Wallach’s Injury May Be Trouble in a Lot of Ways : Dodgers: With roster deadline near, replacement player Busch is called up to play third, repercussions expected.

It was the news Dodger players have feared all season, and Monday night several vowed there will be repercussions after learning that replacement player Mike Busch will join the team today to replace third baseman Tim Wallach.

“There’s going to be problems,” one influential Dodger player said, “big problems. Why would they want to screw up the chemistry of the clubhouse by bringing up a scab? It’s not going to work.”

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda conceded there likely will be unrest in his clubhouse but hopes that his players overlook Busch’s decision to play in spring training games while the rest of the 40-man roster was on strike.

“Let’s put it this way,” Lasorda said, “I know there are going to be some guys who won’t feel good about it, but our guys are understanding. I don’t think they’ll make it rough on him.”

The move became necessary, the Dodgers said, when they discovered that Wallach’s season probably is over. An MRI test confirmed that not only is the posterior cruciate ligament torn in Wallach’s left knee, but also there is another tear inside the knee from an apparent old injury. Wallach now faces the prospect of season-ending surgery but said he will delay any decision until he’s examined again in a few days.

“It’s a lot for Tim to think about,” said Fred Claire, executive vice president. “We didn’t want to force Tim to make a decision. We want to give him time.”

The Dodgers, however, are running out of time. They put Wallach on the 15-day disabled list. They began telephoning clubs in an attempt to make a trade before the 9 p.m. Thursday deadline when playoff rosters must be submitted. They again expressed interest in Chicago White Sox all-star third baseman Robin Ventura, and looked into Terry Pendleton of the Florida Marlins and Sean Berry of the Montreal Expos.

But for at least the time being, they knew someone had to be called up and added to the roster.

The Dodgers, who last month traded triple-A infielder Ron Coomer to the Minnesota Twins in the Kevin Tapani/Mark Guthrie deal, knew that Busch was the logical choice. He was hitting .269 with 18 homers and 60 runs batted in. Still, it required debate.

“We’ve got to respond to the needs of the team,” Claire said. “And without question the best player in our organization to try to replace Tim Wallach is Mike Busch.

“Let’s put it on the table: We have to make short-term evaluations. We don’t have the luxury of time. What we do depends a lot on how he’s able to perform.”

It could also depend on the team’s reaction toward Busch. The San Francisco Giants refused to play with replacement player Joel Chimelis two months ago, and he was sent back to the minors. The San Diego Padres voted against bringing up replacement player Ira Miller last month.

And last weekend, the Baltimore Orioles called up pitcher James Hurst, who spent the spring in the Texas Ranger organization. When player-representative Mike Mussina discovered that he was a replacement player, he informed General Manager Roland Hemond, who conveyed the information to owner Peter Angelos.

Angelos ordered that Hurst be released.

“I know it’s not going to be easy,” said Busch, who has been in the Dodger organization since 1990 but never made it to the major leagues. “A lot of guys were upset with me this spring when I made the decision. It wasn’t easy then, and it’s not now.

“It was just a decision I had to make and that I’m going to have to live with.

“I know it had its own stipulations, but I had to think of my family first. When the Dodgers took me off the [40-man] roster over the winter, I still had to prove I could play.

“This is the only way I knew how.”

The promotion of Busch coincides with tonight’s homecoming of center fielder Brett Butler, a staunch union supporter. Butler was candid about his hostilities toward replacement players this spring, and some still believe it’s the reason the Dodgers pulled their $3.5-million offer away from Butler. The Dodgers, however, insist it was strictly an economic decision.

“Everyone is going to treat him on an individual basis,” Butler said the other day, “but I think for any scab players there will be repercussions.”