The wanna-be pitcher slept in the woods and approached Oates as he arrived at the complex at 6:30 a.m. The Rangers did, however, turn away a would-be replacement who showed up at their complex asking for a tryout after hitchhiking 1,200 miles from Austin, Tex. Melvin snatched away Tony Chance, who was third in hitting in the same Mexican league in which Monell played, from the Cubs, signing the outfielder after Chance had agreed to play for Chicago but hadn't signed. "We lead the world in batting champions," Oates said. They've signed infielder Luis Martinez, who was born in Puerto Rico and was the Italian League batting champion last year with a. The Rangers also have signed outfielder Johnny Monell, a native of the Bronx who was second in the top Mexican minor league with a. We want to play our truck driver against their truck driver." Melvin - making a reference to Alex Coghen, a would-be replacement pitcher with the New York Mets who is a member of the Teamsters union and drove his truck to his Shea Stadium tryout - said: "We want to play the Mets. till noon, and not make as much as Lenny Dykstra makes in a day." Outfielder Dykstra's contract with the Philadelphia Phillies is for more than $31,000 per day during the regular season. "He can drive a truck for 12 months, 3 a.m. "He told me it wasn't a very tough decision," Melvin added. "If the strike continues, he has a chance to make $125,000 for a few months' work." Replacements are to receive a $5,000 signing bonus, a $5,000 Opening Day bonus and a $115,000 salary prorated to just under $630 per day, plus termination pay of $20,000. "He makes $25,000 driving a truck 12 months a year," Melvin said. He pitched in an amateur league in Dallas the past two summers, and drove a truck on the overnight shift - with the Ballpark at Arlington on his route. Davidson injured an elbow and never made it to the major leagues. I've been told these games are going to count."Īmong the players the Rangers have signed is pitcher Jackie Davidson, 30, a right-hander who was selected by the Chicago Cubs with the sixth pick of the first round in the 1983 amateur draft Roger Clemens was taken 11 picks later. I believe you have to play by the rules as they currently are. "This is the hand we've been dealt, and we're trying to make the most out of it. But if it does, we certainly want to be prepared. 26 and hired by Melvin less than a month later: "We hope never comes to pass. Said first-year Rangers manager Johnny Oates, who was fired by Orioles majority owner Peter Angelos last Sept. "We got aggressive early," Melvin said on Monday at the Rangers' spring training complex. The Blue Jays say they suspended their replacement player recruitment when President Clinton became involved in the game's labor negotiations. Melvin had his assistant general manager, Sandy Johnson, and Omar Minaya, the team's director of professional and international scouting, do the same. ![]() Thus many teams, including the Rangers, are attempting to assemble the best replacement clubs they can, hoping to be in first place or close to it if and when their regulars return to the field.įirst-year Texas general manager Doug Melvin - who spent the previous nine years in the Baltimore Orioles organization, most recently as an assistant general manager - put a great deal of time and energy into the recruitment of replacement players. Ownership representatives say replacement games will count in the record book and in the standings. With the Players Association's strike in its seventh month, the team owners are preparing to play the spring training and regular season schedules with clubs of replacements if the major leaguers don't return to work. The Texas Rangers are one of those clubs. Some major league teams, however, have embraced the replacement player concept - or at least accepted it. The Toronto Blue Jays are making plans to open the regular season at their spring training stadium because of an anti-replacement-worker law in Ontario, and have Manager Cito Gaston instructing minor leaguers rather than replacements. ![]() Sparky Anderson last week was put on an unpaid leave of absence as manager of the Detroit Tigers for refusing to work with strike-breaking players. Replacement player baseball is causing problems for many people in the sport, and not just the striking major league players.
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