Replacement Players

Now that the labor talks have broken down, it appears more and more likely that replacement players will be in uniform on Opening Day.So what happens with the Orioles, who have declined to field a replacement team?The issue could come up at the owners meetings that begin today in Palm Beach, Fla., although Phyllis Merhige, vice president of media affairs for the American League, said yesterday there are no plans to discuss the fate of the Orioles and owner Peter Angelos."What we've said is we are exploring our options," said Merhige.

Athens, Ohio -- PEOPLE WHO say fans won't turn out to see replacement players don't understand baseball and its appeal to fans like me. They think we don't want to see hitters with weak swings and pitchers with weak arms. It hasn't occurred to them that when a weak hitter faces a weak pitcher the contest is the same.I love the contest and I want victory in it. When my essentially .220 hitter goes to the plate against an essentially 5.56 ERA pitcher I am not going to be aware of any absolute expertise.

Peter Angelos does not have to fight his legal battles alone. State and city legislators are helping him.They discussed and voted on several bills yesterday that would back up Angelos' stand against replacement players.The Maryland Senate passed two bills that would prevent games at Camden Yards this season unless 75 percent of the players were on major-league rosters last season and prohibit advertising at games that use replacement players. They passed 38-9 and 39-16, respectively.The bills were sponsored by Sen. John Pica, a Baltimore Democrat and an attorney in Angelos' law firm, at the request of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- The Orioles' spring training exhibition schedule could be wiped out because of the organization's stance against replacement players, leaving the club's minor-leaguers with a month of intrasquad games.At least five of the 12 teams scheduled to play Baltimore in spring games have sent letters to the Orioles -- the language virtually identical in each -- asking for clarification on the club's position on the use of replacement players during the baseball strike. Similar letters from the other seven teams scheduled are expected to arrive tomorrow.

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- I used to get upset hearing people categorize major-league baseball players as overpaid, under-motivated so-and-so's who don't appreciate how well off they really are.Those people don't know these men on a personal level. How can they suggest that they're all alike simply because of what they do for a living?Sure, some of today's players are spoiled rotten, interested only in squeezing whatever they can out of the game without putting anything back in. But there are good, hard-working men who play the game, too.It's like anything else.

Are those the first thin cracks of sun we see through the cloud of gloom overhanging major league baseball?After months of talk about a season of baseball with retread players, reality is setting in. Hard-line owners, who have been talking tough since last August, aren't backing down just yet, but that line in the sand they have drawn is getting fuzzier.At least one club has separated its manager and coaches from replacement players in spring training, confining their work to bona fide minor leaguers.

Just wondering:Are you reading any Peter Angelos into the Maryland Senate Finance Committee's recommendation that replacement players be banned from performing on the sacred lawns of Camden Yards this season?* Doesn't it appear as if they're a tad too generous at the Daytona 500 when eight drivers crash their cars and end up walking off with combined prize money exceeding $300,000?* Feeling sorry for good guy and hard worker Tom Gugliotta? The ex-Washington Bullet sent to the Golden State Warriors just a while ago probably caught a break being traded to the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves because the Frisco team treated him like he wasn't there.

There has been some confusion this spring about who is and who is not a replacement player, but -- for the moment -- the definition is reasonably clear-cut. The term replacement player refers to someone who has signed a contract to play in the major leagues during the players strike. That does not include players who are in camp under minor-league contracts.Rules drafted by baseball's Executive Council allow for each team to assemble a squad of 32 replacements, 25 in uniform for each game and seven in reserve.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Orioles general manager Roland Hemond spent part of yesterday calling around Florida, seeking reaction from opposing general managers to his club's stand against replacement players.Hemond won't say exactly who said what. But he did say that some teams indicated a willingness to play on the Orioles' terms -- that is, fielding only players signed to minor-league contracts -- while others are inclined to use their players signed to replacement contracts."Some of them indicated they didn't think" they would play without replacements, Hemond said, "and they said, 'Get back to us. Let's talk again.

In his heart, Montreal general manager Kevin Malone believes the Expos were the best team in baseball last year. Montreal would've maintained its lead over the Atlanta Braves, he is sure, and swept through the playoffs and World Series and earned riches and rings and revitalized the entire organization.But the strike destroyed all that -- the Expos claim losses of $20 million and, depending on how the next labor agreement is drawn up, could lose three of their best players. If there is restricted free agency, center fielder Marquis Grissom and pitcher Ken Hill are expected to sign in Florida, and ace reliever John Wetteland will go to the Boston Red Sox. Their contracts include no-trade clauses, and Malone says the Expos can't match the offers.