One day before Paul O'Neill would have filed to become a free agent and started a process that could have ended his association with the Yankees, the club signed him yesterday to a four-year contract worth $19 million.
There has been limited signing activity throughout the major leagues because of the continuing labor strife, but the Yankees made a bold, calculated move when they prevented O'Neill, the American League's top batter in the strike-shortened season, from bursting into the open market. Mindful that they need O'Neill's powerful hitting and dependable defense to duplicate their first-place standing of 1994, the Yankees made the 31-year-old outfielder an offer lucrative enough for him to spurn free agency.
General Manager Gene Michael had targeted O'Neill as his priority in the off season, obviously realizing the risks if 27 other teams had been allowed to bid for him.
"Paul loves playing in New York," said Joe Bick, his Cincinnati-based agent who estimated that he had 15 conversations with Michael. "The last two years have turned out to be a great experience for him. He said, 'If we can get a deal worked out with the Yankees and it's a reasonable deal, I'm not afraid to sign a contract without going out on the market.' "
Because the economic climate in the majors is a very delicate issue these days, the Yankees were hesitant to discuss O'Neill's contract. Neither Michael, Manager Buck Showalter nor George Steinbrenner returned phone calls, O'Neill was unavailable, and Bick said the Yankees would probably hold a news conference in two weeks.
When Bick was asked if O'Neill's contract averaged to about $5 million a year, he said, "I'm not going to be the source for that."
The terms of the $19 million deal, according to a source familiar with it, call for O'Neill to receive a $2.2 million signing bonus, with $1.2 million payable on Dec. 15, 1994, and the rest on Jan. 5, 1996. O'Neill's salaries will be $2.25 million for 1995, $4.75 million for 1996 and $4.9 million in both 1997 and 1998.
O'Neill's annual salary will average $4.75 million, up from $3.5 million in 1994 and second on the Yankees to Danny Tartabull, who averages $5 million.
O'Neill will receive a $150,000 bonus if he is named the league's most valuable player (he finished fifth in this year's voting), $50,000 for being named the League Championship Series m.v.p., World Series m.v.p. or is selected for the All-Star team, and $25,000 for being named Divisional Series m.v.p. or winning the Gold Glove or Silver Slugger awards.
Interestingly, the owners' Players Relations Committee asked teams to be wary of paying any contract signing bonuses because the money, in effect, will fund the players during the strike, now in its 12th week. The $1.2 million bonus O'Neill receives in two months falls into that ticklish category.
"Paul is thrilled with the deal," Bick said. "Paul wanted to stay in New York. I think everyone knew that going in."
O'Neill's timing has been impeccable. When he was acquired from Cincinnati for Roberto Kelly on Nov. 3, 1992, he was considered a talented player known for stellar defense, adequate power and temper tantrums. But in two seasons with the Yankees, O'Neill improved his game, heightened his reputation as one of baseball's best players and now is reaping the financial rewards.
Following a season in New York in which he batted a career-best .311 with 20 homers and 75 runs batted in, O'Neill had a more stupendous 1994 with his .359 average, 21 homers and 83 r.b.i.
Nevalee O'Neill, who was fielding questions in the absence of her husband yesterday at their home in Ohio, told one Yankee official that there were no plans for a huge celebration last night.
"We're going to a minor league hockey game," she said. "We're going to see the Cincinnati Cyclones."
Stanley Files for Free Agency
On the day the Yankees signed Paul O'Neill and kept him from becoming a free agent, catcher Mike Stanley attempted to become one, disturbing the Yankees, who thought they had already signed him for 1995.
The Yankees claimed they exercised the $562,500 option on Stanley's contract on Sept. 22, but his agent, Jim Bronner, contends that the team had tried to pick up the option too soon and violated the deal. Gene Orza, the associate general counsel of the Players Association, said Stanley's contract called for the Yankees to exercise the option within 10 days after the World Series.
David Sussman, general counsel for the Yankees, said the owners' Player Relations Committee had rejected the attempt by the union to have Stanley file for free agency yesterday and claimed the option was exercised properly.
