Talks Are On, But Games Off

Spring training

On Day 200 of the strike, baseball was a clutter of confusion. Two clubs canceled five spring training games against the Baltimore Orioles, another tried to arrange a last-minute exhibition and three Montreal minor leaguers walked out of camp Monday, only to return later.

In Scottsdale, Ariz., owners and players resumed negotiations for the first time since Feb. 7, when President Clinton summoned the sides to the White House.

“It was certainly a very candid discussion of the core issues,” acting commissioner Bud Selig said after a 5-hour meeting.

In Tampa, Fla., minor leaguers met with players’ union officials, trying to decide whether to participate when exhibition games begin Wednesday.”If I was a normal minor leaguer, I would probably play in the games,” he said.The Cincinnati Reds added to this strange spring Monday, introducing former star pitcher Pedro Borbon, 48, as their first replacement player, then admitting he was unlikely to pass the physical.

Borbon arrived in camp in Plant City, Fla., with Reds owner Marge Schott, and general manager Jim Bowden said it was the “organization’s idea of adding a little spice and a little fun during these troubled times.”

The Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox became the first clubs to cancel exhibitions, calling off games with Baltimore. The Orioles said they will not use replacement players, nor play against any teams that use them.

The Phillies canceled their spring training opener Friday in Clearwater, Fla., along with another game March 8 against Baltimore. The White Sox wiped out games against the Orioles on March 7 and March 19 in Sarasota, Fla., and March 21 at the Orioles’ site in St. Petersburg.

St. Louis is scheduled open its exhibition season with games Saturday and Sunday against Baltimore. The Cardinals do not expect to play those games, and are trying to line up an exhibition Saturday with Cleveland, which already has a game against Detroit.

Pitcher Alan Benes, the Cardinals’ No. 1 draft pick in 1993, does not plan to play in any exhibitions. Benes, whose brother, Andy, pitches for San Diego, struck out four in two innings of an intrasquad game Monday.

“I don’t really know what’s going to happen, what they have planned,” Benes said. “I’m just down here to get some work in and whatever they want to do is fine.”

About 70 fans watched the Phillies play an intrasquad game in Clearwater, where 39-year-old Todd Cruz made a couple of nice plays at shortstop. The former major leaguer, who is a replacement player, also threw a ball over the first baseman’s head.

In Lantana, Fla., three Expos minor leaguers, all caught in the middle of the dispute between management and the players’ union, walked out of camp, but returned later.

Expos management has been pressing players about whether they’ll play in spring training games. The union says anyone who plays in exhibitions will be regarded as strikebreakers.

F.P. Santangelo gathered his belongings and left the ballpark, saying he needed more time to decide, but came back to meet with Montreal manager Felipe Alou.

Second baseman Chris Martin was back on the field only moments after he had left.

“I’m not leaving,” he said. “It was simply a misunderstanding.”

Catcher Rob Fitzpatrick had tears in his eyes when he left the field, but came back an hour later after meeting with Bill Geivett, the Expos director of minor league operations.

“I talked with him and he told me if I didn’t agree to play in exhibition games, I’d have to return home at my own expense,” Fitzpatrick said. “He told me I might be recalled on March 15, the day the real minor league camp is supposed to open, if they needed me.

“I don’t owe anything to Donald Fehr or the players’ association. But I want to know what the other players will think of me. I was at the major league spring training camp the last two years and I don’t want to offend anyone.”