Eisner Is a Big Fan of Roster Continuity

TEMPE, Ariz. —  Signing young stars to long-term contracts has saved--and will save--the Angels millions, but Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner, whose company operates the team, says the strategy is based on more than economics.

“It would be nice to re-create the loyalty baseball used to have, for fans to know you’ll have certain players from one year to the next,” Eisner said during the Angels’ 6-2 exhibition loss to Oakland on Saturday. “You can’t be naive in this age of free agency, but we feel this is the right way to go.

“I want to make it so people like playing for our team. . . . What we’re building toward is having a winning organization year in and year out, so that every season there’s a sense of hope. You just can’t shoot from the hip.”

That last comment was a slap at the Florida Marlins, who spent $89 million to build a team that won the 1997 World Series and then was dismantled.

“To me, I’m still idealistic, and I think it takes the luster away if you buy a championship,” Eisner said. “I hope that was an anomaly. I don’t think the fans in Florida are going to be loyal if they buy a team one year and dissolve it the next. I don’t think that will happen here.”

Disney is spending more than $100 million to renovate Edison Field, and the Angels’ payroll will top $40 million, an increase of more than $10 million from when Disney assumed control of the team in 1996.

But Eisner said it’s unlikely the Angels will vault into the $60-million payroll bracket, with teams such as the Yankees, Orioles and Braves, or spend $12 million a year on one player, like Boston’s Pedro Martinez.

“I don’t want to criticize other teams, but everyone is conscious that short-term decisions rarely work,” Eisner said. “We want long, steady, successful growth. . . . We can’t do something that’s insane, but if the opportunity is there to improve the team and it makes sense, we’ll do it.”

Disney’s sheer size, with its vast holdings in the movie, television, theme park and entertainment businesses, allows the company to absorb baseball’s multimillion-dollar annual losses and remain competitive. Though Eisner would like the Angels to at least break even financially, he hasn’t set a target date.

“I look at the Angels as part of our strategic Orange County initiative, not just a baseball team,” Eisner said. “We’re basically building a whole new stadium, turning Disneyland into more of a resort, we have two professional sports teams.

“It’s a whole entertainment package, so they all feed each other. I’m not looking at it, thank God, as one team. That allows me to sleep better each night. But eventually, I’d like the team to be a [financial] contributor.”

The competition remains fierce, with the ever-popular Dodgers in Los Angeles, and it will continue to be if the Dodgers’ sale to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which owns the Fox Network, is approved. The Angels likely will abstain on that vote, but Eisner doesn’t mind having a Disney rival up the freeway.

“It will be good for Los Angeles because that company will be very interested in continuing to make the Dodgers a first-class team,” Eisner said. “That’s good for the Angels, as long as we’re strong. If we could get a great rivalry going in Southern California, it will be good for the market.”

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Eisner has had no luck in his efforts to reform baseball’s drug policy, which he felt was too lenient after ex-Angel Tony Phillips was reinstated after his Aug. 10 arrest on felony possession of cocaine charges last year. The Angels wanted Phillips to enter an inpatient treatment clinic, but baseball had no such requirement. “I’ve had more success changing things we have control over,” Eisner said. “I still believe it would have been better for Tony Phillips even today to have done what we suggested. Then again, that was short-term thinking on baseball’s part.” . . . Nagging injuries have sidelined second baseman Randy Velarde (forearm tendinitis), third baseman Dave Hollins (stiff lower back), pitcher Jason Dickson (biceps tendinitis) and left fielder Garret Anderson (shoulder tendinitis), but none of the injuries is considered serious.