Wednesday, January 05, 2000
Arbitration could hit Reds where it counts: In the pocketbook
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Reds' reputation as baseball's best bargain is about to fade. The tangible price of their 1999 success will emerge in coming weeks as the team intensifies contract talks with its nine salary arbitration-eligible players.
Much of the Reds' projected payroll increase from last year's $38 million to at least $45 million will stem from the raises these players almost certainly will receive.
Last year's average raise for the 38 players who exchanged salary arbitration figures with their respective clubs was $1,257,408. Players who signed before figures were exchanged also earned significant raises.
The specter of arbitration has hounded the Reds since last midseason. It helped prompt them not to re-sign free agents Greg Vaughn and Juan Guzman. It also explained why they would have struggled to accommodate Ken Griffey Jr.'s $8.5 million salary had he been acquired from Seattle.
Reds General Manager Jim Bowden cannot stop the payroll growth. But he can limit it by signing arbitration-eligible players before salary figures are exchanged Jan.18 or before arbitrators conduct hearings in February. By the Players Association's calendar, players were allowed to begin filing for arbitration Tuesday.
“Obviously, that's going to take up a lot of our time between now and spring training,” Bowden said. “We have a lot of players who are going to be very, very difficult to sign.”
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Who wants to be a millionaire?
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Players with at least three years of major-league service time, along with the most experienced 17 percent of those with between two and three years' tenure, become eligible for salary arbitration. Here's a list of the nine arbitration-eligible Reds.
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| Player | '99 pay | Comment |
| Mike Cameron, CF | $295,000 | Power/speed combo a plus |
| Steve Parris, RHP | $275,000 | Can't ignore 11-4 record |
| Pokey Reese, 2B | $270,000 | 500 percent raise? Why not? |
| Scott Sullivan, RHP | $300,000 | Most relief innings since '97 |
| Mark Sweeney, 1B-OF | $515,000 | Stretch in minors will hurt him |
| Michael Tucker, OF | $1.6M | Skilled but high-priced reserve |
| Ron Villone, LHP | $462,500 | Move to rotation could pay off |
| Gabe White, LHP | $300,000 | Might be wise to avoid hearing |
| Dmitri Young, OF | $375,000 | .306, 78 2Bs last two seasons |
The difficulty stems not so much from greed as from the mechanism of arbitration, which automatically elevates qualified players through baseball's salary structure.
For example, as everyday performers, second baseman Pokey Reese and center fielder Mike Cameron are among the more challenging cases confronting the Reds.
“I can tell that Pokey and Mike are somewhat of a priority,” said Mike Nicotera, their agent. “The Reds realize that they're cornerstone-type guys.”
Arbitration operates largely on comparisons with players of similar major-league service time at corresponding positions. Thus, the salaries of other second basemen who recently became arbitration-eligible for the first time will provide guidelines for Reese. Likewise, Cameron's pay will be dictated by outfielders of his class.
Here's why the Reds are cringing: Last year, Milwaukee second baseman Mark Loretta's salary soared from $275,000 to $1.495 million after he and the Brewers exchanged figures. Loretta entered '99 with better career offensive statistics than Reese has now (.296, 13 homers, 117 RBI in 364 games for Loretta to .258, 15 homers, 94 RBI in 336 games for Reese). But Reese has more stolen bases than Loretta did (66-17) and won a Gold Glove for fielding excellence.
A parallel for Cameron (.240, 44 homers, 166 RBI, 88 steals) could be Minnesota's Matt Lawton (.266, 42 homers, 191 RBI, 28 steals entering '99). Lawton lost his arbitration hearing last February but still received a raise from $215,000 to $1.7 million.
Chances are that relatively few of Cincinnati's nine cases will proceed to a hearing. Right-hander John Hudek's hearing last February was the club's first since catcher Joe Oliver won a $2.5 million settlement in 1994. Hudek lost his case and received an $800,000 salary, $500,000 less than he requested.
Nicotera said he and the Reds have had “preliminary conversations” regarding multiyear contracts for Reese and Cameron, another way the team can regulate payroll growth and prevent future arbitration onslaughts. “They haven't been that in-depth, but (the subject has) been brought up,” Nicotera said.
The Reds might wish to forestall further headaches. After this season, first baseman Sean Casey, relief ace Danny Graves and right-hander Brett Tomko will join the arbitration-eligible ranks. This small-market team soon could bear big-market expenses.
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