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QUOTE (Jayson Stark

ESPN.com)Friday, November 21, 2003

 

 

In any year, in any market, in any era, on any planet, Vladimir Guerrero would be slightly more than just your average free agent, roaming the baseball wilderness looking for work.

 

 

But especially this year.

 

 

Too bad that this year, it's for all the wrong reasons.

 

 

 

Vladmir Guerrero hit 30 home runs or more in five straight seasons, until last year when he missed 50 games.

This year, the reason we should all be eyeing Guerrero's free agency so closely isn't just because he can hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases. It isn't just because he owns a higher career batting average (.323) than Roberto Clemente. It isn't just because he's already the leading home-run hitter in the history of his franchise even though he's the same age as Scott Podsednik (27).

 

 

It's because the team Guerrero has spent his whole career playing for (the Montreal-San Juan-Washington-Virginia-Portland-Monterrey Expos) is still trying to sign him -- and that team is still owned by Major League Baseball.

 

 

You don't think that's a problem? Well, here's why it sure looks like a problem, no matter how hard everyone involved may try to avoid one:

 

 

 

The Expos' ability to sign Guerrero is directly tied to their payroll -- which is calculated, at least in part, by the good folks at Major League Baseball.

 

 

 

The amount of that payroll is directly affected by the negotiations to play a chunk of the Expos' schedule in San Juan -- negotiations that were conducted by (right you are) Major League Baseball.

 

 

 

Any contract Guerrero eventually is offered would be the largest contract in Expos' history -- meaning it would have to be approved by MLB-appointed team president Tony Tavares. Which would certainly suggest, at the very least, that it needs approval in some form by Major League Baseball.

 

 

 

And who is funding the operations of the team trying to sign this guy? The other 29 teams who, ostensibly, are also trying to sign him.

 

 

So of all the tangled webs baseball has woven with its ownership of this team, this one is the all-timer. In other words, just when you think the conflicts and contradictions of this Expos-MLB partnership can't possibly get any messier, along comes the next embarrassing entanglement.

 

 

"It's like a whirlpool," says one baseball man who once worked for the Expos, "that has turned into a cesspool."

 

 

Major League Baseball doesn't see it that way, of course. MLB's chief operating officer, Bob DuPuy, has told us repeatedly that no one would even notice that MLB owned the Expos if people like us didn't keep pointing it out.

 

 

And the commissioner himself, Bud Selig, says the folks who run the Expos -- Tavares, GM Omar Minaya and manager Frank Robinson -- "have been as independent as they could possibly be."

 

 

Well, Tavares, Minaya and Robinson have done a tremendous job, given their bizarre ground rules. But the question people keep asking this winter is: How independent can they possibly be when they're mixed up in a negotiation like this one?

 

 

Selig insists we're making way too much out of this. The issues we've raised about the Guerrero negotiations, the commish says, "are true of any club."

 

 

"If they want to sign Guerrero," Selig says, "they have to make a baseball decision, based on revenues, based on other things they have to weigh. And that's true of all 30 clubs." Well, yes. But no. Because the other 29 clubs don't have their budget set by Major League Baseball.

 

 

And the other 29 clubs aren't caught in MLB-induced limbo, waiting interminably to be freed from their homeless shelter so they can move on to a permanent home.

 

 

And the other 29 clubs aren't simultaneously funding a team they're also competing against.

 

 

So no matter how hard everyone -- from Selig on down -- may aspire to make the operations of the Expos look as normal as possible, the reality is: That can't be done. This will always look bad, as long as MLB owns and operates the team.

 

 

Nevertheless, Selig disputes any notion that the Expos need to consult with him, DuPuy or anyone else if they want to re-sign their biggest star.

 

 

(Expos president Tony Tavares) has got to do what he thinks is in the best interests of that club. He knows their revenues. He knows what he has to do. So does he have to call me about a situation like this? No. They've made a lot of trades and a lot of moves, to be honest with you, that I didn't even know about until I heard them on ESPN.

X Commissioner Bud Selig

 

 

"That's a decision that Frank and Omar and Tony have to make," Selig says. "I don't think anything precludes that."

 

 

Even a $15-million-a-year contract? Absolutely, Selig says. He insists Tavares would not need his, or anyone's, approval to make that deal.

 

 

"I've told him, 'Unless it's something critical, I don't want to hear from you,' " the commish says.

 

 

And what's his definition of "something critical?"

 

 

"Something relative to baseball and the franchise itself," Selig says. "If they're having a problem with their lease in Montreal or some sort of legal problem -- something of that nature."

 

 

But not a contract -- any kind of contract, he says. Even, potentially, the biggest contract any free agent will sign all winter.

 

 

"Quite frankly, I talk to them less than I talk to a lot of other clubs," Selig says. "Tony has got to do what he thinks is in the best interests of that club. He knows their revenues. He knows what he has to do. So does he have to call me about a situation like this? No. They've made a lot of trades and a lot of moves, to be honest with you, that I didn't even know about until I heard them on ESPN."

 

 

Which is the way it ought to be. Obviously. But in a winter in which words like "collusion" and "conspiracy" are already starting to spill off many agents' tongues, is there any way for MLB to be above suspicion in a negotiation as visible as this one?

 

 

Guerrero is, after all, not just the best player on this market. He's the free agent whose contract will set the market.

 

 

It doesn't matter if he winds up getting Sammy Sosa money ($18 million a year) from the Orioles or Angels, or takes Luis Gonzalez money ($10 million a year) to stay with the Expos. His deal will have a huge trickle-down effect on what Gary Sheffield, Pudge Rodriguez and all his free-agent friends will be offered.

 

 

And at a time when all teams are already suspected of consulting with MLB about all their free-agent offers, agents have posed this scenario:

 

 

Suppose the Expos have offered Guerrero five years, $75 million -- and then, say, the Orioles or some other team top that by offering six years, $92 million. If the Expos go back to MLB for approval to match or beat that offer, wouldn't that be a way of illegally communicating to every team exactly where the bidding stands?

 

 

Oh, that wouldn't happen, Selig insists. But if people are even suspicious that it might, doesn't that sum up how uncomfortable this whole arrangement has become?

 

 

"I've been very sensitive about these issues right from the start," Selig says. "But pragmatism dictates this (homeless limbo). There's no sense complaining about it."

 

 

Selig knows the solution as well as anybody, of course. It's as basic as a full-count fastball: Sell the team. Move the team. Once and for all.

 

 

But Selig says: "It isn't that easy. There are all kinds of stadium problems and all kinds of situations" that have forced baseball to postpone that sale for yet another year. Fine. But whatever the rationale, it also means Selig and MLB are stuck with trying to dodge all these ethical questions for yet another year.

 

 

"I admit this is far from perfect," the commish says. "So will I be happy when they find a permanent home? Yes. Nobody will be happier about that than me."

 

 

Yes, we're sure Selig will be ecstatic the day he can shampoo this mess out of his hair. He ought to be. But by the time that day comes, the fate of "The Greatest Expo Of Them All" will have been altered, in some way or other, by this regrettable arrangement.

 

 

And no matter how MLB spins or explains or rationalizes it, that's a crime not just against Vladimir Guerrero, but against baseball.

 

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