Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By JOHN ROMANO
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 25, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- Gerald Williams is gone, but he will not be forgotten. At least not until the Rays are through signing his paychecks.
The team's 2000 MVP was released Sunday, making him the third veteran Tampa Bay has dumped in three months. He joins Ken Hill and Vinny Castilla as self-admitted mistakes made by the Rays brass in 2001.
Williams still is owed about $1.65-million on his $3-million contract for 2001, and the team owes him another $250,000 for a buyout of his 2002 option. So the Rays essentially are paying him $1.9-million not to play for them anymore.
And the high finances may not end there. Williams was 66 plate appearances from vesting his 2002 contract at a $4-million salary. Agent Seth Levinson said last week he would file a grievance seeking that $4-million if the Rays released Williams.
General manager Chuck LaMar said the move was strictly a baseball decision, based on Williams' poor performance in 2001.
"If anyone is grieving over the finances, we're having to eat the rest of this year's contract on Gerald Williams," LaMar said. "What the agent or Gerald or the union does on this matter is strictly up to them within the rules of baseball. If they decide to do that, we'll defend our case."
A salary grievance of this type is uncommon, but not unprecedented. In 1986, pitcher Dennis Lamp accused the Blue Jays of failing to use him late in the season to avoid appearance incentives in his contract. An arbitrator ruled in the team's favor.
The Rays would have several factors in their favor in a potential grievance, beginning with Williams' .207 batting average and his strikeout-to-walk ratio of 42-13. LaMar said he has been attempting to trade Williams since late in spring training, but he has found no takers, which also would indicate the player's diminished value.
With young players such as Randy Winn and Jason Tyner playing well in the outfield, LaMar said Williams was expendable.
"All I know, and I've known it for the last several months, is Gerald is struggling and we need to give our at-bats to our younger players," LaMar said. "This decision probably could have been made a little sooner than today, if not for our continued efforts to trade Gerald."
The Rays also have history on their side. They have shown, in the past, they are willing to eat contracts of veterans. They ate about $2.65-million on Kevin Stocker and Dwight Gooden last season and, among Castilla, Hill and Williams, will lose about $8.1-million this year.
The Giants were among the teams showing interest in Williams earlier in the season and could sign him if he clears waivers Wednesday. If Williams does clear waivers, any team that signs him would be responsible only for a pro-rated portion of the $200,000 minimum salary.
Williams, 34, was a bargain at $2.5-million in the first year of his contract in 2000. He was the ninth player in history with at least 20 home runs and 80 RBI from the leadoff spot and was named team MVP.
After a horrible start in 2001, Williams was benched by manager Hal McRae about two weeks ago. At the time, Williams acknowledged he was not happy with his performance.
On Sunday, with his luggage packed and waiting for a ride on a golf cart to the Tropicana Field parking lot, Williams declined to discuss his situation.
"You know me, I'm not the type of guy to talk about this," Williams said. He then answered "no comment" to four questions.