Owners Wary of Capital Idea, but It Might Be Only Option

Major league owners will not officially designate Washington as the 2005 home of the Montreal Expos during a meeting Thursday in New York, but they are expected to move closer to a midseason confirmation despite considerable reservations.

“We’re talking about a two-time loser,” the chief operating officer of an American League team said of Washington and its previous baseball trials. “The landscape may have improved, but how foolish are we going to look if it fails again?”

Of course, baseball has already been looking foolish amid the untenable situation with the basically homeless Expos, and the COO agreed.

“We can’t keep delaying a resolution,” he said, “and where else if not Washington?”

The owners may be doomed to repeat history, but where else, indeed? Despite pockets of ownership interest in Las Vegas, areas of Virginia and Monterrey, Mexico, the least troublesome and most logical choice from the start has been Washington, if for no other reason than no other city has a comparable interim facility like RFK Stadium.

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The star-crossed history of the Angels is replete with injuries and misfortune, but never has their depth been such that they can basically lose half of their lineup and still have a Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Guillen left standing to help power through it.

Fortitude is swell, but a G-Force is even better, and thank you, Arte Moreno.

“We’re going to lean on Jose and Vlad and hopefully stay afloat,” second baseman Adam Kennedy said.

There are several ways to measure the extent of the Angel injuries. One of the most dramatic is the effect on Moreno’s wallet.

In Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon and Brendan Donnelly, the owner has $23.925 million in 2004 salaries on the disabled list, an additional $9.95 million sidelined pending a decision on the availability of Troy Glaus, and still another $2.15 million in potential loss as David Eckstein’s struggle extends into a second season.

There are key injuries throughout the big leagues, but only the Colorado Rockies compare in the area of lost wages.

The Rockies are paying $30.820 million to only four players on the disabled list -- Larry Walker, Preston Wilson, Denny Neagle and Adam Bernero -- and that’s more than the $30.1 million they are paying their current 25-man roster.

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Despite the over-the-top insistence of Manager Jim Tracy that Adrian Beltre can continue to play with the bone spur in his left ankle, it has become painful watching the third baseman try to run, field and balance at the plate on one leg.

The condition threatens Beltre’s impressive start, as well as that of his team, and one wonders whether it wouldn’t be better to take a month and have it surgically dealt with while the Dodgers have division breathing room rather than have it become worse and lose Beltre for an extended period in the second half.

“Our medical people don’t feel he needs to come out of the lineup in order for them to treat it, so he’s not coming out,” Tracy said.

Perhaps he didn’t mean it quite so dogmatically, but it sounded like a manager lacking contract security beyond 2004.

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With his team’s 20th loss through 35 games on Thursday, Barry Bonds finally vented frustration and concern with the struggling start of the San Francisco Giants, who are now 15-22.

“This is discouraging here because most everyone is a veteran player,” said Bonds, who sat out Saturday’s game because of back spasms. “All these guys who came over here this year had good years where they played.

“This took everybody by surprise.”

Not really. There were widespread predictions that the Giants would have difficulty sustaining division dominance after a roster remodeling that didn’t measure up to their annual standards. They went in with obvious problems in the rotation, bullpen and lineup, and what else is there?

Give Bonds credit, however, for not making an issue of his lack of protection. He has walked 54 times in his 32 games, which projected to 273 walks, obliterating his 2002 record of 198.

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The Atlanta Braves acquired J.D. Drew to help fill the Gary Sheffield and Javier Lopez void, and he has -- .316 average, seven homers and 18 runs batted in through Friday -- but he had also sat out eight games because of the type of minor ailments that have marred his career and created consternation among teammates.

Chipper Jones seemed to be sending a message the other day when he said of Drew: “He’s a guy who, if he’s not 100%, doesn’t really feel like he’s helping the team. What some players don’t realize is, just their presence in the lineup can make other guys better.... I probably play 90% of the time without being 100%.”