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MARC TOPKINNaimoli plans to offer GM contract extension, which Piniella endorses.
ST. PETERSBURG - Managing general partner Vince Naimoli likes the changes the Devil Rays have made enough that he wants to keep the team's top leadership the same and retain Chuck LaMar as general manager.
Naimoli plans to offer LaMar a contract extension, though it could be only for one year and then reviewed annually. LaMar's current contract, extended twice since he was hired in July 1995, expires Oct.31.
"I think the whole organization is in a growth mode and I think we've got to give it time in order to see it through," Naimoli said Monday during his first visit to spring training camp.
Manager Lou Piniella said he wants LaMar to get an extension and has told Naimoli so.
LaMar's future has been subject to much speculation throughout the industry. The Rays have finished last in each of their six seasons and have made a number of high-profile, big-dollar blunders, such as Wilson Alvarez, Kevin Stocker, Juan Guzman and Vinny Castilla, that stunted their development for years.
But Naimoli said Monday he is very happy with the team's current direction, with a nucleus of talented prospects produced by the farm system supplemented with reasonably priced veterans.
He also said he is pleased with the way LaMar and Piniella have worked together and said LaMar, with input from Piniella, did "a great job" reshaping the roster on a budget of about $10-million this winter.
"It really is a great combination," Naimoli said. "The whole staff: Chuck, (player development and scouting director) Cam (Bonifay), Lou, the coaches and scouts. It's progress."
Piniella said he likes the situation so much that he has spoken to Naimoli on LaMar's behalf, making for a powerful ally.
"I think it's worked very well," Piniella said. "I couldn't be more pleased. We have a really good professional working relationship and I myself have talked to Vince about getting Chuck extended. I couldn't be happier. I've made my feelings known. I'm totally behind Chuck."
LaMar, who makes about $800,000 this season, wants to see the development through, confident the Rays are finally headed in the right direction and hopeful they have the budget to keep the young players together.
"We knew it was going to take time," LaMar said. "We might not have known we'd have to go through that many ups and downs, but there was no question we knew it would take time to get that nucleus."
Piniella is signed through the 2006 season. Teams commonly structure their contracts so that the general manager and manager have the same number of years remaining or the general manager has a longer term.
But Naimoli suggested Monday he essentially might avoid multiyear contracts and put the entire baseball operations office staff on a year-to-year basis. Scouts are often employed that way, but top team officials such as Bonifay and assistant general managers Scott Proefrock and Bart Braun have had multiyear deals, which provide continuity for the organization and security for the employees.
"It's just philosophy," Naimoli said. "I'm not used to contracts. Everybody just works. It's not to say there's anything negative, I'm just not used to contracts."
Naimoli did not say when he would take action on LaMar's contract. A likely target date would be in late March or early April, sometime after the sale of 48 percent of the team to New York investor Stuart Sternberg is completed but before the April 6 home opener. Sternberg could also be involved in the decision.
Overall, Naimoli, who returned late Sunday from a two-week trip to Europe, couldn't have sounded more positive about the future of the franchise.
"Things are looking up," he said.
He also said:
The team has absorbed the costs of the misguided signings in 1999-2000 and should be able to increase payroll each season with a goal of eventually getting to at least the $40-million to $50-million range, and improved attendance will accelerate the increase.
The Rays will spend about $21-million on the opening-day payroll this season, have a few million in reserve for additional roster expenses such as replacing injured players and must pay about $10-million in deferred salary from previous seasons. The amount of deferred payments will decrease over the coming seasons while revenue from TV contracts will increase.
"We had a diversion in 1999 and we're fortunate because we were able to absorb the costs of that and get through it and that's behind us now," Naimoli said. "Now I think our plan is good, and our plan is something which is affordable for us and the fans."
This should be the best team the Rays have fielded in their seven seasons. "There's so many alternatives this year, and behind the alternatives you see the kids coming," Naimoli said. "Watching (top shortstop prospect B.J.) Upton out there fielding ground balls, you feel pretty good."
He will consider this season a success if it's better than the previous six. "If you set objectives and judged it, it would be winning more games than we had last year (63) or really any year in the past (69)," Naimoli said. "It would be getting out of last place. It's anything that shows progression."