ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Royce Clayton knew his days with the Texas Rangers were over as soon as the team signed Alex Rodriguez and hoped for a trade to a winning team.
Living up to their promise of treating him kindly, the Rangers sent Clayton to the Chicago White Sox on Thursday for right-handed pitchers Aaron Myette and Brian Schmack.
“Once I found out I was traded to the White Sox, I was basically overwhelmed,” Clayton said. “I was very positive about going to a place where I could win. That was my first and foremost concern.”
Texas general manager Doug Melvin called Clayton before he began negotiating with Rodriguez. Clayton said that if a deal was struck, he’d rather be traded than change positions.
The Rangers agreed Monday to give Rodriguez a record $252 million, 10-year contract. It took Melvin three more days to take care of the displaced Clayton.
“I know I have a lot of good years left at shortstop,” Clayton said. “I know I can help. Doug extended me the courtesy of trading me to the White Sox to secure their infield and do just that.”
Chicago won the AL Central and had the league’s best record last season. Although the White Sox led the AL in double plays, Jose Valentin committed more errors than any shortstop in the majors.
Valentin recently was re-signed to a $15.5 million, three-year contract knowing he might be changing positions. He’ll become either an outfielder or a “super utility” player who plays almost every day but not always at the same spot.
“Royce is a proven veteran shortstop and Jose Valentin is versatile enough to play several positions,” Chicago general manager Ken Williams said. “I called Jose before we made this move and he was all in favor of anything that improved our club.”
Having Valentin’s blessing means a lot to Clayton, who had the unenviable task of replacing Ozzie Smith in St. Louis.
“This is definitely a different situation,” Clayton said.
Clayton was heralded as the best shortstop in Texas history when he was acquired from St. Louis at the trading deadline in 1998. The Rangers won the AL West that season and in the winter Clayton signed a $22 million, four-year contract.
“I thought we had a chance to win the World Series,” said Clayton, who is owed $4 million in each of the next two years. “It didn’t work out.”
Texas won the division again in 1999, but lost to the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs, as they’d done in ’98.
Clayton closed ’99 on a tear at the plate, earning him the chance to hit leadoff in 2000. The experiment flopped. He was dropped toward the bottom of the lineup after six weeks and wound up hitting .242, fourth-lowest among AL qualifiers. He tied his career-high with 14 homers, but had none in his last 68 games.
Clayton also feuded with teammate Chad Curtis, who objected to music containing profanities that was played in the clubhhouse, and the Rangers finished last in the West.
Through it all, Clayton remained solid in the field, leading AL shortstops in putouts while committing 16 errors — 20 fewer than Valentin.
Valentin’s value to the White Sox was on offense as he hit a career-best .273 with 25 home runs, 92 RBIs, 107 runs and 19 stolen bases. He hit for the cycle in April and a month later missed it by a single.
“The addition of Royce gives Jerry Manuel a great deal of flexibility both offensively and defensively,” Williams said. “We can be a better defensive club with more range on the left side of the infield, or we can choose to go with a more offensive-oriented lineup in certain instances.”
While Clayton has known White Sox slugger Frank Thomas since high school, he’s especially excited working for Manuel.
“To me, Jerry Manuel is one of the best managers in baseball,” Clayton said. “If you don’t want to run through a wall for him, something is wrong.”
The Rangers knew they wouldn’t get full value for Clayton. This deal gave them a legitimate prospect, though not Chicago’s top young arm, in Myette and a fringe player in Schmack.
The 23-year-old Myette pitched 2 2-3 hitless innings in two days with the White Sox last season. A sandwich pick between the first and second rounds of the 1997 amateur draft, he went 5-5 with a 4.35 ERA in 19 games, all but one as a starter, for Triple-A Charlotte.
The 27-year-old Schmack has spent six years in the minors. He was 11-7 with a 2.78 ERA and one save in 51 relief appearances last season at Charlotte. He’ll be assigned to Texas’ Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Well, every move the Rangers make can’t be A-Rod sized.
Ruben Sierra, Mike Munoz and Kevin Foster agreed Wednesday to minor league contracts with Texas’ Triple-A farm team, the Oklahoma Redhawks of the Pacific Coast League.
