The Morning After, Lasorda Tries to Look on Bright Side

It was 9:30 Saturday morning, the breakfast hour at the Fullerton home of Tom and Jo Lasorda. But it seemed much later.

The manager of the Dodgers seemed to be making one of his frequent after-dinner speeches, only this time it may have been a pep talk, a motivational address designed to convince himself that the Dodgers can survive without second baseman Steve Sax and right fielder Mike Marshall.

“We won with them and we’re going to win without them,” Lasorda said. “You have to go forward.

“Steve Garvey left and we still won. Davey Lopes left and we still won. Bill Russell left and we still won. Babe Ruth quit and the Yankees still won.”

Sax and Marshall are not in Ruth’s class, but they represented the only leadoff hitter and the only right-handed power the Dodgers had.

An overachieving but undermanned team is even more undermanned, the result of the Dodgers’ inability to come to contract terms with Sax and Marshall before the club’s self-imposed deadline of 9 p.m. Friday.

Sax and Marshall, like the 72 other free agents, could begin accepting bids from any of the 26 teams Saturday.

The Dodgers, electing to avoid bidding wars for their own players, ended negotiations at the deadline.

Lasorda wasn’t aware of the outcome until he heard it on the 11 o’clock news Friday night after attending the Ice Capades. He said he was virtually speechless and turned to his wife and said, “Oh, no,” or something like that.

Now, having slept on it, Lasorda said he was obviously disappointed, that he had lost two players he was fond of, that the manager is often caught in the middle between an organization he loves and players he loves.

“I wish they could have gotten together, but I’m sure the organization feels there has to be a (financial) stopping point at some time,” Lasorda said.

“How high is high? I think the Dodgers were being fair. This is a great organization and I think they (Sax and Marshall) would have been better off staying and playing for us.

“But I wish them luck. They played their hearts out for me.”

In turn, the Dodgers offered both players a similar package: 2 guaranteed years at a total of $2.1 million and a $1.1-million option year with a $200,000 buyout. The total guarantee, including buyout: $2.3 million.

Sax asked for 3 guaranteed years for $3.95 million.

Marshall wanted 3 at $3.8 million.

That’s where they were at 9 p.m.

The real problem, however, may have developed at about 11:15 Wednesday morning when the Dodgers received their first proposal from Jerry Kapstein, who represents both players.

In that proposal, club counsel Sam Fernandez and executive vice president Fred Claire said Saturday, Marshall asked for $6.6 million for 4 years, and Sax asked for $6.4.

In addition, if Sax appeared in 125 games during the fourth year, he would be guaranteed $1.6 million the next year. If Marshall appeared in 125, he would be guaranteed $1.75 million.

“The problem we had with the final gap was that the initial proposal was of such magnitude that it was very difficult to deal with,” Claire said Saturday. “There was no way we could work toward a middle point.”

Did the two players, suspecting, perhaps, that the Dodgers had no way to replace them, overplay their hand?

Claire said his offer to Sax would have lifted him past Juan Samuel of the Philadelphia Phillies as the highest-paid second baseman in the National League and leave him second in the majors to the Cleveland Indians’ Julio Franco.

The $1,150,000 contract average would have been more than the 1989 salaries of Lou Whitaker ($1,025,000) of the Detroit Tigers or Ryne Sandberg ($890,000) of the Chicago Cubs.

The offer to Marshall, Claire said, would have put him in the same class as Andre Dawson, Kirk Gibson, Tim Raines, Darryl Strawberry and Willie McGee.

Marshall, however, wanted a guarantee of $1.5 million more than the final Dodger proposal. Sax wanted $1.65 million more. Claire said Saturday that the Dodgers, like every club, reached a limit.

“We made a fair and creditable proposal,” he said. “We outlined from the start that 2 years and an option was the deal point. It’s hard to envision circumstances in which either Sax or Marshall wouldn’t have had the third year in effect.”

Jay Howell, Alfredo Griffin and Alejandro Pena, all eligible for free agency, reached agreements on the 2-year-plus option concept last week. The Dodgers also picked up the 1989 options on Mike Scioscia and John Shelby.

The question now confronting Sax and Marshall is this: Will they find an active market or the same collusion of the last 3 years? In addition: Will they find acceptance for the proposals the Dodgers rejected?

The Oakland Athletics are rumored to be interested in Sax. The San Diego Padres and Houston Astros are said to have interest in Marshall. Had they signed before Saturday, when all free agents became eligible to accept bids, they would have been eligible for free agency again when that contract expired. Now, they will not be eligible for another 5 years.

The Dodgers face the larger question of trying to replace two of their few offensive weapons.

“We have a much greater job of rebuilding than I anticipated, because I anticipated signing Sax and Marshall,” Claire said, adding that he will pursue all avenues and now will pass on a front-office trip to Rome that owner Peter O’Malley is underwriting. “I have too much to do here,” Claire said.

Mike Davis and farm products Mike Devereaux and Chris Gwynn give Claire some immediate options in right field. The departure of Sax, however, leaves a void that may prove difficult to fill. The name of the Texas Rangers’ free agent infielder, Scott Fletcher, has already surfaced.

Reached at his Michigan home Saturday, Kirk Gibson reflected on Friday night’s dramatic development and said:

“If Steve and Mike move on--and they’re two of my best friends--I can respect that and their reasoning, but I’m not going to question Dodger policy. It’s not my area. There’s nothing I can say or do about it.

“I hope they’re back, but if they’re not, we’ll play with the club we put out there. Obviously, we’ve reached that point in the year when the playing on the field is over. Now it’s business is business.”