European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 4, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 4, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 25baseballbraves Justice strikes a no pose by the associated press David Justice does no to want to be negative about his contract talks. He just does no to want to be on photographers negatives. Justice upset with the state of his negotiations refused monday to take part in the Atlanta braves annual picture Day. Justice said he declined a because i done to have a  a my Job is to play baseball for the Atlanta braves a he said. A a that a my Job description a baseball  Justice was the Only player to refuse to have his picture taken. Major league clubs routinely set aside one Day each Spring for photographs by card companies and news organizations. Justice who earned $296,500 in 1991, is seeking $600,000 this year. The braves Spring training who have the right to renew his contract at a figure of their choosing have offered approximately $400,000. The deadline for contract renewals in March 11, but Atlanta general manager John Schuerholz said he will renew the eight unsigned braves by wednesday night. Schuerholz said monday that justices agent Eric Goldschmidt spoke with assistant general manager Dean Taylor Over the weekend telling Taylor that a until the organization treated Justice with More respect he  have anything to do with us except play  a there have been other players in the game that set themselves apart in this manner. He a not the first and he wont be the last a Schuerholz said. A but we re continuing to negotiate and this May be a passing thing. It could get resolved in a Day or two. Who knows a Canseco and Henderson finally reported to the a a Scottsdale Community College training Camp. The club had asked them to report last wednesday but the mandatory reporting Date is March 4. A i was just looking Forward to the Day when we had the full squad Here a said manager Tony la Russa who now has 49 players in Camp. A a in a going to try to see what kind of shape they re in. A a we re going to give them a lot of batting practice. You try to tire them out. Then you can Start working on getting them into shape. They re Strong  Canseco ended his first workday which included taking batting practice off pitches thrown by coaches and Outfield drills by holding a Brief press conference. Henderson arrived nearly two hours after the workout began at 9 . He Hadnot been to the College before and said he got lost. But that a about All Henderson said. A a in a healthy i done to really want to talk to the press a Henderson said. A a let a leave it like it is. It ainu to beneficial to me at All. F done to want to talk to the press a you ainu to been fair to me at  Dwight Gooden another of the games highest paid players threw batting practice for the first time on monday and his velocity was impressive. A a let a just say that even if he Wasny to coming off surgery i still would be smiling a new York mets pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said. A Doc threw outstanding and i was primarily impressed with the looseness of his .�?� out for a spin a Philadelphia Phillies Pitcher Pat Combs had a narrow escape on a bicycle Over the weekend and general manager Lee Thomas said he planned to have a talk with All of the Bike riders on the team. A i done to think Well Tell them they Nolan Ryan laughs it up during his first Day at rangers Florida Camp monday. Can to but maybe we can get them to be More careful a Thomas said. Combs said he figured a Bike trip from his Home on saturday to the Phillies Camp was a Good Way to get some extra exercise. But As he was rounding a curve a Van suddenly appeared in his path. Rivalry is old hat a Jarvis Brown and . Bruett two 23-year-Olds who faced each other in legion Ball and in High school while growing up in Wisconsin arc still battling it out As members of the Minnesota twins. A seems like its always been like that a said Brown who is a close Friend of Bruett. A we went against each other when we were Little. It 11 be a Tough decision because we re basically the same Type of  Brown appears to have an Edge but things could change if Bruett can repeat the Spring he had a year ago. Bruett hit .381 with two triples and six Bis in 18 Spring games in 1991 before being sent Down along with Brown to class aaa Portland. The two turned in similar statistics at Portland. Brown hit .289 with three homers 37 Bis and 26 stolen bases while Bruett hit .284 with no homers 35 Bis and 21 steals. Brown was called up to the twins late in the year and hit .216 m 37 at bats. Bruett has not played in the majors. A i hear a lot of things like i m the front runner but in be got to go out and play Well a Brown said. A a in a going about things the same Way i always have. I want to do Well with every at Bat every throw and every play i make. I want to show that in my five years of minor league service All the sweat and tears paid  Bruett has been putting in extra time trying to get More Power into his offensive game. Power might be the Lone distinction Between Bruett and Brown. Brown once hit 14 homers in a season at class a Orlando. Bruett has four homers in four minor league seasons All in class a. A a in a just going to go out and play a Bruett said. A i done to worry about that fifth Outfield spot because that a up to manager Tom Kelly and his staff. I just have to go out like i did last year and put up some Good  Thomas was steal at $120,000 by Murray chass new York times fort Lauderdale Fla. A based on a combination of his performance and his salary Frank Thomas of the Chicago White sox was the