Sierra, a 35-year-old outfielder, hit .233 with one homer and seven RBIs in 60 at-bats with the Rangers last season after spending a year with Cancun of the Mexican League. With Oklahoma, he had 18 homers and 82 RBIs.
Munoz, a 35-year-old left-hander, was 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA for the Rangers in seven relief appearances before tearing a tendon in his pitching elbow in April and missing the rest of the season.
He has an 18-20 record and a 5.19 ERA in 453 career relief appearances with Los Angeles, Detroit, Colorado, and Texas.
Foster, a 31-year-old right-hander, spent last year playing for Trenton and Pawtucket in the Boston Red Sox organization. He was 4-3 with a
4.19 ERA in 11 starts at Trenton and 2-4 and 4.02 in nine starts at Pawtucket.
He played with Philadelphia and the Chicago Cubs and was released by Cincinnati in early thj2000. He has a 32-29 career major league record.
The moves came two days after the Rangers agreed to a record $252 million, 10-year contract with shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

DALLAS (AP) – A-Rod is baseball’s newest lightning rod, a quarter-billion dollar example of the star system dominating professional sports.
Even before the All-Star shortstop finalized his $252 million, 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers on Monday, baseball’s doom-and-gloom faction was saying the money has become too much.
“This amount of money spread out over 10 years could probably buy three franchises or so at the bottom end of market value,” said Sandy Alderson, an executive vice president in baseball’s commissioner’s office.
Rangers owner Tom Hicks predicted Rodriguez will lead his team to national prominence, to “fulfill its dream of continuing on its path to becoming a World Series champion.”
Hicks paid $250 million to buy the entire franchise three years ago from a group headed by George W. Bush (news – web sites) and Rusty Rose.
“The Rangers are serious about winning,” Texas general manager Doug Melvin said. “I know expectations will be high. We’re ready for that challenge.”
But, while A-Rod now has I-Rod – catcher Ivan Rodriguez – as a teammate, they don’t pitch. Texas hasn’t added much to staff that had a major league-worst 5.52 ERA last season.
And the Rangers must contend with teams who claimed Rodriguez and agent Scott Boras bamboozled them into overpaying by tens of millions of dollars.
“I’m the whipping boy for `baseball games will destruct,”’ Boras said.
The contract calls for a $10 million signing bonus paid over five years and salaries of $21 million in each of the first four years – well above the $15.8 million Minnesota paid its entire team this season.
The 25-year-old Rodriguez gets $25 million a year in 2005 and 2006, and $27 million in each of the final four seasons. A total of $36 million is deferred at 3 percent interest, the money to be paid from 2011-2020.
The contract is double the previous record for a sports contract: a $126 million, six-year agreement in October 1997 between forward Kevin Garnett and the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.
And it was finalized just two days after Mike Hampton’s $121 million, eight-year deal with Colorado, which had been baseball’s highest package. New York Yankees president Randy Levine criticized Texas as among the teams “whining about out-of-control payrolls” and said it would be “the height of hypocrisy” for them to “ever complain about anything again.”
“At first they were talking about 200 million – 250 (million) came out of nowhere,” said Rodriguez’s new teammate, Rafael Palmeiro. “It’s just incredible.”
Rodriguez, who can opt out of the agreement after seven years and become a free agent again at age 32, came away with an average salary of $25.2 million – 48 percent higher than the previous top, the $17 million Toronto first baseman Carlos Delgado agreed to in October as part of a four-year contract.
But A-Rod fell short of the highest average salary in sports. Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal will average $29.5 million in an $88.5 million, three-year extension that starts with the 2003-04 season.
Michael Jordan made about $33 million in 1997-98, his final season in the NBA.
“People are talking about the money, but you have to recognize the type of player he is and what he can accomplish,” Oakland general manager Billy Beane said. “And he’s only 25 years old.”
The lanky infielder from Miami – he’s 6-foot-3 – was highly prized because he became a free agent at such a young age. In seven seasons with the Seattle Mariners, he has a .309 career average with 189 homers and 595 RBIs.
