KingFish
02-26-2002, 05:00 PM
Spring Training Dish: Sweeney next to leave KC?
By Ken Rosenthal - The Sporting News
TAMPA, Fla. -- One day, someone will write a book about all that was wrong with baseball in the early part of 21st century, and Chapter 672 will be the case of Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney.
Sweeney, 28, is eligible for free agency after this season. Royals general manager Allard Baird traded outfielders Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye under similar circumstances. But with Sweeney, he won't necessarily follow the same plan.
If the Royals trade Sweeney, center fielder Carlos Beltran will be their only remaining All-Star-caliber player. Fans would be outraged, and rightly so. The Royals would be reduced to the Expos of the Midwest.
Which might be the idea.
If the Twins are sold, the owners will need another team to eliminate with the Expos. The Marlins won't be contracted one year after they were sold. The Devil Rays also appear safe -- MLB executive vice president Sandy Alderson said as much last week.
The A's? It would be a public relations nightmare. The Angels? Disney would demand too high a price. The Blue Jays might be a candidate, but under the owners' twisted logic, the Royals could make even more "sense" -- especially if they traded Sweeney.
"He's a very important piece to being able to try to move things forward here," Baird says. "We've had Damon. We offered him something (before trading him). We knew we couldn't get anything done with Dye. But for our fans and entire organization, we need to keep Mike Sweeney."
Sweeney lives almost year-round in Kansas City and is believed to have a stronger desire to stay with the Royals than Damon or Dye did. However, he says he will not negotiate once the season begins. He told Baird it would be disrespectful to his teammates to generate that kind of distraction.
His stance seemingly would create urgency for the Royals to strike a deal by opening day, but Baird says that the team will not move forward until it knows the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement. Which, of course, won't be anytime soon.
It's possible that Royals owner David Glass could force Baird to trade Sweeney in July if the players and owners are still far apart on a CBA. But after losing Dye and Damon, the Royals must make every attempt to keep Sweeney, or risk killing baseball in Kansas City once and for all.
By Ken Rosenthal - The Sporting News
TAMPA, Fla. -- One day, someone will write a book about all that was wrong with baseball in the early part of 21st century, and Chapter 672 will be the case of Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney.
Sweeney, 28, is eligible for free agency after this season. Royals general manager Allard Baird traded outfielders Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye under similar circumstances. But with Sweeney, he won't necessarily follow the same plan.
If the Royals trade Sweeney, center fielder Carlos Beltran will be their only remaining All-Star-caliber player. Fans would be outraged, and rightly so. The Royals would be reduced to the Expos of the Midwest.
Which might be the idea.
If the Twins are sold, the owners will need another team to eliminate with the Expos. The Marlins won't be contracted one year after they were sold. The Devil Rays also appear safe -- MLB executive vice president Sandy Alderson said as much last week.
The A's? It would be a public relations nightmare. The Angels? Disney would demand too high a price. The Blue Jays might be a candidate, but under the owners' twisted logic, the Royals could make even more "sense" -- especially if they traded Sweeney.
"He's a very important piece to being able to try to move things forward here," Baird says. "We've had Damon. We offered him something (before trading him). We knew we couldn't get anything done with Dye. But for our fans and entire organization, we need to keep Mike Sweeney."
Sweeney lives almost year-round in Kansas City and is believed to have a stronger desire to stay with the Royals than Damon or Dye did. However, he says he will not negotiate once the season begins. He told Baird it would be disrespectful to his teammates to generate that kind of distraction.
His stance seemingly would create urgency for the Royals to strike a deal by opening day, but Baird says that the team will not move forward until it knows the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement. Which, of course, won't be anytime soon.
It's possible that Royals owner David Glass could force Baird to trade Sweeney in July if the players and owners are still far apart on a CBA. But after losing Dye and Damon, the Royals must make every attempt to keep Sweeney, or risk killing baseball in Kansas City once and for all.