Sunday, February 17, 2002
Precedent drives team on Williamson talks
Sides $200,000 apart; hearing set for Thursday
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SARASOTA, Fla. — The Reds and Scott Williamson are $200,000 apart heading into Thursday's arbitration hearing.
Why not split the difference and settle? Williamson's asking for $600,000; the Reds are offering $400,000. Pay him $500,000, and everyone goes away happy and you don't have the divisive hearing.
The Reds generally do settle. They've gone to arbitration only seven times in the last four years. They settled their five other cases this year.
There's no chance this one will be settled. That's because, to the Reds, it's not about $200,000. It's about precedent.
Williamson spent all but two days last season on the disabled list after rupturing a tendon in his right elbow, which required “Tommy John” surgery. The rule in arbitration, the Reds say, is: If you don't play, you don't get a raise.
“It's not that we don't love Scott Williamson,” Reds assistant general manager Doc Rodgers said. “We do. But, there's a precedent here.”
The Reds feel like they're taking a stand for baseball. With Williamson, it's over $200,000.
But, next year, the Reds could find themselves in a similar case, where the difference is between $6 million or $4 million. While $200,000 isn't going to make much difference, even in a $45 million payroll, an additional $2 million is the difference between signing a Jeff Shaw or a Pete Harnisch.
Williamson's agent, Jeff Moorad, will make the point that Williamson went 12-7 and won the National League Rookie of the Year in 1999 while making $200,000 — baseball's minimum wage. Moorad will show that Williamson was an effective and, again, a cheap pitcher in 2000.
The Reds will argue that Williamson threw only two-thirds of an inning last year.
From the players' side, arbitration cases are won by comparing eligible players to those with similar service time and similar numbers. By that standard, Williamson probably deserves $600,000 in the wacky economics of baseball.
The Reds will point to more than 20 cases where players who missed an entire season didn't get a raise.
Who will win? Don't bet against Rodgers and Reds general manager Jim Bowden. They are 5-2 the last four years in arbitration cases.
The case will be heard Thursday at the Hyatt in Tampa, Fla.
COMEBACK HAL?
Former Red Hal Morris' agent talked to the Reds about Morris possibly making a comeback, but the Reds weren't interested. Morris, a career .300 hitter, was in camp with the Reds last year. He left camp just before the team headed north, citing family reasons. The Reds have Sean Casey entrenched at first base, and they're going to give prospect Ben Broussard a long look.
BEHIND NUMBERS:
Pete Harnisch may have signed with Colorado for less base salary than the Reds because of incentives. The Reds' incentives were based on substantially more starts than the Rockies'. And Harnisch is 5-1 with a 4.01 ERA at Coors Field.
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Precedent drives team on Williamson talks