This year, he made $4.25 million in the final season of a $10.6 million, four-year contract he signed against Boras’ advice in 1996.
“Yes, he’s special because he can hit a baseball. Yes, he’s special because he can hit it a long way,” Rangers manager Johnny Oates said. “We’re talking about more than hitting a baseball. We’re talking about marketing an area.”
Seattle and Atlanta were the other known finalists. The Braves did not make an offer, one senior baseball official said of the condition of anonymity, saying that they pushed Boras to name a price. The amount of the Mariners’ offer was unclear, but Boras said it was for five years.
“There would have had to have been a major hometown discount to get us into the ballpark,” Mariners general manager Pat Gillick said.
Added Boras, “The ownership was not here. It was in Hawaii. It was very clear to us.”
In February, Seattle traded Griffey to Cincinnati rather than risk him becoming a free agent after the 2000 season. The Mariners decided they would keep Rodriguez and try to re-sign him.
Seattle won the AL wild card and swept Central Division champion Chicago in the first round. But the Yankees beat the Mariners 4-2 in the AL championship series.
Asked what was next for Seattle, manager Lou Piniella said: “We’ll go upstairs and take a close look.”
In Texas, Rodriguez joins a team that has never gotten beyond the first round of the playoffs. The Rangers already had signed three free agents in the first three days of the winter meetings: first baseman Andres Galarraga ($6.25 million), third baseman Ken Caminiti ($3.25 million) and right-hander Mark Petkovsek ($4.9 million).
The Rangers already have a powerful lineup, but their starting pitching is weak, with Rick Helling going 16-13 last year and Kenny Rogers 13-13.
“We will build our pitching,” Hicks promised.
After winning the AL West in 1999, its third division title in four years, Texas dropped to 71-91 and finished with a 5.52 ERA, the worst among the 30 major league teams.
“This will mark the beginning of a national prominence for a franchise,” Boras said.

DALLAS (Ticker) — Third baseman Ken Caminiti, who missed the last month of the season while being evaluated for a chemical dependency, has agreed to a two-year, $9.5 million contract with the Texas Rangers, according to an ESPN.com report.
Caminiti, who was productive when healthy last season, hit .303 with 15 homers and 45 RBI in 59 games. His season was shortened by a right wrist injury and came to an end when he voluntarily entered a substance-abuse dependency program for an undisclosed problem in September.
Caminiti, 37, admitted to a problem with alcohol in 1994 and went through rehabilitation.
The 1996 National League Most Valuable Player as a member of the San Diego Padres, Caminiti became a free agent when the Houston Astros opted not to exercise a $5.5 million option for 2001 and instead bought him out for $500,000.
A three-time Gold Glove winner, Caminiti spent his first eight seasons with the Astros before joining the Padres in 1995. After a solid season in 1995, Caminiti put it all together in 1996, batting .326 with 40 homers and 130 RBI.
In his 14-year career, Caminiti has a .275 batting average, 224 homers and 942 RBI. But after playing at least 130 games in nine of 10 seasons, Caminiti has been limited to 137 over the last two campaigns combined.
The Rangers, who failed to win the West Division for the first time in three years, have been active this offseason. Texas was in the market for frontline pitchers Mike Hampton and Mike Mussina and Friday signed veteran first baseman Andres Galarraga. The Rangers also are reportedly still in the hunt for Alex Rodriguez and have a meeting with the superstar shortstop today.
UPDATE: Turns out the deal is for one year, with two years of options.

DALLAS (TICKER) — Moments after Anaheim Angels manager Mike Scioscia spoke of how important middle reliever Mark Petkovsek was to his team’s bullpen success, the free agent righthander agreed to a two-year contract with the Texas Rangers.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but the Rangers also hold options for the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
Petkovsek, 35, appeared in a career high-tying 64 games for the Angels last season, posting a 4-2 record with a 4.22 ERA. He registered two saves and ranked second on the Anaheim staff in appearances and relief innings (81).
Scioscia was addressing the media at baseball’s winter meetings and boasted about Petkovsek’s contribution to his staff. Unbeknownst to the Anaheim skipper was that the Rangers and Petkovsek had agreed to the pact.
