The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 26

C8 The Beacon Journal Wednesday. January 30, 1991 Indians can pay Candiotti now or else Decision is coming on Tribe move "When I came up with Milwaukee seven years ago I made $32,000," said Candiotti, shaking his head. "I know the numbers are crazy, but that's what TV has done. There's a lot of money." The Indians can pay Candiotti some of it now or someone else will pay him more of it later. It should be an easy decision.

"I'd like to go over to John Hart and say: 'Let's settle this right now and get it behind But Candiotti didn't move and neither did Hart. one of four years. "I'm going to be with the team this season," Candiotti said, "so I'd be signing what amounts to a 2-year contract, and there aren't any free-agent pitchers signing for just two years." None of Candiotti's stature, anyway. Bud Black, 11-10 with the Indians before being traded to Toronto, signed with the Giants for four years and $10 million. Boddicker, 17-8 with a 3.36 ERA, got three years and $9.25 million from the Royals.

Milwaukee handed Teddy Higuera, 11-10 and 3.76, $13 million for four more years to keep him from the Giants and Dodgers. "Maybe it's just negotiations," Candiotti said, "but it's discour aging. I don't see what the problem is." The problem Is Cleveland Is not a market-driven franchise. It marches to a different drummer, and I don't mean the guy out in the bleacher seats. "I guess what I want," Candiotti said, "violates club policy." But then, so does Candiotti.

He wins. He is 33, and with as little stress as his knuckleball puts on his arm, he could pitch into his 40s. He would even be willing to do it for the next four years at a figure below the market value of $3.05 million, which he is asking if his 1991 salary goes to arbitration Feb. 19 as scheduled. The Indians have offered $2.15 million, a $1.1 million raise.

Continued from page CI ers with whom he has negotiated them. "The risk is all on our side," Hart said. To risk nothing, however, is to risk everything. Candiotti, 15-11 with a 3.65 ERA on a 77-85 team in 1990, wants to remain with the Indians. The Indians want to keep him.

"Tom recognizes that fact," Hart said. The problem is this: Candiotti will not be a free agent until the conclusion of the 1991 season. So the Indians refuse to treat him as if he has the value of one. Money isn't the biggest problem. Security Is.

The Indians want Candiotti to sign a 3-year contract. He wants FYI INDIANS OFFER CLINICS The Cleveland Indians are offering free 2-hour clinics for area youth baseball programs. Groups interested in securing dales should contact Sue Gharrilv al 841-1200. Tom Candiotti no talks so far By Sheldon Ockar Beacon Journal staff writer Whether the Indians move their spring training operations from Tucson, to Citrus County, might be determined Feb. 20.

That's the date when Citrus County commissioners are scheduled for a crucial vote to determine the fate of a 2-cent increase in the county's hotel bed tax. After public hearings the same day, commissioners are expected to vote on a plan designed to eliminate major objections to the tax. The tax proposal, which failed initially Dec. 18, would be earmarked to pay for about half the 58.2 million cost of a spring training complex for the Indians. One penny of the 2-cent tax increase (from two cents to four) must receive the approval of four of the five commissioners (Three voted yes the first time).

The other 1-cent increase needs only a simple majority to take effect. Commissioners who opposed the tax had several objections, primarily that property tax revenue would have to be used to payoff bonds if other methods failed, and that the county should not undertake to guarantee the Indk an3 ticket sales of 5,000 annually. Asked if the ticket guarantee was still part of the package, commissioner Gary Bartell said, "It better not be." Bartell cast one of the two negative votes in the original tax proposal. Negotiations between the Tribe and the county on a lease, which will have a significant impact on the commissioners' vote, were begun Jan. 24.

Citrus County has exclusive negotiating rights with the Indians until March 5. NOTEBOOK AIM Griffin, Instrumental In trying to lure the Indians to Florida, said reservations tor season tickets are "well above 1,600" for 1993, the year the Tribe wants to move to Citrus County.1 Pitcher John Farrell't recovery from October elbow surgery is progressing on schedule. Farrell, pan of the Tribe's press caravan that stopped at Tangier restaurant Tuesday night, is working out with weights and has been cleared to begin playing catch the last week of February. Farrell is not expected to return to the rotation until the second hall of the season. Carlo Baorga is playing for the Puerto Rican all-star team that will compete in the Caribbean World Series beginning Saturday in Miami.

Director of baseball operations John Hart Is optimistic about Cleveland's-pitching staff, despite its inexperience. "People have said pitching Is a question mark," Hart said. "I disagree totally. I'll go on record saying that we have a competitive staff and that it will be much improved." Indians games back on WAKR WAKR (1590-AM) is returning to the Indians' radio network after a year's absence. "They've been with us for many years and we're glad to have them back," veteran Tribe broadcaster Herb Score said when making the announcement at Tuesday's Indians Press Tour at Tangier restaurant.

WAKR, which had carried Indians games for most of the last three decades, declined to renew its rights to Tribe games for 1990. It also saw its ratings for weekdays evenings, when most games are aired, drop from a 6.6 share in the spring of 1989 to a 2.4 share last year, according to the Arbitron ratings book. i I II IMIH Ulij 1 UL Wtak- I lf I I. miiii.iiini. I ft I SmSMs pppp: I I A (Jj ji.

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