DODGERS : Karros, Ashley Don’t Waste Any Time Reporting

First baseman Eric Karros and outfielder Billy Ashley landed from their red-eye flight at 6:20 a.m. Tuesday, rented a car in Orlando, and by 9 were staring at a whole lot of unfamiliar name tags in the Dodger clubhouse.

“I can’t tell you how good it feels to be here,” Ashley said. “I’m shocked really. The way things were going there, I didn’t think we’d be back until July.

“It’s been so long, we wanted to make sure we were the first ones here.”

Karros and Ashley unofficially inaugurated the opening of the Dodger spring training camp with their early morning arrival, but perhaps what really signified the return of major league baseball was the spring’s first trade rumor.

The hot rumor of the day was that the Dodgers were engaged in trade talks with Montreal in an attempt to acquire All-Star center fielder Marquis Grissom for outfielder Todd Hollandsworth or possibly Ashley. There was one problem. Expo General Manager Kevin Malone said Tuesday that he has not talked with Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, in six weeks.

No matter what happens, life will be different for the Dodgers this year. When Karros walked into the clubhouse and scanned the name tags, he realized that shortstop Jose Offerman is the only returning player from the opening day lineup of only three years ago.

“It’s like a bomb hit the veteran guys and wiped them all out,” Karros said. “It’s kind of scary. I guess it means I can’t live off that Rookie of the Year (award) anymore.”

Karros and All-Star catcher Mike Piazza, who arrived later in the day, suddenly find themselves as team leaders on a club that has only five players 30 or older. The Dodgers have only three weeks to gel, and determine who will join Raul Mondesi in the outfield with Brett Butler gone, who’ll be in the rotation with Orel Hershiser and Kevin Gross gone, who’ll be in the bullpen with Roger McDowell and Jim Gott gone, and who’ll start at shortstop.

It leaves little time, Dodger players say, to harbor any grudges. There still may be no settlement, and the players wonder exactly what was accomplished during the 7 1/2-month work stoppage, but a truce has been called.

“We’re professionals,” Piazza said, “but that doesn’t mean there’s not going to be a little bit of resentment there. The bottom line is that we’re back, and we need to stay put.”

Said Ashley: “I think there’s a lot of animosity from fans toward us. We’ve got our work cut out for us before they accept us back with open arms.”

Dodger management also is trying to ensure a peaceful clubhouse by not inviting any replacement players to camp. It’s unlikely, the Dodgers say, that any will join the team this season.

Said Ashley, who prefers playing right field but is scheduled to be the opening day left fielder: “The thing I didn’t like was hearing those guys say that fans were glad to see them play, and how they had more heart than us because they’re out there playing baseball.

“Well, I spent my whole life trying to get to the big leagues, and I didn’t have to be a replacement player to do it. So for someone to say I don’t have heart, I find that hard to swallow.”

If they had no passion for the game, surely Ashley and Karros would not have arrived in town on little sleep, searched for a house to rent and been back at Dodgertown for batting practice and fielding drills.

“I don’t know whether anything was accomplished the last 7 1/2 months,” Piazza said. “The thing is now, we’ve got to stay. It’s safe to say the fans will turn on us pretty good if we walk out again.

“It’s time to put integrity back in the game.”

Dodger Notes

The Dodgers will play a 12-game spring-training schedule beginning April 13 at Holman Stadium against the Florida Marlins, according to a National League official. The Dodgers will play six games at home and six on the road, with seven of their games scheduled against the New York Mets and Florida Marlins.

The tentative schedule:

April 13: Florida Marlins; April 14: New York Yankees; April 15: at Florida: April 16: Montreal Expos; April 17: at Yankees; April 18: at New York Mets; April 19: Houston Astros; April 20: Mets; April 21: at Houston; April 22: at Florida; April 23: Mets; April 24: at Mets.