Because he was offered arbitration by the Angels on Friday, Petkovsek will cost the Rangers two draft picks, including a 2001 selection, as compensation.
After a stint on the disabled list from May 17-June 12 due to viral syndrome, Petkovsek became a stalwart in the Anaheim pen, posting a 3.29 ERA in 34 games after the All-Star break. Over two seasons with the Angels, he went 16-6 in 128 appearances.
The Beaumont, Texas native and resident boasts a 45-36 career mark with a 4.49 ERA and five saves. He began his career with the Rangers in 1991 before making stops in Pittsburgh (1993) and St. Louis (1995-98).
Petkovsek also pitched for the University of Texas from 1984-87, going 29-3. He led the nation with 15 victories as a senior.

Click here for Galarraga’s lifetime stats
DALLAS (Ticker) — One season after proving to himself and the Atlanta Braves that he could come back from cancer, Andres Galarraga will bring his big bat and tremendous clubhouse presence to the Texas Rangers.
The Rangers tonight agreed to terms with the free agent first baseman on a one-year deal and will use him and Rafael Palmeiro in a platoon and first base and designated hitter next season.
Galarraga, 39, sat out all of 1999 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma but made an immediate impact upon his return in 2000, belting a homer in the season opener. He eventually helped the Braves to their ninth straight division title, finishing with 28 homers and 100 RBI in 141 games.
“Last year, he was the comeback player of the year,” Texas general manager Doug Melvin said. “His character and presence played a large role in us bringing him here.”
The 15-year veteran batted .302 and was elected to the All-Star team. Although Galarraga’s performance was inspiring, he clearly slowed down after July, hitting just eight homers and driving in only 38 runs. The decline may have been the reason the Braves did not offer the Venezuelan slugger arbitration, paving the way for the Rangers, who will not have to compensate Atlanta for the signing.
“I had a fractured thumb in my left hand,” Galarraga said. “I lost about 10 days and it’s difficult to play like that. Right now, I have more time to get ready and will be in great condition.”
This will mark Galarraga’s first stint in the American League after reaching the All-Star Game four times in the senior circuit. He has a .291 career average with 360 homers — 10th on the active list — and 1,272 RBI. He spent his first seven seasons in Montreal before playing in St. Louis in 1992.
“I’m happy and excited to go to the American League,” Galarraga said. “I played (at the Ballpark in Arlington during interleague play) and I did pretty good there.”
Galarraga flourished with the Colorado Rockies from 1993-97, winning a batting title in his first season and adding significant power to his always consistent bat. The 6-3, 235-pounder led the National League with 47 homers and 150 RBI in 1996, and in 1997, he again led the league in RBI.
He proved skeptics of his prodigious power wrong in his first season with Atlanta, batting .302 with 44 homers and 121 RBI.
Nicknamed the “Big Cat,” Galarraga captured Gold Glove Awards in 1989 and 1990. He has driven in at least 100 runs in each of the last five seasons he has played. A congenial personality both on the bench and in the clubhouse, Galarraga also is one of the most respected players in the game.
Still in the running for Alex Rodgriguez or Manny Ramirez, the Rangers added a potent bat to their lineup, which was deprived of 1999 Most Valuable Player Ivan Rodriguez for most of last season, and likely left room to continue pursuing a second-tier starter for their rotation.
Melvin disclosed that the Rangers were still courting Alex Rodriguez and are interested in third baseman Ken Caminiti.
Palmeiro, 36, is a lethal lefthanded-hitting complement to Galarraga and doubtlessly will benefit from the occasional extra rest provided by the still-capable first baseman.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Galarraga said of spelling Palmeiro. “He is a great first baseman. I think that (we are a) great combination. I don’t mind (being the designated hitter). I will probably miss (playing) first base every day. But one day, he’ll DH and I’ll play first base.”
The Rangers failed to win the American League West for the first time in three seasons last year, their first without slugging right fielder Juan Gonzalez, who also is a free agent.
“We filled one of our needs by adding a big bat,” Melvin said. “His potential for home runs and RBI was something we sorely missed last year.”
