BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Selig Claims Sport Becoming a ‘Two-Tiered Society’

It’s an obvious pattern, acting Commissioner Bud Selig says.

An obvious manifestation of everything the owners have been talking about during the eight months of futile negotiations, he adds.

“We’re headed toward a two-tiered society and you’d have to be blind not to see it,� Selig said.

A two-tiered society of haves and have-nots, big and small, economically and artistically, he says.

“I mean, it’s no accident that the first five or six deals this week have seen small-market teams trading some of their best and highest-salaried players to big-market teams, and it’s just the start,� Selig said. “This is exactly why we need a change in the system, and I guess that is what’s so frustrating. The media may not want to believe it and the union may not want to believe it, but it shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody. We have some clubs that aren’t going to make it.�

Selig got his fodder this week in deals the small-market Montreal Expos and Kansas City Royals made with their larger brethren.

The Expos, claiming salary- and strike-related losses of $15 million last year, allowed Larry Walker to leave as a free agent and sent arbitration-eligible Marquis Grissom, John Wetteland and Ken Hill to the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively, primarily for prospects and money.

The Royals, alleging losses of $25 million, traded David Cone and his $5-million salary to the Toronto Blue Jays for three prospects.

“It’s starting all over again,� Cleveland General Manager John Hart said. “This is what’s wrong with baseball (in the current system). The small-market teams have to sell their star players to survive, and those teams are being preyed upon by the big clubs.�

Atlanta General Manager John Schuerholz benefited by the acquisition of Grissom, but said: “It’s no more troubling now than it was two, three or four years ago, when we said these things would happen. We’re not doing it to prove a point, it’s just the way the industry is.�

And will continue to be, Selig said, until there’s a bargaining agreement that links the owners’ revenue-sharing plan to cost containment such as a salary cap or meaningful payroll tax. The players’ union has approved the revenue-sharing plan but will not accept a cap or tax rate that acts as a cap.

“We have never doubted that the teams in small markets have less revenue than those in big markets,� union lawyer Eugene Orza said. “We have never doubted that there needs to be a change in their revenue-sharing system. What we question is their motivation and negotiating approach.

“When we proposed a revenue-sharing plan that would have given the small markets even more money than their own plan, they rejected it because it wasn’t linked to a cap. I mean, we question the degree to which they want to address the imbalance. They aren’t so much interested in getting money to Montreal and the small-market teams as they are restraining the Yankees and the big markets. It’s not so much the imbalance they’re concerned about as restraining salaries and the free market.�

Orza might also argue that if the system is so harmful to competitive balance, how is it that 23 of the 28 teams have made it to the playoffs in the last 15 years?

The Expos, built from within, had baseball’s best record when the players went out. The small-market Royals and Oakland Athletics virtually dominated the ‘70s and ‘80s. The small-market Minnesota Twins have won two of the last seven World Series. Smart operators like Cleveland’s Hart have provided a text on how to live with the system.

The Expos did it and can do it again, General Manager Kevin Malone said. It’s just that the revenue stream can’t sustain a big-market payroll. The Expos would have drawn about 1.6 million last year and have never drawn more than 2.3 million. Maybe it’s not the system so much as a need to move.

“I have to say that’s a valid point,� Malone conceded. “I can’t argue that anymore. I care about the fans in Montreal, but the problem is, the core of fans is too small.�

Said Selig, “You can move a franchise or two, but how many can you move and where do you move them? We’re expanding to Phoenix and St. Petersburg in 1998, and probably expanding again two years after that. We don’t solve the basic problem by moving franchises.�

Perhaps, but Selig may be looking to move his own Milwaukee Brewers soon. Voters defeated a state sports lottery last Tuesday, rejecting one of the last options for funding a new stadium that Selig believes is imperative if the Brewers are to survive in Wisconsin. This is the franchise he received when the year-old Seattle Pilots relocated. At the time, he didn’t see anything wrong with the concept.

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Time for a Commish: It’s difficult to measure, but there’s a quiet push among several clubs to begin the search for a new commissioner. The thinking: With players returning, negotiations temporarily in respite and both sides interested in rebuilding the fan base, why wait for a settlement before hiring a chief executive officer without the self-interests that burden Selig?

