TAMPA – Even though Alfonso Soriano is interested in a four- or five-year deal, the topic never surfaced yesterday in a discussion between his agent and the Yankees at Legends Field.
“I would like to have [a long-term deal],” Soriano said before homering in his second consecutive intrasquad game. “But the only thing I know is that they didn’t do it for Mariano Rivera and [Derek] Jeter, so I don’t know if they would do anything special for me.”
The answer is no.
“There was no pursuit [of a long-term deal] on his behalf or ours,” GM Brian Cashman said after a meeting with Don Nomura, Soriano’s agent who is working with Tom Reich, a friend of George Steinbrenner’s. “It will be a one-year deal or a renewal. We will talk [today].”
The Yankees have never signed a player to a long-term deal before he was eligible for arbitration. Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Rivera and Jeter all learned what the Yankee Way means. Williams, Posada and Jeter were renewed, although Jeter’s renewal in 1997 was reversed one day later when he signed a $550,000 contract.
“[Having it renewed] wasn’t very good. I didn’t realize how important it was to make a difference between playing and business. I got it all back with interest,” said Williams, who signed a seven-year, $87.5 million deal after the 1998 season.
Soriano, who will be eligible for arbitration after this coming season, insisted he wouldn’t be hurt if he played under a one-year deal or feel slighted if he is renewed. However, young players crave that first big contract and after finishing third in the AL MVP voting last year when he made $630,000, Soriano is anxious to find the security of a multiyear pact.
However, at what price? Last summer there were whispers the Yankees were looking to drop a four-year deal worth $22 million on the 24-year-old second baseman who became an All-Star in his second full season. After batting .300 with 39 homers, 128 runs scored, 102 RBIs and leading the league in steals with 41, that $22 million is light. Especially when the Phillies signed Pat Burrell to a six-year deal worth $50 million. Burrell has two years and 131 days of service time compared to Soriano’s two years and 79 days.
The Yankees wanted all players signed by the start of the exhibition season that opens tomorrow. The only other significant name not under contract is Nick Johnson, and there haven’t been any long-term talks with him.
While Pettitte and Posada admitted that going year to year can extract a toll, Soriano says he could care less.
“When you are a free agent, you have the power,” Soriano said. “But now it’s whatever the Yankees say. There is nothing on my mind. The only thing on my mind is to play. Whatever they give me is fine.”
While they didn’t do it with him, Posada said they should with Soriano.
“They should give him a [multiyear deal] because he is only going to get better,” Posada said.
Pettitte remembers the spring of 1997 and how much contract talk filled his head.
“Bob Watson was the GM and they were talking about three years for $5 million [per] and I thought that was the world,” said Pettitte, who signed a three-year pact for $25.5 million in January of 2000 and makes $11.5 million this year. “It was hard for me. All I heard was how hard it was for a young player to play here.”
SECOND TO NONE?
A look at how Alfonso Soriano stacked up last year with some of baseball’s highest-paid second baseman:
Player 2002 salary HR RBI AVG
Alfonso Soriano $630,000 39 102 .300
Roberto Alomar $8M 11 53 .266
Bret Boone $8M 24 107 .270
Jeff Kent $6M 37 108 .313
Jose Vidro $4M 19 96 .315