DALLAS (AP) — The Texas Rangers bolstered their lineup Friday, signing free agent first baseman Andres Galarraga to a $6.25 million, one-year contract.
“We’re happy to add a player of his caliber and character to the organization,” general manager Doug Melvin said. “It fills one of our needs. We were looking to add a bat with RBI and home run potential. We certainly missed that last year.”
The Rangers also have a $7 million club option for 2002, with a buyout of either $250,000 or $500,000, depending on his plate appearances.
The Big Cat, who was not offered salary arbitration by Atlanta, hit .302 with 28 homers and 100 RBIs last season for the Braves after missing all of 1999 because of a cancerous tumor in his back.
“I’m happy and excited,” he said. “I think it is a great organization and I look forward to playing with the Rangers. I’m excited about going to the American League.”
Galarraga, 39, saw his power numbers drop as the season progressed, hitting only eight home runs and driving in 38 runs after the All-Star break.
“He’s a professional hitter and in our ballpark he’s got a good chance to get back to his 40-homer years,” Melvin said.
He will likely be the designated hitter with the Rangers, who already have Rafael Palmeiro at first base.
“I think it is going to be a great combination with Rafael and me,” Galarraga said. “I’m just looking to help my team. I don’t mind at all being the designated hitter.”
In fact, the Rangers hope that limiting his time in the field will help Galarraga stay fresh down the stretch of the season.
“We think that will be good at this stage of his career,” Melvin said. “He doesn’t have to stand out there in that Texas heat. That may help him at this stage of his career to do a lot of DHing.”
The Rangers were looking for a short-term solution while they wait for top prospect Carlos Pena to be ready for the major leagues. Pena is expected to start the 2001 season at Triple-A.
“We know we have Pena coming along and Andres can be a good influence on Carlos,” Melvin said.
Galarraga just completed a $24.5 million, three-year deal with Atlanta.
In his 15-year career, Galarraga is a .291 hitter with 360 homers and 1,272 RBIs. He topped the 2,000-hit mark last season and has 2,070 for his career.
The Rangers, who are also talking to the agents for Alex Rodriguez and Ken Caminiti, have made bolstering their offense their top offseason priority.
Texas was ninth in the AL in runs scored last season, after trading away Juan Gonzalez and losing Todd Zeile to free agency.
“He will hit somewhere in the middle of our lineup and get us back to the run production we missed last year,” Melvin said.
Galarraga had expressed some interest in reuniting with former manager Don Baylor and playing for the Cubs. But it was not clear whether Chicago, which lost free agent Mark Grace to Arizona, had any interest.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — John Wetteland, the Texas Rangers’ career saves leader, was not offered arbitration Thursday and is considering retiring because of a back problem.
Texas also declined to offer arbitration to second baseman Luis Alicea and outfielder Mike Simms, which means they cannot sign with the Rangers until May 1. If they sign elsewhere, Texas will not receive compensation.
The team did offer arbitration to left-handed reliever Mike Munoz and outfielder Ruben Sierra, a former All-Star who returned to the majors late last season.
The 34-year-old Wetteland has a degenerative disk in his back. He’s working out four times a week, but has yet to throw a baseball.
“I’m doing everything I can,” he said. “If that’s enough, great. If it’s not, then it’s great to move on to another phase.”
Wetteland, the MVP of the 1996 World Series while pitching for the New York Yankees, signed with the Rangers in ’97 and had 150 saves over four years with at least 30 each season. He saved 34 last season and had a 4.20 ERA.
Munoz and Sierra have until Dec. 19 to decide whether to go to arbitration. If rejected, the Rangers can continue negotiations with the players until Jan. 8.
Alicea led Texas with a .294 average. He had six homers and 63 RBIs in 139 games.
Simms missed the entire season with degenerative arthritis in his left hip.
Munoz was 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in seven appearances, then went out for the year with a torn tendon in his left elbow.
Sierra hit .326 with 18 homers and 82 RBIs in 112 games at Triple-A Oklahoma and .233 with one homer and seven RBIs in 20 games with Texas.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA (TICKER) — Veteran second baseman Randy Velarde, who helped the Oakland Athletics to the American League West crown in 2000, today was dealt to the Texas Rangers for two minor league pitchers.
