Slow-Mo Deal Gets Done

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

Dec. 28, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Mo Vaughn era--some would call it an error--in Anaheim came to an end Thursday night when the Angels finally completed a trade to send the highly paid but homesick slugger to the New York Mets for veteran pitcher Kevin Appier.

The deal was announced after four days of grueling negotiations, in which the Mets persuaded the hefty first baseman to defer $13.75million of the $42 million he is guaranteed in salary the next three years and convinced the players’ union that the revised contract retained the value of Vaughn’s original six-year, $80-million deal.

“This is an unbelievable Christmas present for myself and my family,” said Vaughn, who grew up in Norwalk, Conn. “I never thought this could happen. I don’t think this whole thing has hit me yet. I wish we could start tomorrow.”

Vaughn, according to a baseball source, agreed to defer $3.75 million of his $10-million salary in 2002, $5 million of his $15-million salary in 2003 and $5 million of his $15-million salary in 2004. The deferred money will be paid over a six-year period at the end of the contract and will include $6.7 million in total interest payments.

Though the trade will save the Angels only $10 million in payroll over the next three years--Appier is owed $32 million during that span--it achieves two important objectives, ridding the Angels of an unhappy player who had no desire to remain in Anaheim and adding a seasoned, potentially dominant right-hander to a rotation that for years has lacked an ace.

Appier, 34, went 11-10 with a 3.57 earned run average in 2001, going undefeated in his final 12 starts (six wins, six no-decisions). He has a 147-115 career record and 3.63 ERA in 13 seasons.

Though the Lancaster native has an unorthodox delivery that some scouts and coaches believe makes him more susceptible to injury, Appier has been on the disabled list only three times in his career. Two of those injuries were minor, but Appier sat out most of the 1998 season because of shoulder surgery.

In Appier and Aaron Sele, who signed a three-year, $24-million contract Wednesday, the Angels have two reliable veterans at the top of a rotation that includes the younger but promising Jarrod Washburn and Ramon Ortiz and either Scott Schoeneweis or Matt Wise.

“I love the prospect of starting every game knowing that if the pitcher throws the way he’s capable of throwing, you have a chance to win,” Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman said. “This will really change the look of the club in that we don’t have a home run slugger, but we have the fifth piece of a five-man rotation. We think we’re a better team. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have made the deal.”

Troy Glaus hit 88 home runs the last two seasons, but the departure of Vaughn, who sat out the entire 2001 season because of a ruptured biceps tendon, leaves another void in an offense that ranked 11th in the American League in batting and 12th in runs last season.

The Angels could move center fielder Darin Erstad to first base and try to add another outfielder, or leave switch-hitting Scott Spiezio at first. There was speculation the Angels might turn around and trade Appier for a hitter, and Appier also has the right to demand a trade after the 2002 season.

But Appier said he envisions ending his career in Anaheim, and Stoneman said he has no intention of trading him. “We plan to win so many games and have so much fun in 2002, that Kevin will be calling all of his buddies to come here.”

Vaughn couldn’t wait to leave, and the addition of his bat, along with Roberto Alomar and Roger Cedeno, should vastly improve a New York offense that ranked last in the major leagues in runs last season. The improved cash flow from Vaughn’s deferred payments could also free up enough money for the Mets to pursue free-agent outfielder Juan Gonzalez.

That would give New York one of baseball’s best lineups, but only if Vaughn performs more as he did in Boston and less as he did in Anaheim.

Vaughn tumbled into the Edison Field dugout and sprained an ankle in the 1999 season opener, finished with a .281 average, 33 home runs and 108 runs batted in, and an Angel team picked to win the division finished last amid a flurry of clubhouse dissension.

A mediocre defensive player, Vaughn hit .272 with 36 home runs and 117 RBIs in 2000, but he led the league with 181 strikeouts, his average was 26 points off his career mark of .298, and his weight ballooned from the 245-pound range to about 260. Compounding matters, Vaughn never seemed comfortable in Anaheim.

