Renewals Disappoint Pitchers

No longer are the Angels all happy campers. The team unilaterally renewed the contracts of its three prized young starting pitchers Saturday, a decision that left budding ace Jarrod Washburn “disappointed” and Ramon Ortiz calling the Angels “cheap.”

The team has touted Washburn, Ortiz and Scott Schoeneweis as the potential foundation of a rotation for years to come. But, since they have less than three years of major league service, the team can dictate their salaries if a contract agreement cannot be reached. The Angels did that with all three Saturday, a disillusioning day for pitchers whose performance is critical to the success of this year’s team.

“It’s not good,” Washburn said. “We’ve talked a lot about this the last few days, and I think we’re all disappointed.”

The Angels signed Washburn for $350,000, Schoeneweis for $325,000 and Ortiz for $270,000.

The Angels offered a three-year contract to Washburn and a four-year contract to Ortiz, but at salaries far below what the pitchers and their agents considered reasonable in exchange for giving up the right to salary arbitration. Schoeneweis was not offered a long-term deal.

Neither the pitchers nor team officials would disclose the amount of the offers, but Washburn said the Angels were inflexible.

“They came in with an offer. They didn’t negotiate. That’s not conducive to getting something done,” he said. “They basically said, either we get you at a bargain or you get nothing.”

Ortiz, noting that General Manager Bill Stoneman had signed third baseman Troy Glaus and catcher Bengie Molina to four-year contracts, called his offer “very cheap” and wondered why the team would not treat him as it had Glaus and Molina. Ortiz, 28, pitched 209 innings last season, won 13 games and posted a 4.36 earned-run average.

“The Angels are not liking me for the future,” Ortiz said. “They gave me a cheap contract.... I need a good contract. I need to take care of my family. I’m not happy.”

Stoneman acknowledged that contract renewals are “not a fun thing to do.” He said he would “keep the door open” to reviving talks on those long-term deals and said the team continues to think highly of all three pitchers.

“Contract negotiation is part of the business,” he said. “Unfortunately, sometimes a player can take it personally.”

When the Angels hired Stoneman away from the Montreal Expos’ front office, he brought with him a salary scale for players not yet eligible for arbitration. Typically, front-line players get the $200,000 minimum wage as rookies, under $300,000 as second-year players and under $400,000 as third-year players.

Not all teams employ such a scale. The Detroit Tigers paid Jeff Weaver $425,000 last year after his second season, in which he pitched 200 innings, won 11 games and posted a 4.32 ERA. In his second season last year, Washburn, 27, pitched 193 innings and won 11 games with a 3.77 ERA.

But the Angels offered $375,000 and, after he said no, renewed him at $350,000. The Angels offered Ortiz $450,000 this year as part of that four-year offer and, after he said no, renewed him at $270,000.

In his second season last year, Schoeneweis, 28, pitched 205 innings, won 10 games and posted a 5.08 ERA.

Scott Boras, the agent for Washburn and Schoeneweis, said he understood the variances between teams but wondered why the Angels would not offer his clients more than the $375,000 the team paid to Jason Dickson in 1999. In the previous season, Dickson pitched 122 innings, won 10 games and posted a 6.05 ERA. That contract, however, was negotiated by Stoneman’s predecessor, Bill Bavasi.

“With players you want to have in your organization long-term, you have to have consistency in how the organization treats those players,” Boras said.

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Ortiz struck out four in two innings in the Angels’ 7-4 Cactus League victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.