Gedman, BoSox to Talk

The Boston Red Sox were hoping for a team May Day celebration today as they renewed their attempts to re-sign free agent Rich Gedman and get the hard-hitting catcher back into uniform.

General Manager Lou Gorman said he would meet with Gedman and agent Jack Sands at Fenway Park less than 12 hours after negotiation talks became permissible again at 12:01 a.m.

Gorman said he hoped for better results than last January 8 when negotiations broke down with each side flatly rejecting the other's final proposals.

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"I'll meet with Rich and Jack Sands and see what we can do," Gorman said last night. "We'll go at it and see what we can do. Hopefully, we can get the pieces together and get things resolved."

At their last meeting, the Red Sox rejected Gedman's final proposal of $1.1 million for 1987, and free agency again next fall, and the catcher turned down the club's final offer of $2.65 million, plus incentives, for three years.

A few hours later Gedman became a free agent ineligible to re-sign with his former club until May 1. A six-year veteran, the left-handed slugger talked to several other clubs and turned down lesser offers from Houston and Oakland.

"Our offer still is on the table," Gorman said. "We're the only club which has done that since the beginning."

The Red Sox' offer calls for $775,000 for 1987, $900,000 in 1988, and $975,000 in 1989. However, Gorman said he would expect that Gedman would not be paid for 25 days missed in April this year. That would amount to about $105,000.