An outside, full-time, independent commissioner, as Dodger President Peter O’Malley put it.

“There’s no reason why a search couldn’t go on concurrently with the negotiations, and I think more and more clubs are realizing that,� said O’Malley, whose disenchantment with Selig has been chronicled.

“Common sense tells you we need full-time leadership.�

Since Fay Vincent resigned under pressure in September 1992, owners have been reluctant to hire an independent commissioner who might interfere in the labor process, promoting an undesirable compromise.

Selig, who says he has no desire to remain in the position, despite frequent speculation otherwise, said the clubs might consider a search but that most say there should be a settlement first.

“I’ve talked to three or four excellent candidates myself,� he said. “Each said he would be reluctant to come in before the negotiations were resolved. It would be unfair to ask anyone to take over in the middle of it. On the other hand, if a majority of clubs were to feel the time was right, it would have to be considered.�

THE NOETBOOK

--Sparky Anderson, telling friends that he would love to manage the Phoenix expansion team, is back at the Detroit Tigers’ helm. It’s probably his last season with an organization he described as a mess, replete with phoniness, when he went home this spring in protest against the replacements.

It’s an uneasy relationship between Sparky and the front office, but he isn’t sorry about his stand.

“One of the silliest things in the history of anything, the silliest thing that was ever done,� he said of the replacement teams. “Everybody knew (a replacement season) wasn’t going to happen.�

--New York Met Manager Dallas Green said those six weeks managing the replacement team were comparable to “mucking stalls.�

He added, “My belly ached and my heart ached. I knew we had to do it and do it as professionally as we could, but now I feel I can contribute. I didn’t then.�

--Owner Jerry McMorris has been one of management’s lead negotiators, but it’s business as usual for his Colorado Rockies, who drew two more sellouts for replacement exhibition games at the new Coors Field last weekend and then added free agents Walker and Bill Swift on Saturday.

“We’re not one of the franchises trying to hang on,� McMorris said. “We want to be a marquee franchise. We want to be a contender and play in a World Series faster than any expansion team in history.�

That distinction belongs to the Mets, born in ’62 and World Series winners in ’69.

--In acquiring Hill and Danny Jackson, the Cardinals have added two of the top four winners in the National League last year, when St. Louis starters failed to go more than five innings 43 times in 115 games.

“We tried to run the Derby with a quarter horse last year and didn’t quite get there,� Manager Joe Torre said.

--After trading Ken Caminiti, Andujar Cedeno and Steve Finley to the San Diego Padres early in the off-season, the Houston Astros are now hurt by a short spring, leaving them little time to judge third baseman Phil Nevin, shortstop Orlando Miller and center fielder Brian Hunter, all potential new starters.

“We needed six weeks,� General Manager Bob Watson said.

--The San Francisco Giants sent John Burkett to Texas in a cost-cutting trade and allowed Swift to leave as a free agent, leaving Manager Dusty Baker shy of starting pitchers.

“I can’t create a pitcher,� he said. “If I could, I would.�

Thus, said Baker, thinking of the replacement team with which he spent the last month, “I just came from one mess to another, didn’t I?�

--The Toronto Blue Jays were going to have to play replacement games in Florida because of an Ontario law preventing replacement workers. The Blue Jays still aren’t home free. With the umpires locked out in their own labor dispute with management, the same law could prevent replacement umpires.

“We’ve been in touch with the (Ontario labor) board and been assured that replacement umpires can’t be used,� the umps’ lawyer, Richie Phillips, said.

--Darren Daulton, fed up with the union, has resigned as the Philadelphia Phillies’ player representative, comparing union meetings to a Geneva convention.

“Everybody goes, eats a little chocolate and nothing ever gets resolved,� he said.

--Teammate Dave Hollins said he, too, would never attend another union meeting, angry over treatment Lenny Dykstra received after questioning union strategy.

“The union always likes to talk about how open things are and if we ever have a question or want to say anything we should just speak up,� Hollins said. “The union wants us to participate.

“Well, when Lenny walked in (to a meeting in Florida), they treated him like a Russian spy. They were all over him. They tried to bury him, and (union leader) Don Fehr never spoke up once.