Now that the Stros’ dance with Carlos Beltran is over, new Stros General Manager Tim Purpura can finally get on with showing us what he can do in the job.
The Stros did not handle the Beltran negotiations particularly well, but my sense is that the course the Stros charted in those talks was owner Drayton McLane‘s call, not Purpura’s. At any rate, as noted in earlier posts here and here, the Stros are probably better off without Beltran at the price they would have had to pay for him, so McLane allowing Scott Boras to play him like a fiddle didn’t really hurt the Stros other than from a public relations standpoint.
But now Purpura has a chance to prove his mettle and it’s not going to be easy. Yesterday, Roger Clemens and his long-time agent, Randy Hendricks, handed Purpura a record $22 million record arbitration demand. Clemens had a magical 2004 season pitching for his hometown team and won the NL Cy Young Award to boot, so he has a reasonable case that he should be the highest-paid pitcher in baseball. Inasmuch as Randy Johnson is currently the highest paid pitcher for the 2005 season at $17 million, that’s just a bit below the midpoint between Clemens’ bid price and the Stros’ $13.5 million offer. Thus, if a settlement is to be reached, expect it to be a tad above Johnson’s salary.
However, the bigger problem for the Stros than funding Clemens’ salary is that Clemens has not decided whether he wants to play at any price. That complicates the Stros’ arbitration negotiations with Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt, who are more important players than Clemens for the long term health of the club. Berkman’s arbitration demand was $11 million, which is only a million more than the Stros’ $10 million offer, so expect that case to be settled before the arbitration hearing. Oswalt requested $7.8 million and the Stros offered $6 million, so that split is a bit bigger, but still not large enough to risk an acrimonious hearing with the club’s best pitcher. So, expect that case to be settled, too.
Purpura’s problem is that the $8.5 million salary range in the Clemens case is about 10% of the Stros’ projected 2005 payroll. Thus, the Stros are about a month away from Spring Training and they still don’t know whether they will have three top players locked up for a bit more than $30 million or closer to $40 million. Moreover, until the Clemens salary is finalized, Purpura does not have as much flexibility in finalizing settlements with Berkman and Oswalt.
So, Purpura is facing his first big challenge as the Stros’ GM. How well he handles it will not only have an impact on whether Houston enjoys another season from one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball history, but also whether the club’s two under-30-year-old All-Star quality players will continue to be the club’s foundation over the next 5-7 years.
Welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Purpura.