Section B · Page 9
The University Daily Kansan
Baseball
Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Royals sign closer, retain Damon
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Freeagent closer Ricky Bottalico signed a one-year contract Friday with the Kansas City Royals after undergoing a physical examination.
Bottalico, 30, agreed to a $1.5 million, one-year contract that gives him the chance to earn $400,000 more in performance bonuses. The deal came one day after the Royals signed left fielder Johnny Damon.
Bottallo would earn a $25,000 bonus for 15 games finished,
$50,000 each for 20 and
25 games finished, $75,000 each for 30 and 40, and $125,000 for 50.
pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals last year after having arthroscopic surgery on
his elbow in 1998
Coca-Cola Banco Nacional S.A.
Bottalico, a right-hander,
Bottalico pitched four years for Philadelphia before going to St. Louis. He started out well
last year, but ended up walking 49 batters in $ 73^{1/3} $ innings. He was 3-7 with 20 saves.
Bottalico is 15-25 with a 3.84 earned-run average in his career.
Kansas City is desperate for help in a bulpen that had 30 blown saves against 28 saves last season. Royals closer Jeff
Montgomery retired after the season.
"Ricky's a proven closer with a great deal of experience," general manager Herk Robinson said. "He has the right mentality for that role and will be an invaluable addition to our club."
Damon, 26, agreed Thursday night to a one-year contract for $4 million plus incentives, avoiding a potentially contentious salary arbitration hearing.
Damon hit a career-high .307 last year in his fifth Kansas City season, scored 101 runs and drove in 77. That production came after he lost in salary arbitration last year, receiving the club's $2.1 million offer rather than the $3.2 million he wanted.
Although Damon has a weak arm and his looping throws are common, he has given manager Tony Muser a player who can lead off, hit for average and steal bases while providing occasional power.
Damon, one of the more visible Royals in the community and a key figure in the clubhouse, was embittered by his last experience with arbitration and desperately wanted to avoid another hearing.
The Royals appear close to setting their team, having signed ace pitcher Jose Rosado for two years and $5.5 million, rightfielder Jermaine Dye for two years and $6.1
million, and shortstop Rey Sanchez for two years and $4.6 million.
The combination of Damon with outfielders Carlos Beltran and Dye was potent for the Royals last year. Beltran hit 22 homers and drove in 108 runs while Dye led the team with 27 homers and 119 RBI. Dye tied Albert Belle for the AL lead with 17 outfield assists.
In Sanchez, the Royals kept the shortstop who teamed with second baseman Carlos Febles and helped give the team strong defense up the middle.
Rosado took over as Kansas City's No.1 starter following the trade of Kevin Appier to Oakland at mid season.
Sweeney signs $2.25 million deal with KC
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A day after filing for salary arbitration, first baseman Mike Sweeney agreed Saturday to a $2.25 million, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals.
Sweeney, who earned $265,000 last year, hit a team-high .322 with 22 home runs and 102 RBI. He began the season as the team's third catcher but was switched to first base after the unexpected retirement of Jeff King.
Mets dish Yoshii for a second Jones
Sweeney also scored 101 runs, becoming just the fourth player in Royals history to top 100 runs scored with 100 or more RBI.
The Associated Press
DENVER — The New York Mets won't be taking Masato Yoshi to Japan. They'll take two Bobby Jones instead.
The Mets traded Yoshii to the Colorado Rockies on Friday for left-hander Bobby M. Jones and right-handed relief prospect Lariel Gonzalez. The Mets already have right-hander Bobby J. Jones.
"Yoshii fits into the plan of what we want to do," said Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd. "We want a staff that throws strikes and doesn't defeat itself."
The trade meant Yoshii will not get a chance to pitch in his native Japan when the Mets open the 2004 season against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome.
Yoshi, a 34-year-old right-hander, went 12-8 with a 4.40 earned-run average in 29 starts and two relief appearances last season.
"He may have been the Mets' best pitcher down the stretch last year," O'Dowd said. "He finished the season 5-1 with a 1.74 ERA in his last 10 starts. He doesn't walk batters and he's a fearless competitor."
