Lasorda Plans To Rejoin Team Within Week

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda said he hopes to be back on the job within a week.

“That’s what I’m shooting for,” Lasorda told the Los Angeles Times from his hospital bed. “I belong back on the field. I need to be with my team.”

Lasorda said he hopes to rejoin the team Thursday when it returns home from a seven-game road trip.

He remained in stable condition on Saturday after undergoing a procedure to clear a blocked artery earlier in the week.

“He’s resting. He could possibly come out of the hospital this weekend but at this time it’s still a day-to-day situation,” said Dodgers spokesman Shane Duffy.

Lasorda, 68, had an angioplasty on Wednesday, two days after he was admitted to Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, Calif., with abdominal pains. Preliminary tests revealed an ulcer but doctors also found he had suffered a minor heart attack. They did not know when the attack happened.

Lasorda was progressing without complications.

Lasorda said he cannot imagine sitting out the season - let alone retiring.

“I just want to get back to the team,” Lasorda said. “I need to get this team going again and battling again.”

Lasorda said he has gotten telephone calls from Frank Sinatra and NBA coaches Larry Brown and Mike Fratello, who called him Friday from Greece.

“You can’t believe all of the love and support I’ve received,” he said.

Martinez on DL

Dennis Martinez was placed on the Cleveland Indians’ 15-day disabled list, one day after the right-hander strained a tendon in his pitching elbow against the Chicago White Sox.

Indians manager Mike Hargrove said Martinez would have an MRI in Cleveland on Monday and hoped that, with the All-Star break approaching, the 41-year-old wouldn’t miss more than one start.

To replace Martinez on the 25-man roster, the Indians purchased the contract of right-hander Danny Graves from Triple-A Buffalo.

Hold onto your hats

Both teams have denied it publicly, but Cleveland and Florida have discussed a blockbuster deal involving Indians’ second baseman Carlos Baerga and Florida outfielder Gary Sheffield.

Such a trade would give the Marlins a switch-hitting third baseman to replace the aging Terry Pendleton, while allowing them to shed their biggest contract (Sheffield makes $6.1 million this season and next) and clubhouse headache. In Sheffield, the Indians would add a dangerous 27-year-old hitter who could play outfield, third base or replace Eddie Murray next year as the DH.

It is believed the deal also would have to include a young outfielder and pitcher from Cleveland, and Florida infielder Kurt Abbott, who would replace Baerga as an offensive-minded second baseman. But it also is believed that such a deal won’t come off unless both teams continue to stumble in the next couple of weeks.

No grasping for Straw

In his first 22 games for the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League, Darryl Strawberry had a .400 average, 12 home runs and 27 RBIs. That prompted New York Yankees’ general manager Bob Watson to say the team would consider re-signing the outfielder, especially since Tim Raines (hamstring) will be out at least another month and Mike Aldrete is the team’s top lefthanded hitter off the bench.

Then Strawberry was charged this week with a misdemeanor in California for being overdue on a $300,000 spousal and child support payment to ex-wife Lisa, to whom he already has paid more than $3 million. Watson reversed his field.

“He doesn’t fit,” Watson said, repeating the assessment four more times. “I don’t need that.”

The Seattle Mariners have discussed signing Strawberry to play right field, moving Jay Buhner to center as Ken Griffey Jr. misses the next four weeks with a hand injury, but have yet to offer a contract.

Royals, Appier at standstill

The obstacle holding up a contract agreement between the Kansas City Royals and pitcher Kevin Appier is said to be, not the money, but the principle.

The Royals are unwilling to break a club tradition of not giving a player a guarantee that he won’t be traded, and so talks are at a standstill.

“It’s the no-trade. Everything else is OK,” said Appier’s agent Jeff Borris.

Kansas City has offered Appier the option of picking four teams he could not be traded to, but that’s as far as they will go.

Appier, 7-7 this year, has been bothered by the shoulder again this season and has missed one start. But the back-to-back performances against the Orioles and Twins seem to indicate he has recovered.

“It looks like he has straightened himself out and is back on track,” Twins manager Tom Kelly said.

Appier has agreed in principal to a base salary of $4.8 million a year for three years, Borris said.

If the Royals cannot sign Appier, they likely would be forced to trade him rather than allow him to become a free agent and get nothing for him.