Franco Takes a Strike : Baseball: Chicago Cubs’ farmhand isn’t in majors or minors, he’s stuck in limbo.

Two weeks ago, first baseman Matt Franco was playing ball against the likes of Carlos Baerga, Jose Gonzalez, Roberto Alomar, Sandy Alomar Jr., Ruben Sierra and Ricky Bones.

Franco, a member of the Chicago Cubs’ organization, was playing for Hermosillo, a team based in Mexico. The others played for a team from Puerto Rico.

“It wasn’t just a major-league team,” Franco said. “It was a major-league all-star team.”

Yep, striking big-leaguers played ball--in the Caribbean World Series. Even though his team was defeated, Franco should have savored the moment.

It might be the last time Franco, not to mention his big-league brothers, plays in the foreseeable future.

Though Franco, a 1987 graduate of Westlake High, isn’t a big leaguer, he’s on Chicago’s 40-man roster. At this particular moment, that is both a considerable blessing and curse.

Franco is one of the team’s protected players. He’s a top organizational prospect and stands a good chance of playing at Wrigley Field. Otherwise, he will earn $6,000 monthly in triple-A salary when the season begins.

When is the operative word.

Franco, who has never played an inning of big-league ball, is nonetheless on strike because each player on the 40-man winter roster is a member of the Major League Baseball Players Assn. It is a cruel quirk.

Barring resolution of the strike or a separate agreement between owners and the union--nobody is holding their breath--Franco can’t even play in the minors this season. Other minor leaguers will report and play as usual.

“It’s really bad timing as far as my career goes,” said Franco, 25, who signed as a 17-year-old. “It’s been a long road. I made every minor-league stop.”

Now he’s stopped cold. The 25-man major-league roster is bumped to 40 during the off-season so teams can protect their top prospects. Of all the victims in the strike, the guys occupying spots 26 through 40 are suffering most.

Franco, who batted .277 with 11 home runs and 71 runs batted in last year at triple-A Iowa, was poised for a run at making the Chicago roster this season--assuming normalcy was the order of the day.

The status of Cub first baseman Mark Grace, a free agent, is uncertain. Franco bats left-handed, a selling point for pinch-hitting duties. He has played the outfield.

“You just hope they settle it before too long,” Franco said. “Otherwise, I just get another year older.”

He isn’t flying solo. Franco is one of seven area players listed on a 40-man roster who has yet to reach the majors. Each is sitting home. They would rather be in camp, battling for big-league spots, seeking exposure in exhibition games and receiving coaching expertise from the big-league staff.

For the sake of argument, assume the strike is settled after a couple of months. Since Franco’s been stuck in neutral, he could miss an opportunity to play extensively in Chicago while the major leaguers get up to speed. Another minor leaguer, somebody not on the 40-man roster, might steal his thunder.

A terrifying thought: Out of sight, out of mind. Another: Out of cash.

No plans have been finalized for minor-league players on the 40-man roster to receive rainy-day funds set aside by major-leaguers in anticipation of the strike. However, compensation for players like Franco has been informally discussed at union meetings. Big-league union members started receiving strike-fund payments last fall.

Though minor-leaguers don’t draw paychecks until April under normal circumstances, the strike-fund issue remains another point of uncertainty.

“It’s frustrating,” said Joe Rosselli, a pitcher in the San Francisco Giants’ system. “We’re not even making union money. They can survive off (their salaries) for months.”

Rosselli, a left-hander who graduated from Alemany High, made $2,000 a month in triple A last summer, “before taxes.” He expected to be called up in September. He stood to make $6,000 a month if he played this season at triple A.

As far as the majors were concerned, September never came. Neither did October. Spring is pretty much shot, too. The Giants’ starting rotation is unsettled and Rosselli, 22, would have received a long look from team officials.

“I figured I had an outside chance at the making the major-league roster,” he said. “I was really looking forward to giving it a shot.”

Shot down instead.

Bobby Hughes, a second-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1992, is spinning his wheels. He should be playing ball. Instead, he’s roller-blading to stay in shape.

“I’d love to be in Arizona,” said Hughes, who hit .278 in double A last summer. “I’m probably in the best shape of my life. I’m ready to play.

“I get up every morning and I want to go to the ballpark. It isn’t so much the physical as mental anguish.”

Hughes, who turns 25 this month, attended some union meetings in Los Angeles over the winter. He heard about the salient issues firsthand from the likes of Cecil Fielder, Kenny Lofton and Bob Scanlan. Nonetheless, he remains frustrated over the deadlock and with good reason.

By the time Hughes was added to the 40-man roster in November, the strike was three months old.

“The meetings have been one big whitewash,” he said.

“It’s all a bunch of ifs, buts and maybes. There’s been no positive news.”

Like the big-leaguers, Hughes and his compatriots have been left to their own devices regarding conditioning.

Hughes hits daily at an indoor batting cage in Glendale. Rosselli is practicing at his alma mater. Just back from winter ball, Franco will begin workouts this week at Moorpark College.

To a man, they wait for the fateful phone call telling them when to report.

“We’re strongly affected by this,” said Hughes, who played at Notre Dame High and USC.

“I felt this was my year to make a huge impression on the organization. I’m mentally and physically prepared to go right now.”

Rio Mesa High’s Dmitri Young (St. Louis Cardinals), La Canada’s Matt Whisenant (Florida Marlins) and St. Francis’ Gregg Zaun (Baltimore Orioles) also are 40-man roster members with no big-league experience.

Derek Wallace, a Chatsworth High product and another member of the Cubs’ 40-man roster, said he understands what big-leaguers are doing for him.

“They’ve sacrificed a lot more money than we have,” said Wallace, a reliever who had nine saves between double- and triple-A ball last season.

Ballplayers are by nature a confident bunch. Most feel they’ll make it to the big leagues eventually, which is about the only carrot they have these days.

“In the past, guys in front of (the current strikers) made sacrifices,” said Wallace, 24.

“Now they’re getting the benefits. We’ll get the benefits from this strike.”