The Angels lured Vaughn from the Boston Red Sox with a huge contract after the 1998 season. They soon realized you can take the man out of the East Coast, but you can’t take the East Coast out of the man.Within a year of joining the Angels, Vaughn began pining for the Northeast, where the passion for baseball is strong, and questioning why Southern California fans seemed to lack intensity. Then this past October, Vaughn told a Boston radio station that he would love to return to the Red Sox.

“There’s a certain attitude that goes with playing on the East Coast and that kind of fit me as a player,” Vaughn said. “I thrived on that in Boston and missed that in L.A. ... I don’t think L.A. ever got to see me play the type of baseball I’m capable of because I was hurt. From the time I fell into the dugout, it went downhill from there.”

Though Disney officials steamed about Vaughn’s statements in October, Stoneman claimed he was under no pressure to trade Vaughn, and Jeff Moorad, Vaughn’s agent, claimed Vaughn didn’t request a trade.

“But reading between the lines, [the Angels] knew it would make sense for Mo,” Moorad said. “I’d like to recognize the Angels for showing the compassion and wherewithal to put this deal together. Having the compassion to feel those things and act on them is something we don’t often see in sports today.”

Said Stoneman: “Mo made it clear he preferred to play in the Northeast, and that may have piqued interest from the Mets. But we wouldn’t have done this if we felt it hurt the club.”

It seemed doubtful any team would gamble on a player who sat out the 2001 season, gained a considerable amount of weight and was still owed $50 million from 2002-2004, $8 million of which is a deferred signing bonus that the Angels, under Vaughn’s revised contract, will pay in two installments in 2005 and 2006.

But after watching the 268-pound Vaughn work out in Massachusetts last week, Met General Manager Steve Phillips was convinced Vaughn had recovered from elbow surgery and was highly motivated to return to the form that earned him AL most-valuable-player honors with the Red Sox in 1995.

“We think he’s going to come back and have a great year,” Phillips said. “Not only did we improve our offense, we improved our clubhouse and got a great character guy.”

The Angels and Mets agreed on the Vaughn-for-Appier swap Sunday, but the deal was contingent on Vaughn deferring part of his salary. Moorad and Phillips reached agreement on a restructured contract Wednesday, but the union, which has power to veto such deals, sent it back for further revision because it felt Vaughn would lose more than $2million in present-day value under the new deal.

Thursday morning, the Mets bumped the interest rate on the deferred payments from about 4.5% to more than 6% and gave Vaughn better no-trade protection. In Vaughn’s original contract, the Angels and Vaughn could pick six teams (three teams each) he could be traded to in 2001 and 2002 and eight teams (four teams each) he could be traded to in 2003. The Angels could have traded him anywhere in 2004.

Under the revised contract, Vaughn has a complete no-trade clause for 2002. He can name four teams he can be traded to in 2003 and eight teams he can be traded to in 2004. The Mets cannot add teams to the list.

The union, satisfied that the Mets’ concessions brought the value of Vaughn’s contract more in line with the original $80-million deal, approved the revision Thursday afternoon. A few hours later, the Mets had a new, marquee-name first baseman to compete with the Yankees’ free-agent acquisition of Jason Giambi.

“I always talked about going to the Yankees, only because I never thought the Mets or a National League club would have interest because everyone thought I’d be a designated hitter,” Vaughn said. “To get that interest was unbelievable. When this [trade] started coming together, it became very exciting.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Arms Race

The Angels, who have added Kevin Appier and Aaron Sele to the rotation the last two days, have acquired a veteran pitcher to help anchor their staff every season since 1998. A look at how those pitchers have fared:

1997--KEVIN GROSS

1994-96 average10-10, 4.80 ERA

With Angels2-1, 6.75

1998--JACK McDOWELL

1995-97 average10-7, 4.53

With Angels5-7, 5.68

1999--TIM BELCHER

1996-98 average14-12, 4.38

With Angels10-13, 6.76

2000--KENT BOTTENFIELD

1997-99 average8-5, 4.10

With Angels7-8, 5.71