Steinbrenner: Rangers Did ‘Disservice’ to Game

One day after signing Mariano Rivera to a record contract for a reliever, New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner said the Texas Rangers’ signing of shortstop Alex Rodriguez hurt all teams.

“Texas did all of baseball a relative disservice,” Steinbrenner said Saturday at his team’s spring training camp in Tampa, Fla.

Rodriguez got a $252-million, 10-year contract from Texas in December. The average salary of $25.2 million was 48% higher than the top average at the time, $17 million for Toronto’s Carlos Delgado.

It also raised the price of Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter. Last year, Steinbrenner refused to finalize a $118.5-million, seven-year deal for Jeter, instead agreeing to a $10-million, one-year contract. Steinbrenner refused to give Jeter a multiyear deal then because its average salary would have been baseball’s highest.

With Jeter less than a year from free agency, Steinbrenner agreed earlier this month to a $189-million, 10-year contract for the World Series most valuable player.

“I looked kind of foolish in some people’s eyes, that I could have him cheaper last year,” Steinbrenner said. “But I didn’t want to set the bar. I didn’t want to be the guy to set the bar. I’m tired of hearing those Yankees this, Yankees that.”

While the Yankees had the top payroll in baseball last season at $113 million, their opening-day payroll this year projects to be between $110 million and $111 million. The Dodgers and Boston probably will be just ahead. The Yankees signed Rivera to a four-year, $39.99-million contract.

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Steinbrenner has started preliminary talks with Manager Joe Torre on a new contract. Torre will make $3 million in the final year of his contract this season.

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Mark McGwire arrived at the St. Louis Cardinals’ training camp in Jupiter, Fla., four days ahead of the team’s schedule but right on his timetable.

McGwire, sidelined by a knee injury for most of the second half of last season, was greeted warmly by teammates but generally declined to answer questions.

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Jeremi Gonzalez will miss his third consecutive season because of injuries. The Chicago Cub right-hander, who hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since July 1998, has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and will need reconstructive surgery.

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Left-hander Mike Hampton strained his left calf muscle during his first workout with the Colorado Rockies, an injury that could push back his first spring training start. . . . Right-hander Woody Williams, who made a comeback from surgery for an aneurysm in his pitching arm, will be the opening-day starter for the San Diego Padres against the San Francisco Giants.