Velarde, who turns 38 next week, hit .278 with 12 home runs and 41 RBI during his 14th major league season. He went 5-for-20 with a double and three RBI in a five-game loss to the New York Yankees in the Division Series.
In 1999, the Texas native became the sixth player in major league history and the first since Willie Montanez in 1976 to total 200 hits while playing for two teams in one season.
Velarde hit .317 with 16 homers and 76 RBI that season, posting 115 hits for the Angels and 85 for the A’s. He was acquired by the A’s from Anaheim prior to the trade deadline.
Oakland acquired righthander Aaron Harang — Texas’ sixth-round draft pick in 1999 — and lefthander Ryan Cullen.
Harang, 22, led the Class A Florida State League in wins and ranking eighth in ERA this pas season. He went 13-5 with a 3.32 ERA with Charlotte, allowing just 128 hits and striking out 136 batters in 157 innings.
Cullen, 20, went 6-6 with nine saves and a 3.04 ERA in 48 relief appearances for Class A Savannah, striking out 103 in 94 2/3 innings. He signed with Texas as a free agent in 1999.
Velarde leaves a team that has two of the best young pitchers in the AL in Tim Hudson and Barry Zito but lacks depth at second base.
A former utility man for the Yankees, Velarde turned the 10th unassisted regular season triple play in major league history and the first in six seasons on May 29 at Yankee Stadium.
He overcame elbow surgery in 1997 to become a reliable major league starter, something he was never given a chance to do with the Yankees. He hit .285 in 530 at-bats in 1996 for the Angels but missed all of the 1997 season.
In 1,124 career games, Velarde has hit .277 with 89 home runs and 405 RBI. He was a 19th-round draft pick by the Chicago White Sox in 1985.
Velarde likely will be the starting second baseman in Texas, where Luis Alicea hit .294 with six homers and 63 RBI last season.

Catcher Ivan Rodriguez and pitcher Kenny Rogers have been selected as 2000 recipients of Rawlings Gold Gloves in the American League, it was announced today by the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company.
Rodriguez won his ninth consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove, the second most ever for a catcher behind the ten received by Cincinnati’s Johnny Bench from 1968-77. Rodriguez, who has won each year since 1992, has the longest current Gold Glove streak of any American Leaguer with his nine total awards matching Cleveland’s Roberto Alomar for the most among the 2000 A.L. recipients.
Rogers earned his first Rawlings Gold Glove, the first ever received by a Rangers’ pitcher. The Texas lefthander ends Mike Mussina’s four-year hold for A.L. pitchers’ honors.
It is the sixth time in team history that Texas has had two Rawlings Gold Glove winners in the same season, joining 1977 (Jim Sundberg, c; Juan Beniquez, of); 1979, 1980, and 1981 (Sundberg, c; Buddy Bell, 3b); and 1999 (Ivan Rodrigiuez, c; Rafael Palmeiro, 1b).
It is also just the fourth time in history that a pitcher and catcher from the same team have captured Gold Gloves, joining Minnesota’s Jim Kaat (P) and Earl Battey (C) in 1962, Pittsburgh’s Rick Reuschel (P) and Tony Pena (C) in 1985, and Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen (P) and Bob Boone (C) in 1989.
Rodriguez, who was sidelined for the season with a fractured right thumb on July 24, appeared in just 87 games behind the plate but led all American League qualifiers with a career high .996 (2 e/543 tc) fielding percentage. He went 61 consecutive games without an error from April 23-July 13. Rodriguez threw out 16 of 33 runners attempting to steal, a 48% success rate and has thrown out 45.4% (348 of 766) of runners trying to steal in his career. Offensively, Rodriguez batted .347 with 27 homers and 83 rbi in 91 games.
Rogers led all American League pitchers with 66 total chances, 46 assists, and 6 double plays, the latter tying the club record. He had 10 more total chances and 12 more assists than any other pitcher in the league, with Seattle’s Aaron Sele placing second in both departments. Rogers also was second in the majors with 9 pitcher pickoffs, one less than Arizona’s Brian Anderson. He had a fielding percentage of .970 (2 e/66 tc). Rogers was 13-13 with a 4.55 era in 34 starts with Texas in 2000 after rejoining the club as a free agent.
