There were no significant free-agent signings last week, when the market officially opened, but that has been the pattern in recent years. It’s usually slow going at the beginning.
Rafael Palmeiro, the top prize, is being courted by the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles but, so far, not the White Sox. Palmeiro, who opened his big-league career with the Cubs, has told friends he had “a good Chicago experience” and would like to return.
Chances are the Sox won’t go for Palmeiro because they don’t want Frank Thomas to be a full-time DH. But if either Tim Raines or Ellis Burks don’t return, Palmeiro could play in the outfield, which is where the Yankees would use him. And it’s also possible Palmeiro will remain with the Texas Rangers if they offer and he accepts salary arbitration.
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The owners are putting a full-court press on Milwaukee’s Bud Selig in an attempt to convince him to divest himself of the Brewers and jump into the commissioner’s chair. Last week three owners, not as a group but individually, made the trip to Milwaukee for this purpose; the week before two other owners, on an identical mission, showed up at County Stadium. Selig admits “it made me feel good” but insists he doesn’t want to be a candidate.
Selig may be weakening, however. He has been the interim czar for 14 months, longer than Bart Giammati’s reign. More than likely, the principal reason his fellow moguls are pounding on his door is because the list of commissioner candidates isn’t impressive.
Also, the choice should be a baseball man. If an outsider gets the nod it will take him two to three years before he knows who’s who. The anticipated scenario is that Selig will be crowned in acclimation at the next owners’ meeting, which could be as early as next month. If Selig says yes, the commissioner’s office will be moved to Chicago, which is where it was during the Judge Landis era.
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If you don’t think it was a hitters’ year, consider this: Three American League players-Frank Thomas, Juan Gonzalez and Ken Griffey, Jr.-smacked 40 or more home runs. The last time there were three or more 40-home run sluggers in the AL was in 1961, when Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Jim Gentile, Rocky Colavito, Norm Cash and Harmon Killebrew accomplished the feat.
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Highly regarded Larry Lucchino, who recently got the boot as president of the Orioles, is expected to join the New York Mets as an executive vice president in charge of business, the same assignment that was rejected by Fay Vincent, the former commissioner. Vincent, however, did agree to serve on the Mets’ board of directors. Speaking of the Orioles, Roland Hemond, the former White Sox GM, is being kicked upstairs. Doug Melvin will succeed him as the Orioles’ general manager.
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Here’s a question for trivia buffs. What established National League club, aside from the ’93 Mets, finished last in an expansion year? It was the ’66 Cubs. Like the Mets, they had a 59-103 record. It was the first year of Leo Durocher’s managerial term. A week before the opener, Durocher crowed: “This isn’t an eighth-place club.” He was right. They were a 10th-pace club.
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Richard Ravitch, the owners’ labor negotiator, made a big doom-and-gloom speech at the general manager’s meeting in Florida last month. Ravitch emphasized the need for so-called fiscal responsibility-i.e., don’t spend, dummies. The supposedly financially troubled Detroit Tigers, in the next two weeks, signed Travis Fryman for $25 million for five years and awarded Alan Trammell and Eric Davis $3 million for the 1994 season.
Ravitch has been keeping a low profile, which is understandable. His revenue-sharing plans seem to be dying on the vine. But Ravitch won’t throw in the towel and wants the owners to assemble soon to review the salary-cap proposal that will require both a floor and a ceiling-in other words, a $40 million to $50 million lid, for each team, and an approximate $25 million low.
Ravitch should be given credit for hanging in, but he could be history. That would be a shame. He’s a good guy and also a good tennis player. It’s too bad Ravitch wasn’t around 20 years ago. He and Marvin Miller, the former head of the players’ association who is also a semi-pro tennis player, could have met at Wimbledon, winner take all.
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Elliot Asinof and Jim Bouton, both of whom already have made classic contributions to baseball literature, in joint authorship, have completed the final manuscript for “Strike Zone,” a baseball novel that will be available next spring. The principal characters are an umpire and a pitcher. Asinof wrote the umpire part, Bouton the pitcher.