Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 11, 1995 TAG: 9504110138
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
In the parlance of some agents and general managers, it's called ``taking a shave.''
All across baseball, players with multimillion-dollar salaries are taking multimillion cuts - if they don't have super stats to back up their big bucks.
``It's a changing market out there,'' Houston Astros general manager Bob Watson said Monday. ``It's been reflected in a lot of the signings. It's an indication that the market has changed.''
Tom Browning went from $3.5 million to $300,000 when he signed with Kansas City. Bob Welch dropped from $2.9 million to $225,000 with Oakland. Bud Black, who made $2.65 million last year, signed with Cleveland for $350,000. Mike Devereaux dropped from $2,575,000 to $800,000.
Dave Stewart dropped from $3.5 million to $1 million when he signed with Oakland on Saturday. He didn't seem to mind.
``What the owners are doing now probably should have been done years ago without asking us to fix their problem,'' he said. ``What's going on right now isn't any more than what it should have been.''
In the deal most criticized by agents, catcher Pat Borders signed with Kansas City for $310,000. He made $2.5 million last season with Toronto.
``I remember making $5 an hour,'' Borders said. ``You have to keep things in perspective. The salary I just signed for, you could make $5 an hour for about 15 years and not make that kind of money.''
Players and agents say the moves of the past week show the current system of free agency and salary arbitration can adjust to changes in revenue. Owners claim they lost $700 million in revenue because of the strike.
``The irony of this labor dispute may be as follows,'' agent Randy Hendricks said: ``The players say all along, `We want fair-market value and the clubs should exercise restraint and operate on a budget.' The owners say, `We can't do that unless the players give us artificial mechanisms.'''
There were several big free-agent deals last fall (Gregg Jefferies to Philadelphia for $20 million over four years and Jay Buhner re-signed with Seattle for $15.5 million over three years). But since the end of the 232-day strike, Baltimore, Colorado, Florida and the New York Mets - all high revenue clubs - have been the only teams to commit to multimillion, multiyear deals:
Outfielder Larry Walker signed with the Rockies for $22 million over four years and pitcher Bill Swift signed for $13.1 million over three.
Catcher Chris Hoiles re-signed with the Orioles for $17.25 million over five years.
Pitcher Pete Harnisch re-signed with the Mets for $9 million over three years and reliever John Franco signed for $5 million over two.
Reliever John Burkett signed with the Marlins for $6.9 million over two years.
But those are the exceptions.
Monday, Teddy Higuera did a deal with San Diego that would give him $275,000 if he makes the team. He made $2.95 million last year. Danny Darwin signed with Toronto for $300,000, a drop of $2.1 million. Paul Assenmacher signed with Cleveland for $700,000, down $1.55 million. Chris Sabo, who had been working out in Homestead, Fla., at a special spring training camp for free agents, signed a one year contract with the Chicago White Sox for $550,000 after making $2 million last year with Baltimore.
Sabo, 33, hit .256 with 11 home runs and 42 RBI last season. The White Sox, who lost Julio Franco to Japan, got Sabo to be their designated hitter after missing out on Mark Grace, who re-signed with the Cubs.
``To be honest with you, I didn't have much of a choice. I wanted to go back to the National League, but it didn't work out,'' Sabo said.
``I figured if you didn't get signed by the middle of the week you weren't going to get signed,'' he said. ``It wasn't a bidding war.''
by CNB