Corporate Takeover Hasn’t Become Hostile

The loss of family ownership and its personal touch, underscored dramatically by the pending sale of the Dodgers, is a sad commentary on baseball’s economics, but the corporate cloud has not been as dark as anticipated--financially, at least.

With Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. on the horizon, the other media giants--Disney (Angels), Chicago Tribune (Cubs) and Time-Warner (Atlanta Braves)-- have generally been more circumspect and responsible in their payroll approach than those clubs run by an individual.

The escalation of the ‘90s has largely been driven by the egotistic war for domination in the American League East between George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees and Peter Angelos of the Baltimore Orioles.

Both will surpass the $70-million payroll mark this year after finishing 1-2 in 1997. The four top payrolls of last year--Yankees, Orioles, Cleveland Indians and Florida Marlins-- belonged to clubs operated basically by individuals--or an individual who controls a partnership.

The Braves were No. 5, but the largest chunk of Atlanta’s spending has been aimed at protecting baseball’s best pitching staff--a priceless commodity in an era of expansion-diluted talent.

This year, one of the big players has been the Boston Red Sox, another club basically controlled by an individual--John Harrington. The Red Sox gave pitcher Pedro Martinez a six-year contract for $75 million, and guaranteed shortstop Nomar Garciaparra $23.25 million for five, the most money ever given a player with one year of service.

The Red Sox have signed five other players to long-term deals since the end of the ’97 season and are still embroiled with Mo Vaughn in a contract squabble, which gets uglier by the day.

The corporations, meanwhile, have appeared at times to be too coldly efficient, too bottom line-oriented. But compared to Steinbrenner and Angelos, they have been a model of propriety.

Said acting Commissioner Bud Selig:

“Many years ago, like many other owners, I thought the corporations would be very destructive and a bad thing for baseball. But as it turns out, the corporate ownership we’ve had in the past and have today has been very responsible.”

As Jerry Colangelo, managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks and another big player in the winter market, noted the other day, the era of the little guy and old entrepreneur is over, and any owner fearful of competing with the corporations should think about another business.

Colangelo described Diamondback ownership as a mix of individual and corporate funding in the billions. He said he has $2.5 million of his own invested, although some in the industry say it’s only $750,000 and wonder how he gets the same vocal and voting privileges as owners with larger stakes.

The truth is, sources say, there are many owners with little of their own money invested in their respective clubs.

“We have a creative package,” Colangelo said. “And I can honestly say that the Diamondbacks’ ownership is as strong as any in baseball. For any other owner, or anyone else in the industry, to talk about how much they have invested is self-serving.

“We’ve made the biggest investment in baseball that anyone ever has [he puts it at $325 million], and the bottom line is that when you go through the process of applying for a franchise, you have to submit your financial worth and how the organization is going to be structured. There was full disclosure from the beginning. I wasn’t born rich, and I don’t apologize for being from Hungry Hill.”

That’s a blue-collar Chicago neighborhood, and maybe it’s because he’s not a member of any old boys’ network that even his own investment has drawn sniping, along with the club’s payroll foray. Colangelo, however, said it would have been crazy to think he’d come in with a Montreal- or Pittsburgh- type payroll after investing $325 million and said he supports Murdoch’s bid and favors corporate involvement because of its impact on franchise values. He said it’s an insult when people suggest he has operated irresponsibly or that Murdoch would.

Fox executives Chase Carey and Peter Chernin echoed that theme in a recent interview, saying the Dodgers would not become a stalking horse for every free agent and that to ignore responsible business parameters would be illogical.

“There is no indication that the vault is opening and that Fox is willing to pay whatever it takes and lose whatever it takes,” said Bob Graziano, who will become Dodger president if the sale is approved by owners Thursday. “It has to make sense.”

Of course, one of the first moves will be to re-sign Mike Piazza.

Even at $100 million-plus, that makes dollars and sense.

What would Steinbrenner or Angelos offer Piazza on the open market?

THE OVAL OFFICE

Time will tell how much power and influence Graziano, groomed by Peter O’Malley, wields in consultation with Carey and Chernin under the shadow of Murdoch.

In his 13th season with the Dodgers and second as executive vice president, the 40-year-old summa cum laude graduate of USC has been most involved in financial, stadium, labor and accounting issues. In 1984, then working for an accounting firm, he served as ticket manager and accounting supervisor for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. In 1996, he coordinated O’Malley’s $1.5-million feasibility study regarding construction of an NFL stadium on Dodger property.

