GUERRERO SNUBS METS
By MARK HALE


OUT-OF-TOWNER:
After brief period of wooing by Mets, superstar slugger Vladimir Guerrero is
expected to sign guaranteed five-year pact with another team within 48 hours.
AP
January 11, 2004 -- You can wake up now, Mets fans. The dream is over.
Vladimir Guerrero won't be playing his home games at Shea Stadium anytime
soon. The Mets are officially out of the sweepstakes for the free-agent right
fielder.
"We've been informed that Vladimir Guerrero has decided to sign with another
team," GM Jim Duquette announced last night.
The Mets offered three guaranteed years for $30 million before incentives
pushed it to potentially five years and $71 million. But Guerrero opted for more
guaranteed years and more guaranteed money. Industry sources told The Post
that within the next 48 hours, he'll sign a guaranteed five-year deal with a
mystery team - believed to be Anaheim - for approximately $70 million.
Despite an offer that potentially awarded Guerrero more money than any team,
the Mets must now explain why, despite health concerns about Guerrero's back,
they didn't offer a bigger guaranteed base. Duquette said that team doctors
advised that Guerrero was an unwise five-year investment, especially since the
contract couldn't be guaranteed.
"I certainly hope [the fans don't see it as an unwillingness to spend],"
Duquette said. "It was a serious offer. It was a substantial offer. Seventy-one
million, it's an offer. All he had to do was stay healthy. If he did, he would
have made more money than what was on the table.
"I understand the disappointment of the fans. The organization's
disappointed, too. We made a legitimate run and we thought we had a chance. But
I don't
think this changes the progress we made [this offseason]."

Curiously, the Mets made their offer on Thursday after the slugger's camp
asked them to submit a proposal. It was a request that perhaps had the Mets
believing they had a legitimate chance.
"We were optimistic leading into [last night]," Duquette said.
But while the Mets felt their main competition was Baltimore, a surprise team
jumped into the bidding later on Thursday. The Mets were not given a chance
to counter the other bid, though it's unlikely they would have done so anyway.
Despite the twist, Duquette said he did not feel as if the Mets got played in
the negotiations.
"I can see that point of view. I don't think we got played," he said. "We go
based on what the representative said. They said if this team hadn't come in,
we would have proceeded with negotiations. I tend to take them at their word."
Duquette was then asked why Guerrero's reps requested the Mets even make the
offer if they knew the Mets wouldn't give a longer guarantee. Duquette replied
that he didn't know and suggested that agent Arn Tellem, who led the Guerrero
negotiations, could answer that question.
"We just wanted to see what they were willing to do," Tellem said in a phone
interview. "You never know. We had talked about it enough where we might as
well hear what they're willing to say. . . . The Mets made a good-faith attempt.
Vladimir decided to sign with another team."
Tellem declined to specify whether Guerrero had agreed in principal to a deal
or whether more than one team remained in the sweepstakes.
Even after all this, Baltimore officials remained confused in trying to
figure out where they stood. While the O's believed that if Guerrero was close
to
signing with another team, it wasn't going to be them, they had not been
officially told that they were out either.
Despite reports to the contrary, the Marlins, Dodgers and Tigers are not
believed to be the mystery team.


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