The National League Rawlings Gold Glove team will be announced on Tuesday.

PHOENIX (AP) — The Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers say they will move their spring training sites from Florida to Surprise, Ariz., if the Phoenix suburb builds a stadium.
Top officials of both franchises made the commitment at a news conference with city officials Monday. The move is targeted for 2002.
Funding for the $45 million stadium would be in place if Maricopa County voters approve Proposition 302 on Nov. 7, Surprise City Manager Bill Pupo said. Two-thirds of the money would come from the measure and one-third from the city.
Proposition 302 would impose a hotel and rental car tax to fund a new stadium for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals as well as provide money to improve and construct spring training facilities. The measure also includes money for youth sports.
However, city of Surprise officials said they would seek other means to build the facility if the measure is defeated.
Surprise is a fast-growing city of about 40,000, located 35 miles west of downtown Phoenix.
“With the possibility of coming to Arizona, we didn’t think twice,” Royals executive vice president Herk Robinson said. “We are firmly committed to signing a long-term lease with the city of Surprise and feel that our relationship will be one of good citizenship that we can give to the community as well as receive.”
The Royals’ lease of their spring training site at Haines City, Fla., expires after the 2002 season, but Robinson said his team could move before then. The Rangers’ lease in Port Charlotte, Fla., expires after next season.
General managers and managers of both teams attended the news conference, along with Hall of Famer George Brett, who played his entire career with the Royals, and Rangers shortstop Royce Clayton, who lives in nearby Scottsdale.
“There’s no question that there are a lot of benefits to us to come here,” said Mike Cramer, chief executive officer of Southwest Sports Group, which owns the Rangers and the NHL’s Dallas Stars. “It’s an easier trip for our fans coming from Dallas. The quality of the league here is tremendous. The support for the league here has been tremendous.”
Royals manager Tony Muser participated in Arizona spring training for 19 years with the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers.
“It seems as though we’re always the visiting club when we play in Baseball City,” Muser said. “There’s never a feeling of roots. As a manager you hear bits and pieces when you are in Florida `Are we going to have a chance to go to Arizona?’
“The first time I talked to Herk about it, I said if the opportunity ever comes up, it’s a great place to train. The weather is consistent. It’s a little bit easier to get in shape. It’s just a better process all around.”
Clayton, who trained in Arizona when he was with San Francisco, said travel during the spring is a big consideration.
“Spring training can be tough if you have to travel far differences,” he said. “The Arizona area offers short trips between ballparks. Florida is tough. I was in culture shock having to go out to Florida, so I’m looking forward to coming back to Arizona if we can make that happen.”
Anaheim, the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, Oakland, San Diego and San Francisco all train in the Phoenix area. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox and Colorado train in Tucson.
SURPRISE, ARIZONA (TICKER) — The Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals are moving to the Cactus League.
The American League teams today signed a letter of intent with the Phoenix suburb of Surprise, Arizona to share a $45 million spring training complex beginning with the 2002 or 2003 season.
Both the Rangers and Royals currently hold spring training in Florida. The Rangers’ lease with Port Charlotte, their winter home for 14 years, expires after the 2001 season.
The Royals are scheduled to remain in Baseball City, Florida through the 2002 season, but their lease contains provisions that will allow the team to leave early. Kansas City has had the same spring home for 13 seasons.
Funding for the facility in Surprise would come in large part from the passage of Proposition 302, which calls for the expenditure of $331 million for a stadium for the the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and additional funding for tourism, the Cactus League and youth sports.
Even if the measure is defeated by the voters on November 7, both teams still hope to move to Arizona.
“If the proposition does not pass, we’re committed to find ways to make it work,” Royals executive vice president Herk Robinson said.
The Cactus League currently has 10 members and in recent years has been recruiting Grapefruit League teams to move their spring facilities west. The most recent addition was the Chicago White Sox in 1998.