Finding a Path in New World

As evidenced by the court decision Friday in Minneapolis and the pending players’ union grievance, there is no road map for contraction.

Major league general managers are being forced to choose their own direction.

Do they plan on a dispersal draft of contracted players?

Do they save space on their 40-man winter rosters?

Do they not tender one of their own arbitration-eligible players in the hope they can go a more effective and inexpensive route with a contracted player?

Do they pursue a free agent or wait for the draft?

There is no consensus, but a clearer picture may develop Tuesday when clubs are required to submit 40-man rosters and can begin negotiating with free agents other than their own.

Although some general managers feel that they have been left in limbo--the word that San Diego General Manager Kevin Towers used--new Dodger GM Dan Evans said he has to proceed as if it’s business as usual.

Eighteen years as an administrative assistant with the Chicago White Sox--dealing with rosters, waivers, contracts and other procedural issues--bred a large measure of confidence in those areas.

Evans is not counting on a dispersal draft to fill Dodger needs, but he insists that he’ll be ready if it happens, that he won’t be caught without roster room or a lack of evaluations.

“I’ll always be able to manipulate the roster,” Evans said. “It’s one of my greatest strengths. Administratively, we’ll always be able to be creative and allow ourselves the opportunity to improve at all times. I’ll never get caught in a bind during the off-season with any procedural maneuverings. That’s something that no one is ever going to get the best of me on.”

As Evans prepares for another test of his procedural skills, it is not mandatory for clubs to submit a total roster of 40 on Tuesday. The Dodgers expect to be at 34 or 35. They will have room to acquire players through trades, free-agent signings, the Rule V minor league draft and, yes, a possible dispersal draft involving the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos.

Amid opposition by the players’ union and the ongoing legal hurdles, owners still hope to conduct a mid-December draft, although the clock is ticking.

As Commissioner Bud Selig continues to remind skeptics that the Boston Braves didn’t move to Milwaukee until mid-March 1953 and that the Seattle Pilots didn’t become his own Milwaukee Brewers until six days before the start of the 1970 season, management itself is now voicing some skepticism.

Twin President Jerry Bell said the other day that if all the contraction components aren’t in place by Dec. 20, it will be too late to get it done for the 2002 season, and baseball’s top lawyer, Robert DuPuy, reacted Saturday to the Minneapolis court ruling that binds the Twins to the final year of their Metrodome lease in 2002 by saying baseball has yet to decide on an appeal and the timetable governing contraction has always been a concern.

What effect the prospect of a contraction-driven dispersal draft would have on the free-agent market isn’t clear.

“There is no question but that a dispersal draft would dilute the value of quality free agents and serve as the first shot across the bow in the next labor negotiations,” agent Tom Reich said.

In Evans’ view, that prospect can’t become a distraction.

“Our needs are what they are regardless of what transpires as far as contraction,” he said. “All contraction would do is provide more opportunities to fill those needs, but there’s so much speculation in baseball right now that I don’t want to get too far down that road. We’ll be prepared if contraction occurs, but because it’s not a certainty, I have to operate as if nothing has changed.”

Evans said he is looking to trades and free agency to fill the need for a closer, a more athletic bench and a deeper inventory of pitching, speed and defense.

Kansas City shortstop Neifi Perez is a viable possibility, but how the Dodgers fill those 400 innings if Chan Ho Park and Terry Adams leave as free agents isn’t clear. Nor is it clear who fills the center field and leadoff hitter void.

“We have three good candidates,” an apparently serious Evans said of Marquis Grissom, Tom Goodwin and McKay Christensen. “One of them has to step up.”

So far, the Evans acquisitions of James Baldwin, Terry Mulholland, Mike Trombley and Omar Daal--who wasn’t even used down the stretch as the Philadelphia Phillies battled the Atlanta Braves for the National League East title--haven’t exactly erased memories of the Sheriff.

And ultimately, even in this uncertain off-season, amid the shadow of contraction, it’s not how he manipulates the roster but whom he fills it with that’s critical.

Missing Expos, Twins?

On the business front, the Dodgers are proceeding as they would in any winter.

Season-ticket renewal forms will be mailed this week, complete with a home schedule that includes dates against the Expos, Senior Vice President Derrick Hall said.

The forms will note that the schedule is subject to change, he said, but the Dodgers will play 81 home games no matter what and the ticket prices will not change.

In the Angel business offices, where the checks are still written by Disney but could soon be written by John Henry, executives are concerned more about a potential work stoppage than a late-winter schedule adjustment.

