lineup, with the exception of third baseman Todd Zeile.

Two other home-grown players--Billy Ashley and Wilton Guerrero--are looking to leave, however. Both are represented by the Newport Beach-based Moorad, who has been trying to work through Claire in getting Ashley more playing time elsewhere, with rumors of a Red Sox deal still rampant.

Meanwhile, the three-year contract for shortstop Vizcaino and the four-year deal for second baseman Young have shut the door on the talented but raw Guerrero, of whom Moorad said, “He needs a fresh start. It’s time to find him a new home.”

WRAPUP

* The Atlanta Braves continue to serve as a textbook example of the rising cost of retaining a championship roster. The Braves ended the 1997 season with a payroll of $52.1 million and have already pledged $52.3 million to only 14 players on their 1998 roster. Nine players will earn more than $1 million, with Javier Lopez soon to make it 10. Four Braves will make more than $5 million--Greg Maddux ($9 million), Tom Glavine and Andres Galarraga ($8 million) and John Smoltz ($7.75 million). Remarkably, the Braves’ payroll in 1997 was only the fifth-largest, exceeded by that of the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians and Florida Marlins.

* The Marlins, what’s left of them, will be honored at the White House on Feb. 17 for their World Series victory. The question by then may be: Will the Marlins or the presidency have become the biggest disgrace?

* A Dodger deal for Randy Johnson? Only if Claire puts Ismael Valdes in the package, which seems unlikely. Says Seattle Mariner General Manager Woody Woodward: “The Dodgers are one of the teams that has players we’d be interested in.”

* Rickey Henderson, who had minimal impact on the Angels after his late-season acquisition, was introduced to Oakland reporters last week for the fourth time. At 39, he’s not the player who had three previous stints with the A’s, but he is still chasing a goal.

“Before my career ends, I would love to achieve Ty Cobb’s runs-scored record,” Henderson said. “Since I’ve been in the major leagues, that’s been one of my priorities.”

Cobb scored 2,246 runs. Henderson has 1,913, seventh-best, and will need three productive seasons. No calling in sick or half-stepping.

“I think he’ll be very motivated,” A’s President Sandy Alderson said. “[Reaching his goal is] going to require a lot of playing time, and a lot of success during that playing time.”