BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : No Triple A for Strawberry

Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, has apparently been swayed by Darryl Strawberry, who will return to the Dodger lineup rather than being sent to Albuquerque when he is deemed ready to play. That decision is expected to be made today.

“The question now is more when than where,” Claire said. “Obviously, his timing would be better if he faced live pitching (before rejoining the Dodgers), but is his timing good enough to put a ball in the pavilion? I think the answer is yes.”

That will be good news to Strawberry, who ran the bases at full speed Saturday night, shagged balls in the outfield and took early batting practice. He said that his regimen has produced some residual stiffness, but there have been no setbacks in his recovery from a herniated disk.

“The point can be made that I can get hurt rushing it, but I can get hurt at Albuquerque, too, because I’d play as hard there as I would here,” Strawberry said.

“What I need to do is develop a groove going into the second half, and I think that would be harder to do going to Albuquerque for a week before the All-Star break, and then trying to come back from the break with the Dodgers.

“I feel like I’m ready to play here now, and I keep stressing that point.”

Strawberry’s return will force another in a series of injury and doubleheader-induced roster moves that have seen Stan Javier traded, Pedro Astacio recalled, Dave Anderson put on the disabled list and Henry Rodriguez recalled, with pitchers Kip Gross and Pedro Martinez still candidates to be recalled for the Monday and Tuesday doubleheaders against the Montreal Expos.

Pitchers Steve Wilson and Tim Crews have options left, and second baseman Juan Samuel could be a candidate for release again.

Colorado high school pitcher David Spykstra, the Dodgers’ third-round pick in the June draft, will be at Dodger Stadium with his parents today and might agree to a $200,000 bonus package that has been on the table for some time, a source close to the situation said. . . . Right fielder Wes Chamberlain was out of the Philadelphia lineup and is expected to be sidelined for several games after suffering a bruised right shoulder colliding with the wall while chasing down a drive by Todd Benzinger during Friday night’s second game.