Grissom and Cone Traded : Baseball: Expo outfielder goes to Braves. Cy Young Award winner returns to Toronto.

The post-strike baseball purges continued Thursday as the Montreal Expos sent outfielder Marquis Grissom to the Atlanta Braves and the Kansas City Royals traded Cy Young Award winner David Cone and his $5-million salary to the Toronto Blue Jays for three minor leaguers.

In return for Grissom, Montreal got outfielders Roberto Kelly and Tony Tarasco and minor league pitcher Esteban Yan. Atlanta will pay much of Kelly’s 1994 salary of $3.4 million.

“As I told John (Schuerholz, the Braves’ general manager) earlier today, I think this basically will bring a world championship to the Braves at some point. It definitely makes them a much better club,” Montreal General Manager Kevin Malone said.

Of the Cone trade, Royal General Manager Herk Robinson said: “Our No. 1 goal is to keep baseball in Kansas City and keep it viable. That’s what we want to do the most.”

The Grissom deal capped a two busy days for the Expos, who dealt pitchers Ken Hill and John Wetteland on Wednesday as a midnight Friday deadline neared to offer players salary arbitration. Montreal chose to trade the three rather than risk losing in arbitration and being forced to pay salaries they say they can’t afford.

The Braves beat out the Florida Marlins in the final bidding for Grissom, a leadoff hitter with power, speed and excellent defensive skills.

Schuerholz and Malone worked out the deal over the course of a few hours after Malone walked to the Braves offices and sat down with Schuerholz. Atlanta and Montreal share Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach during spring training and their two offices are only a couple hundred yards apart.

Montreal claims it lost $15 million because of the strike and already has jettisoned three of its four highest-salaried players from 1994, when the Expos had the best record in baseball.

Atlanta is getting a center fielder who hit .288 in 1994 with 11 homers, 45 RBIs and 36 stolen bases.

“It’s happening,” Malone said of recent deals. “We’re just out front. The money--it’s starting to show that there’s not a lot of it.”

At the Expos camp, the other big secret Thursday was how much money changed hands in the Wetteland trade with the Yankees. Reports put the figure anywhere between $850,000 and $2 million, but one high-ranking baseball official, speaking on the condition he not be identified, said the latter number was probably more accurate.

“A lot of GMs thought I did a good job under the circumstances. They all know what’s going on here and they’ve been supportive,” Malone said. “The reaction has been very favorable on the Hill trade, except for the Blue Jays and Rockies, who thought they made better offers.”

The Royals got three minor-league prospects for Cone: infielders Chris Stynes and Tony Medrano and relief pitcher David Sinnes.

The day before dealing their best pitcher, the Royals, who claim they lost $25 million last season, unloaded their best outfielder, Brian McRae, to the Chicago Cubs for two prospects. Kansas City was furious the strike ended without securing revenue-sharing for small-market clubs.

Toronto was pleased at the return of Cone, who helped the Blue Jays win the 1992 World Series.

“David’s our No. 1 starter now,” Blue Jay Manager Cito Gaston said. “We’ll try to start the season with him. David is one of the premier pitchers in all of baseball.”

The two trades plus a few lesser moves have trimmed a $40-million payroll to about $30 million.

Cone, a union activist throughout the long strike, wasn’t bitter.

“It’s no secret I’ve got one year on my contract, and there’s no guarantee I would be with the Royals next year,” he said. “I’m still going to be a Royals fan. I’m still going to do a lot of good things in that community. But if you can’t play for your hometown, then Toronto’s a great place to be. It’s a class organization just like the Royals.”

The Royals admit they’ve weakened the club in the short run.

“Sometimes you have to bite some real tough bullets,” first-year Manager Bob Boone said. “You can’t hide the fact that taking a Cy Young winner out of your rotation is a blow to the quality of your rotation. But nobody said it was going to be easy. I’m not going to cry in my beer and say poor me. What we’re looking at is the long-term health of this organization.”

Cone, a Kansas City native and one of the team’s most popular players, was 16-5 with a 2.94 ERA in the strike-shortened 1994 season and has a 111-70 career record with a 3.12 ERA.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Phillies plugged the remaining hole in their starting lineup by signing free agent third baseman Charlie Hayes to a one-year, $1-million contract.

Hayes, who played the past two seasons with Colorado, could earn an additional $500,000 if he meets incentives in the contract.

He returns to Philadelphia, where he played his first three full major league seasons, because of the move of Dave Hollins to first base.