Mariners Waiting For A Johnson Offer They Can’t Refuse

Seattle Mariners’ general manager Woody Woodward has served noticed on teams interested in acquiring Randy Johnson - be prepared to overwhelm the Mariners with an offer or don’t bother calling.

“We’re not making calls,” Woodward said. “We’ve reached the point in spring where we’re prepared to go into the season with the players we have.”

Seattle’s initial trade demands were so stiff and the Mariners’ stance so inflexible that the handful of teams once interested have not called in the past month.

“We asked for a quality starter plus another player from everyone we talked to,” said Roger Jongewaard, the team’s vice president of player development. “Woody’s been firm from the beginning. Other teams say we’re asking too much for a player they may not be able to re-sign, but Woody hasn’t changed his position.”

Ripken’s wife walks

A remark by Cal Ripken Jr.’s wife that a woman “was planning to spend the night” with the star was meant to poke fun at his naivete, not slander the woman, an appeals court ruled Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Donna Morse of Fort Lauderdale filed a defamation lawsuit against Ripken’s wife, Kelly, for a comment she made in the August 1996 edition of “Ladies’ Home Journal.”

Morse claimed Kelly Ripken tried to disparage her in the article, headlined “My Husband The Hero,” because of a dispute over a Fort Lauderdale home the Ripkens rented from Morse during 1996 spring training.

In the final few paragraphs of the article, Kelly Ripken describes her husband, baseball’s career iron man, as “a trusting soul.”

“Take the woman in Florida who agreed to rent her home to Ripken this year for spring training,” the article said. “When Cal showed up, the woman was still in the house,’ Kelly says, laughing. ‘She hadn’t quite gotten around to leaving. I told Cal, ‘She was planning to spend the night ith you!’

“She sighs at his naivete. ‘He hadn’t even considered that possibility.’ “

Though she was never named in the article, Morse claimed Kelly Ripken’s comments “damaged her good name and reputation” and brought her “into public scandal and disgrace.” She sought more than $15,000.

A Broward County Circuit Court judge dismissed the lawsuit, and Wednesday, the Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal, saying the comments were opinion.

Morse said she would not attempt any other appeals.