Blue Jays Trade Former Cy Young Winner Hentgen

The Toronto Blue Jays traded starting pitcher Pat Hentgen, the 1996 AL Cy Young Award winner, and left-handed reliever Paul Spoljaric to the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday for left-hander Lance Painter, catcher Alberto Castillo and minor league pitcher Matt DeWitt.

“Part of me is sad, but part of me is excited,” Hentgen said in a conference call after the trade was finalized at the general managers’ meetings. “Whether it was business or personality or overall performance, the Jays thought it was the right move.”

The trade might have been a combination of the three. While the Cardinals get the pitching help they needed, the Blue Jays get rid of Hentgen’s $6-million salary for next season.

Hentgen, a fifth-round pick by Toronto in the 1986 amateur draft, had played for the Blue Jays for eight seasons. He was a key member of the 1993 World Series championship team.

Hentgen was 11-12 with a 4.79 ERA in 1999.

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The general managers’ meetings ended Thursday with Ken Griffey Jr. remaining the property of the Seattle Mariners, who are trying to comply with the slugger’s wish that he be traded.

Seattle General Manager Pat Gillick said he had three conversations regarding Griffey on Thursday, but none were as good as an offer that the Mariners rejected Wednesday.

“We told them at the time that we rejected it,” Gillick said. “It’s interesting. I think we can go back and restart it.”

Gillick wouldn’t be more specific, other than to say the team that made that offer had met previously with the Mariners.

The four teams believed to have the most serious interest are Griffey’s hometown Cincinnati Reds, the New York Mets, the Cardinals and the Houston Astros, although the latter two are believed to be on the periphery.

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At least seven teams, including the Angels, are expected to make offers for free-agent left-hander Chuck Finley in the next week or so, and it will probably take a three-year deal in the $26-million range to sign him.

The Angels held exclusive negotiating rights to Finley until Thursday night but did not make a contract offer. Other teams can begin making offers today, and the Indians, Rangers, Yankees, Mariners, Orioles and Rockies will bid for Finley, who turns 37 this month but has never had a major arm injury.

If they lose Finley to another team, the Angels will receive no compensation in the form of draft picks, because a clause in Finley’s four-year contract forbade the Angels from offering arbitration at the end of the deal.

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The Tampa Bay Devil Rays didn’t offer 41-year-old third baseman Wade Boggs an opportunity to play for them again next season, so, as expected, he announced his retirement Thursday and accepted a chance to move into the front office with duties as an advance scout and evaluator of young talent.

Saying he had been spoiled the last two seasons by being able to live year-round in the area where he grew up, Boggs consulted fellow 3,000-hit club members Robin Yount and George Brett before retiring.

Boggs played 18 seasons in the majors with the Devil Rays, Boston and New York Yankees.

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Jimy Williams, who led the Boston Red Sox into the playoffs, won the American League Manager of the Year award.

Despite the loss of Mo Vaughn, Williams led Boston to the AL wild-card berth. For that, he received 20 of 28 first-place votes and five seconds for 115 points from the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America.

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New York Met outfielder Darryl Hamilton, obtained on July 31 from Colorado, filed a trade demand, his right under the collective bargaining agreement because he was a veteran player dealt during a multiyear contract.

Unless the demand is withdrawn, baseball’s rules give the Mets until March 15 to trade him. If he isn’t dealt by that date, Hamilton could declare free agency but he would lose guaranteed salaries of $3.3 million in 2000 and $3 million in 2001.

Several players who had the right to file trade demands declined to do so, among them Roger Clemens of the New York Yankees, Bret Boone of the Atlanta Braves and Denny Neagle of the Cincinnati Reds.

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AL Manager of the Year

The voting for the Baseball Writers Assn. of America’s 1999 American League manager of the year with name, team and votes on a 5-3-1-point basis:

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Manager 1st 2nd 3rd Tot. Jimy Williams, Boston 20 5 0 115 Art Howe, Oakland 5 19 3 85 Joe Torre, N.Y. Yankees 0 4 9 21 Johnny Oates, Texas 1 0 13 18 Mike Hargrove, Cleveland 2 0 3 13

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