BASEBALL : Commissioner’s Office Abounds With Chaos

A little known group called the Professional Baseball Executive Council voted 9-5 this week to block the proposed move of the New York Yankees’ Albany-Colonie farm team in the Eastern League to Long Island.

The chaos in the commissioner’s office prevented even the Yankees from getting the official word until 24 hours later.

Mets general manager Al Harazin said he had heard second-hand that the move was rejected, but didn’t know for sure.

The public relations staff couldn’t identify who was on the committee or what the group did.

Jimmie Lee Solomon, the director of minor league relations for the commissioner’s office, said he couldn’t reveal what happened. Other officials in the commissioner’s office said Solomon was afraid to say what happened.

MONEY MATTERS: Baseball owners are keeping a close watch on the financial problems of Baltimore Orioles owner Eli S. Jacobs.

Bud Selig, chairman of the executive council, told The (Baltimore) Sun that he and American League president Bobby Brown speak often with Jacobs about the team.

“Baseball is aware of the problem,” Selig said in a telephone interview from Phoenix, where he was attending a two-day owners’ meeting.

Jacobs, who did not attend the meeting, has not talked publicly about his plans for the team, but is under mounting pressure from creditors to sell his 87% interest.

He has reportedly been negotiating with Cincinnati oil executive William O. DeWitt to sell the Orioles. Neither side has confirmed the talks.

Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Co. filed suit against Jacobs last August claiming he defaulted on a $21.3 million debt consolidation loan. Three other banks are also suing Jacobs for payment of delinquent loans.

DAMAGE CONTROL: The California Angels are mad and want something done about the December trade with Toronto that brought them third baseman Kelly Gruber with a serious shoulder injury.

President Richard Brown says he alerted American League president Bobby Brown that the Angels might seek to rescind the trade or ask that Toronto provide a replacement player for Gruber.

Richard Brown was quoted in today’s Los Angeles Times as saying he and the Angels owners, Gene and Jackie Autry, were determined to investigate the Gruber situation “because we come across as country bumpkins.”

Angels’ physician Dr. Lewis Yocum said during the surgery he found a partial tear of the rotator cuff and a small tear in the labrum of Gruber’s left -- non-throwing -- shoulder. Yocum estimated it would be eight weeks or longer before Gruber could see action.

SPRING RENOVATION: Chicago Cubs officials want a commitment on a new training complex in Mesa, Ariz. by the end of spring training, or they will leave after their current contract ends in two years.

“I don’t plan on waiting until 1995,” said Larry Himes, the Cubs’ executive vice president for baseball operations. “I’d like to make a decision at the end of spring training 1993 so we’ll know where we’ll be.”

He added, “The Chicago Cubs can go anywhere in the U.S. I like Mesa. The Cubs like Mesa. We’d like to have this as our site. But our objective is to have a facility the city can be proud of. There are some definite things we want.”

With new stadiums having been built for other Cactus League teams, the city and the civic group that sponsors the Cubs say they expected a request for a new facility.

In a related development, the county Stadium District board granted a request from Phoenix for an additional $550,000, for a total of $6,550,000, to renovate and expand facilities used by the Oakland A’s.

LOOKING GOOD: Having lost 32 pounds, Mets Manager Jeff Torborg is a picture of health. His major wish is that his team can follow his lead for the 1993 season.

Sixteen Mets, including Torborg, had some sort of surgery last season. With pitchers such as Bret Saberhagen and John Franco, and third baseman Howard Johnson going under the knife, New York had its second straight fifth-place finish.

It was a major disappointment for a team that was picked by many to finish first the National League East.

“Last year was the worst year I’ve ever had in baseball,” said Torborg, who is in his eighth year as a major league manager and his second with the Mets. “I was managing as hard as I could. I just didn’t get the job done.”