As usual, season-ticket renewal forms will be mailed after Thanksgiving, and all schedules and promotional dates for 2002 have been labeled tentative.

“My understanding is [even if teams are contracted] there will still be 162 games,” said Kevin Uhlich, Angel vice president of sales, marketing and operations.

“Hypothetically, is a season-ticket holder going to be upset that three games against the Twins were traded for three games against the Red Sox [for example]? I don’t see that as being a major problem.”

Plan or Ploy?

Although their losing streak on the labor front spans decades, it is impossible to believe that the owners simply received bad legal advice again on contraction and the scheme to eliminate two teams for the 2002 season.

In fact, in the Chicago meeting in which they approved contraction, a management lawyer warned them they could lose a grievance to the players’ union--arbitrator Shyam Das is expected to set a hearing date Monday--and could face possible setbacks and long delays in court. The decision to forge ahead, as they now continue to forge ahead, simply enhances the sense that it is all a negotiating ploy in an attempt to get concessions from the union on changes in the economic system.

Whatever the intent, Selig, who is expected to reveal figures soon alleging that 25 of the 30 teams combined to lose $511 million in 2001, has failed to present a clear vision that might sway contraction critics, and he simply sounded like a frustrated and bitter man when he told a reporter from the Minneapolis Star Tribune the other day that Twin Cities critics should look at themselves in the mirror for failing to provide a publicly funded ballpark instead of blaming club owner Carl Pohlad, his close pal and mentor.

Selig walks a fine line.

When he turns on fans and others, he is vulnerable to the view that his own house needs care. The Brewers have not had a winning season since 1992, the longest streak in the major leagues. They have drawn more than two million only twice since 1970, which is two times fewer than the Expos, who soon may be contracted. Of course, they now play in a new stadium, funded principally by public money, after several years of Selig threats that he might have to move the team.

It’s a familiar theme in baseball, and Selig, who enjoys talking about baseball’s role as a social institution, has been playing it again at a time when the national environment suggests no one wants to hear it--be it Minnesota or Florida, be this about union leverage, legislative wallets or truly believing contraction can improve the overall stability.

Class Acts

In a week when Mark McGwire turned his back on $30 million, Minnesota General Manager Terry Ryan showed style and loyalty when he rejected an invitation to interview for the Toronto Blue Jays’ vacancy. Twin pitcher Brad Radke demonstrated similar loyalty by rejecting a one-time, “opt-out” clause in a four-year, $36-million contract he signed in July 2000. Radke, 15-11 last year, could have demanded a trade or become a free agent but chose to remain with the Twins.

“I figure the chances of us coming back are good,” Radke said. “Even though they said they were trying to contract, I think we’re going to be up there playing. We had a good year last year, and I feel like we can be even better.”

Of course, Radke has a no-trade clause in the contract and there is the likelihood that the union--if contraction becomes a certainty and there is a dispersal draft--will argue that players with a no-trade clause should be entitled to free agency.

A management lawyer told general managers during their recent meeting in Chicago that no-trade clauses would be wiped out by contraction and those players would be subject to the dispersal draft--clearly a negotiating stance.

The Big Man

In a hitter-dominated free-agent class that includes Barry Bonds, Moises Alou, Juan Gonzalez and Tino Martinez, one man stands out. In fact, seldom has a free agent potentially controlled the balance of power as Jason Giambi does.

If Giambi leaves the Oakland Athletics and their new position as an annual contender in the American League West, the A’s will have a difficult time recovering. If Giambi signs with the New York Yankees, who have made him their primary objective, they would probably employ him as the designated hitter, go younger at first base (Nick Johnson) and third base (Drew Henson) and be the team to beat again in the AL East. And if McGwire is successful in talking good friend Giambi into replacing him as the St. Louis first baseman, the Cardinals would probably replace Houston as the team to beat in the NL Central.

Does Oakland still have a chance?

“If it only comes down to money, probably not,” General Manager Billy Beane said. “If other factors are involved as well, then it’s possible.”

Giambi rejected a six-year, $91-million Oakland offer in the spring because it did not include a no-trade clause. The A’s are now willing to include a no-trade clause, but Giambi produced another MVP-caliber season and the price has gone up, and may continue to with the Yankees and Cardinals about to join the bidding.

However, as attractive as those two teams are, Giambi would be leaving his brother in the Oakland clubhouse and leaving his role as president and enforcer of the frat house A’s. What price does he put on atmosphere, the chance to play out his career with one team, the opportunity to help the small-market A’s take that next step after the close misses of the last two Octobers? Time will tell.