biggest non Pitcher bargain in baseball last season. Thomas playing his first full season in the major leagues clearly provided the most production for the least pay pairing a penchant for getting on base with Power production while earning Only $120,000. Using a formula that combines on base percentage slugging percentage and salary Thomas emerges with a dollars per production Point rating of 119 the lower rating the better. That put him Well below the ratings of players who earned millions More than the White sox first baseman. By comparison Darryl Strawberry of the los Angeles dodgers the highest paid player of 1991 at $3.8 million had a rating of 4,460, putting him at no. 175 out of the 181 players who had 400 or More plate appearances Frank Thomas last season. Don Mattingly of the new York Yankees who earned $3.42 million had a rating of 4,666 and ranked 179th, third from the Bottom. I he rating is computed by adding the two percentages on base and slugging and after eliminating the Decimal Point for simplicity a Sake dividing the total into a players salary. I Homas whose outstanding performance last year Itas prompted a contract dispute this year had a .453 on base percentage highest in the majors and a .553 slugging percentage the fourth highest. That gave him a combined 1.006, the Only total in four figures. The Only player close to Thomas was Danny Tartabull then of Kansas City now with the Yankees whose total was next was Cal Ripken or. Of Baltimore at .940. Tartabull and Ripken however ranked significantly lower because of their High salaries. A huge salary commentary makes it hard even for players who had productive seasons like Ripken to place High in the ranking. Owners who pay them and fans who shake their Heads at their salaries always wonder if players Are Worth what they Are paid. Back in the Stone age of the million Dollar salaries during an exhibition game Between the Yankees and the Kansas City royals in 1975, two elderly men sat in the stands and argued vehemently Over whether the Pitcher on the Mound was Worth the Money the Yankees were paying him. He was Catfish Hunter and Only a couple of months earlier he had signed a five year contract for $3.35 million As baseball a first legitimate free agent. The arguments and debates have escalated along with the salaries. Is Bobby Bonilla Worth the $29 million the new York mets gave him this Winter if Bonilla gets an average of $5.8 million a year should Barry Bonds get $6 million or More the fans can debate All they want without it costing them anything its the owners who have to make the decisions whether or not to pay the salaries. But the fans persist who got the better bargain the dodgers with Strawberry or the Atlanta braves with Terry Pendleton who was the bigger bust Danny Jackson with the Chicago cubs or Ted Higuera with the Milwaukee Brewers Worth and value can be elusive concepts. In reality though a player is Worth a certain amount of Money if someone is willing to pay him that much. But the Dol Lars per Point production rating attempts to measure the value a team receives for the dollars it pays a player. Why use a combination of on base percentage and slugging percentage a on base plus slugging explains nearly 90 percent of the variations in team run production a explained Eddie Epstein director of research and statistics for the Baltimore orioles. A batting average explains Only bout 60  at a team level Epstein said on base plus slugging a correlates very highly with run  a if you know a teams on base and slugging performance you can probably rate them with run production a Epstein said. A you can to do that with batting average. Its also a very simple statistic. Its not hard to  on base percentage is based on the number of times a player reaches base by a hit a walk or being hit with a pitch. Slugging percentage is More a measure of Power involving the number of bases a player totals with his hits a four bases for a Home run three for a triple two for a double and one for a single. The rating does not say one player is better than at other. Nor does it show that one player is More valuable to a team than another. Just because a players rating is lower than someone else a it does t mean the first player was More valuable to his team. The dollars per Point production rating determines Best bargains or greatest value. Obviously getting Thomas production from a player earning $120,000 provides a team with greater value for their Money than the same production from a player earning $3 million. Getting less production from the $3 million player makes him less of a bargain. The rating system was described to some general managers and Fred Claire of the dodgers said a if you can find anything that will help our system it will be  discussing the idea further Claire said by Telephone from Vero Beach a a it a a ittle hard to Analyse on the surface but the Basic Point is Basic a what Are you getting for what you Are paying so to some degree its a reflection of that but the one thing you have to Factor in there is that players fall into different service categories. A yes Frank Thomas who has had Good production As a Young player and is making a lower salary gives you More production per Dollar. That a obviously part of it. But the numbers Are going to change because the contracts Are Ever changing. A even now Frank Thomas May be giving More production per Dollar but How do you compare that with a will Clark who a making a lot More Money its going to be skewed because the leaders Are going to be primarily the Young Zero to three year players who Are producing a lot and Haven to had the Benefit of arbitration and the great