Will’s Title is Too Long

Blame: Viola!

A day after Viola’s deadline passed, Carl Pohlad pointed his finger at Craig Fenech for the impasse. “These agents are just impossible,” he said. “They want to throw the ball back in your corner in the worst possible way. We were giving him $4 million or whatever it was and adjusting his salary upward this year.” Andy MacPhail added, “Our offer no longer is on the table. They’ve closed out the negotiations, so we have withdrawn the offer.”

Frank Viola, the team’s Opening Day starter, was booed by some fans when he took the mound and again when he was removed on his way to being tagged with a loss. Afterwards, he answered every question from the media. That night, Viola got less than one hour’s sleep because of his concern about the reaction of the fans. The next day he stood alone in the outfield during batting practice until pitching coach Dick Such finally joined him to try to help him clear his head.

That night Kent Hrbek fumed, “Instead of baseball, we’re talking about money again. What are we playing for? Sure you can make a lot of money in this game, but have a little fun. I’m mad about it.” He then complained, “I don’t think it’s Frank saying all those things. It’s Frank’s agent. I know Frank, and he ain’t like that.”

The ugly saga had members of the media blaming both parties for being too stubborn to reach a deal because it seemed that both sides had a perfectly good reason to not want to even reach an agreement. Dan Barreiro wrote, “Why not leave a little margin for error, a little time for the two sides to continue to negotiate? They had to know how much this [last second offer] would irritate the Viola camp.” He continued, “Is he [Viola] cutting off his nose to spite his face? For the sake of, say, $200,000 (yes, that’s paltry when you’re talking in the $8 million range) and maybe a little wounded pride, is he turning his back on a good situation?”

KQRS, in an attempt to poke fun at the situation, created a “Pitching for Pennies” campaign and received over 50,000 pennies in just the first day. The ultimate goal of the station was $200,000 – the difference between the two offers – with the plan to donate the money raised to charity. In fact, with each passing day more fans were turning against Viola and in favor of management’s position simply because of the way they viewed Craig Fenech manipulating the entire conflict.

This feeling really sank into Viola when he was booed in front of his wife and three kids while attending a circus at the St. Paul Civic Center on April 6. Then, WCCO radio ran a poll and found that fans sided with the Twins by over 9-to-1. The Star Tribune ran a letter it received from a David Heiberg stating, “As a baseball fan, I’ve always taken the player’s side in salary disputes, particularly when Calvin Griffith tried to get by on the cheap, offering far less than players could get elsewhere, then shrugging as they fled. But now pitchers Frank Viola and Jeff Reardon [who also wanted a new contract] have given us a new definition of greed.”

“Where is his loyalty?” asked Al Smith of Winona. “Management gave him a great offer and he turned them down cold. He hurt himself, the ballclub, the fans. But I don’t think he’s greedy. He’s immature and he should get a new agent.” On the other hand, “[Waiting] until the 11th hour to make an offer was really silly and indefensible,” wrote Jan Hamm of Brooklyn Park.

The following day, Viola met briefly with both Carl Pohlad and Andy MacPhail but the trio was unable to make any progress on Viola’s demand of a lockout clause.