|
|
|
|
|
|
Brewers Keep Vina, For Now
By Drew Olson of the Journal Sentinel Staff
April 04, 1999
St. Louis -- Fernando Vina's season of discontent will begin about 6:05 p.m. Monday.
That's when the Milwaukee Brewers' fiery second baseman will step to the plate and face the first pitch of the season from St. Louis left-hander Donovan Osborne.
For much of the off-season, it appeared the Brewers would trade Vina in order to acquire some much-needed starting pitching. Milwaukee assistant general manager Fred Stanley met with Cardinals general Walt Jocketty on Sunday, but no deal was made.
The Brewers would trade Vina for a starting pitcher. The Cardinals, devastated by a season-ending injury to ace Matt Morris, don't want to trade one.
"The talks have continued, but with the lack of pitching depth in all of baseball it doesn't appear that anything is close to happening," Stanley said.
Jocketty agreed.
"Right now, we just don't have a common ground," he said. "We can't give up a starting pitcher right now. If we do, and one of our guys goes down, we don't have a replacement.
"Losing Morris really killed us in that regard."
Vina, who knew of the meeting and was briefed by Stanley shortly afterward as the Brewers worked out at Busch Stadium, was prepared for the news. When word filtered through the field that no deal was made, several teammates joked and gave him playful hugs.
"I figured it wouldn't happen," Vina said. "I've heard things here and there, but for the last week or so I've pretty much shut it down and tried to stop thinking about it."
For much of the winter and the early days of spring training, the trade dominated Vina's thoughts. Although he is trying to look ahead and focus on the season, that task is easier said than done.
"It's been tough to be part of all this," he said. "As a player, you either want it to go one way or the other. You want to feel wanted and stay and help this team going into the new stadium or you want to know you're going to go somewhere else and play.
"It's not like I'm happy about everything that's happened. I'm not happy at all. It's to the point now where I can't control it."
Vina said he understood the fact that other teams wanted him and that the Brewers' need for pitching, coupled with the depth provided by Mark Loretta and Ron Belliard, made him a prime candidate for a trade.
Now that it hasn't happened, he doesn't know whether to feel relieved, disappointed or angry that the trade was brought up in the first place.
"What happens when they don't trade you?" he said. "I know this is a business. Teams are asking for me. That's fine. Now, it didn't happen. How am I supposed to feel?
"I consider myself a mentally strong person. I've been upset but I'm not going to let it affect my performance. If it would have happened, it would have been fine. But it didn't. Where does it put you?"
Many fans, people in the organization and even some of Vina's teammates think Vina's anger stems from his unhappiness with his current salary. Under his current contract, which was signed in 1997, Vina will make $1.75 million this year and a little more than $2 million next year.
The market for second basemen changed during the winter when Boston's Jose Offerman and Ray Durham of the Chicago White Sox signed deals that will pay them annual wages of $6 million and $5 million, respectively.
Vina turned down a four-year, $13 million contract extension during the winter.
"Why should I take a contract that isn't market value today and take it two years from now?" he said. "That's stupid."
Although he considers himself worthy of a contract equal to if not greater than the ones held by Offerman and Durham -- whom many baseball players consider inferior players -- Vina maintains that money isn't the main reason for his frustration.
"It isn't about money," he said. "It's about winning. That's the bottom line with me. If you are going into a new stadium and you are willing to trade one of the best second basemen in the game, my question is, 'Are you really trying to win?' "
Vina, who liked Milwaukee enough to insert a clause in his current contract that will pay him $100,000 if he gets traded, hasn't put a deadline on negotiations for a new deal. If something doesn't happen by the end of the season, though, he admits that he would be inclined to test the free-agent market at the end of next season.
"I don't know if I'd come back after everything that has happened," he said. "But let's be realistic. If I have another good year this year, they're not going to let me play on my last year of the contract. They're going to want to trade me and get something back in return. They're not going to just let me walk."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
|
| |