Graziano acknowledged that as president, the team on the field will become “much more of a focus,” but that Executive Vice President Fred Claire will basically remain responsible for strategy and signings in that area.

“I don’t plan on trying to judge talent or make personnel decisions for Fred,” Graziano said. “I have a lot of confidence in Fred.

“I’ll rely on Fred and his team to make the right decisions and perform well in that area.”

If there seemed to be the hint of a threat in that, the entire management team, including Graziano, will be under the microscope when Fox takes over.

He acknowledged that, saying expectations are normal and accepted--no different under Fox than O’Malley. He is the second-youngest among three brothers and three sisters who played baseball in the streets, growing up in Palos Verdes.

“I was born in February of the year the Dodgers played their first game in Los Angeles, so I know what the team means to the city,” he said.

“I’ve been a lifelong fan. We came to the stadium as often as my dad [an aerospace engineer] could afford to take seven kids.”

Will the Dodgers remain the area’s most affordable sports attraction? That’s another question to be determined in time.

THE REVOLVING DOOR

Henry Rodriguez will be the 12th left fielder to start for the Cubs in the last 12 years, but that’s nothing compared to the Seattle Mariners, who have used 52 left fielders since 1989, when Ken Griffey Jr. made his center-field debut. Jose Cruz Jr. was going to put an end to that string, but he was dealt to Toronto last July in a questionable--and basically unsuccessful-- attempt to improve the bullpen. Now the Mariners will turn to their 53rd left fielder, Glenallen Hill, and it should be exciting.

Hill’s defense is definitely suspect. Griffey will be asked to cover more ground than usual, but Manager Lou Piniella said the other day, “on paper, this is the best team I’ve had in my five years here. We’ve come a long way. There’s expectations here now. We’re looking forward to defending our Western Division title and hoping to do better in the playoffs, providing we get there.”

The Mariners were defeated by the Orioles in the division series last year. A bullpen in which Heathcliff Slocumb, Bobby Ayala and Mike Timlin will at times share the closing role seems a combustible problem. But it appears now that Randy Johnson, hoping to be traded because of the Mariners’ refusal to consider a contract extension, will start the year in the rotation--and probably will remain there.

“Randy asked me today if anything exciting was going on, and I said, ‘Yes, we’re getting you ready to pitch opening day,’ ” Piniella said.

“I hope that’s the case all year, and I think it will be. We haven’t talked seriously to another club in a month or longer, and I don’t anticipate a change.”

If there is one, it’s likely to involve the Dodgers, who have the pitching depth to deal for Johnson but have been unwilling to give up Ismael Valdes or to include Wilton Guerrero in a Valdes package.

Piniella said Johnson wouldn’t let his situation become a distraction.

“He takes pride in winning,” the manager said. “He realizes the better he does, the better it will be for himself [as a free agent] and the better it is for the club.”

SPRING ROSE

The Cincinnati Reds may be fined $250,000 for minor league director Donnie Scott’s faux pas in asking the banned Pete Rose, watching his son work out, to speak to the minor leaguers last Wednesday.

“If I was a cokehead,” Rose said among other things, “I’d still be managing the Cincinnati Reds. But I bet on some football games, so I’m out of the game. That’s OK. I don’t need to be in a major league park to be a fan. I have 65 TV sets in my [Florida] restaurant.”

GOOD GUYS

* Wilson Alvarez, who signed a five-year, $35-million contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, has quietly given $1 million to the Montessori school in Sarasota that his two daughters attend. Alvarez said nothing. The school told a local paper.

* Tony Gwynn and Rod Carew, with 15 batting titles between them, will give a clinic on March 22 in Culiacan, Mexico, with proceeds benefiting the Culiacan Little Leagues and pediatric cancer research in honor of Michelle Carew and the Tony and Alicia Gwynn Foundation.

* Dave Stewart, who last pitched in Toronto in 1994, continues to underwrite a Thanksgiving dinner there for the homeless and underprivileged. Of course, the San Diego Padre pitching coach can help fund it with fines he is collecting in his kangaroo court.

It’s only spring, but Stewart has fined two pitchers for fraternizing with opposing hitters.

“As a pitcher, you should have a mystery to yourself,” he said. “As a player, I never talked to hitters on the field before the game. I wanted them to wonder about what I was thinking.”