Bobby M. Jones, 27, was 6-10 with a 6.33 ERA in 20 starts and 10 relief appearances for the Rockies last season, while Bobby J. Jones, 29, went 3-3 with a 5.61
ERA in nine starts and three relief appearances. He missed most of the year because of injuries.
The Joneses started against each other May 11, becoming the first starting pitchers to share the same name in a major league game since April 16, 1899, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Bobby M. Jones, who lives in East Rutherford, N.J., grew up a Mets fan.
"It's a dream come true," said Jones, who struggled last year. "I wasn't real
focused. I think my mind was on a lot of different things outside baseball itself. I really missed home and my family a little. Being in New York solves that real quick."
Gonzalez, 24, was considered one of the Rockies' top pitching prospects but, plagued by injuries, had been a displacement. He had a 10.13 ERA in 12 games for Triple-A Colorado Springs last season and a 5.29 ERA with 14 saves in 30 games at Double-A Carolina.
The trade opens a Colorado roster spot for free-agent outfielder Darren Bragg,
whose signing appears imminent
Since Oct. 30, the Rockies have added 16 players to their major league roster. When they open the season, their lineup will include no more than three of the
nine players who started in last year's opener.
Yoshii lost his spot in the Mets' rotation midway through last season but regained it because of injuries to others.
He joins a pitching staff that has Pedro Astacio and Brian Bohanon returning from last year. During the off season, the Rockies acquired Roland Arrojo, Scott Karl, Jose Jimenez and Manny Aybar, giving them the deepest rotation in their history.
"I know there's been some talk about us getting a bunch of No. 4s and No. 5s." O'Dowd said. "Well, what we're trying to do is get a bunch of quality starting pitchers. We have seven guys for five jobs. Bring it on."
In New York, Jones joins a staff headed by left-handers Mike Hampton and Al Leiter. The Mets' other starters are expected to be the other Jones and righthander Rick Reed.
Glass quits job maintains bid
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There may be bigger baseball fans than David Glass and Miles Prentice.
But each would challenge anyone who tried to prove it. Glass, who announced Friday that he was giving up his job as president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart, said he remained committed to his effort to buy the Kansas City Royals.
He and Prentice, who tirelessly worked the community for more than a year — only to have baseball owners reject his bid — remain as the two known bidders for the club. The Royals have been without an owner since founder Ewing Kauffman died in 1993.
"After the Wal-Mart transition is complete in a year or so, I would like to devote more time to baseball, which has been a great passion all of my life," said Glass, who is chairman of the board that operates the Royals and who represents the team at owners meetings.
Prentice adamantly has stated that his $75 million bid to buy the team remains on the table and that he would compete with Glass for the team.
But baseball's owners have made it clear they don't want Prentice, who lined up a group of more than 40 investors and met demands of the Royals that his group include at least 50 percent local ownership. A formal vote was never taken on Prentice's offer.
Glass, whose decision to take a reduced role with Wal-Mart was part of a planned transition of leadership, said he would like to complete the purchase of the Royals as quickly as possible.
Although no one in baseball has said so on the record, he appears to have been the favorite of owners all along to buy the Royals.
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Glass was among the initial bidders for team, but dropped out because of public criticism that he was using his position as board chairman to get a better deal.
Prentice, a New York attorney who became a familiar figure in Kansas City as he walked the streets in his baseball cap, emerged with the blessing of the Royals board to buy the team after Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, and George Brett, the team's only Hall of Famer, dropped out.
But he was blocked by owners, perhaps because of the large size of his ownership group.
Glass has said he has had offers from people in Kansas City to join his potential ownership group, but that he would prefer to own the team by himself.
The complicated succession plan devised by Kauffman had two goals: keep the ballclub in Kansas City and give the money from the proceeds of the sale to area charities.
The plan established a deadline in which the team must be sold to someone committed to keeping it in the city. The fear after Prentice's rejection was that the Royals board would fail to meet the deadline.