Mets Sign Butler For Year, $2 Million

Four years ago, the Mets passed on Brett Butler in favor of Vince Coleman. That decision blew up in their faces.

Tuesday they may have saved some face by signing Butler, a free agent, to a one-year contract worth $2 million.

The center fielder, who will turn 38 on June 15, earned $3.5 million last season when he batted .314 for the Dodgers.

“When I looked at clubs, I wanted to go somewhere I was wanted,” Butler said. “Second, I wanted a club that could win and I could help. That’s the case here. Third, I wanted to stay on the East Coast and stay in the National League. It was a perfect fit.”

And it capped five days of legwork that could drastically change the course of the Mets’ 1995 season. With Butler, the Mets have their first bona-fide leadoff hitter since Mookie Wilson and Lenny Dykstra and a player who will anchor an outfield that features new left fielder David Segui and Ryan Thompson, shifted to right.

Free-agent frenzy continues

Todd Stottlemyre agreed to go to Oakland for $1.8 million - a $550,000 cut - and the Athletics announced pitcher Steve Ontiveros had accepted the team’s offer to go to salary arbitration.

Dodgers center fielder Raul Mondesi, the 1994 N.L. rookie of the year, signed a one-year, $435,000 contract that makes him the team’s highest-paid outfielder.

Although Mondesi’s salary is expected to increase greatly in the future, he immediately announced plans to buy his mother the new home she always wanted in the Dominican Republic. He also will donate $7,500 in Dodger tickets to the Latino Boys’ and Girls’ club in Greater Los Angeles.

Pitcher Erik Hanson went to the Boston Red Sox for $1,125,000, down from $2.7 million last year.

Pitcher Greg W. Harris took a big cut, agreeing to a minor-league contract with Minnesota that would pay him $525,000 in the majors. He made $1,325,000 in 1994.

Infielder Randy Velarde returned to the New York Yankees for $350,000, less than one-third his 1994 salary of $1,125,000.

Pitcher Jeff Russell, who finished last season with Cleveland, went to Texas for $500,000, less than a quarter of his $2,175,000 salary a year ago.

In their search for a righthanded starter, the California Angels got two, agreeing to one-year contracts with Scott Sanderson and Mike Bielecki.

Finley snubs Lasorda

Pitcher Chuck Finley has given the Angels a list of 13 teams to which he will consent to be traded, but the Dodgers aren’t one of them.

“I just can’t see myself playing for Tommy Lasorda,” Finley said. “It’s a good organization, but it’s not on the top of my list. They’re probably going to turn over in their graves that I don’t want to play for the almighty Dodgers.”

Labor disputes

Amid considerable upheaval and mounting tension between the haves and have-nots, baseball’s ruling executive council met in Milwaukee to assess the sport’s unsettled labor situation.

Acting commissioner Bud Selig, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, said most of the 4-hour meeting was spent “taking care of internal matters. But we touched on just about everything affecting baseball.”

Dozens of free agents have changed teams in the past few days, including several stars that have been dealt from small-market teams to large-market rivals.

The owners claim their combined losses during the 232-day strike were at least $700 million. Without a collective bargaining agreement and economic restructuring, they were under increasing pressure to move the process along.

Umpires, locked out by owners because of a contract dispute, could picket spring-training parks when exhibition games start Thursday.

The picketing, not yet approved by the umpires’ executive council, would be informational and not intended to stop people from entering stadiums.