BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES : Yankees Acquire Honeycutt From A’s

The New York Yankees, seeking a left-handed reliever in their bid for the wild-card playoff berth in the American League, acquired Rick Honeycutt from the Oakland Athletics.

The 41-year-old Honeycutt, a 19-year major leaguer, was obtained for an undisclosed amount of cash. He was 5-1 with a 2.42 earned-run average and two saves in 49 relief appearances with Oakland.

To make room for Honeycutt on their 40-man roster, the Yankees designated right-hander Jeff Patterson for assignment.

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Carlos Perez of the Montreal Expos posted bond and walked out of jail in Atlanta after a judge refused to drop rape charges against him.

The 24-year-old rookie pitcher was arrested Saturday on charges of rape and aggravated sodomy after a 20-year-old woman accused him of forcing her to have sex in his hotel room after they met on a blind date.

Perez said he wants to pitch this week, and Expo General Manager Kevin Malone said Perez could be on the mound as early as Thursday in Montreal against Cincinnati. He’ll rejoin the team today in Miami, where the Expos are playing the Florida Marlins.

“All I can say is that I’m not guilty,” Perez said.

The pitcher was released on $50,000 bond after Municipal Court Judge Howard Johnson turned over the case to Fulton County Superior Court.

Superior Court Judge Philip Etheridge agreed to let Perez go free but said he must have no contact with the victim.

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A proposal to build a new baseball stadium in Seattle fell behind as election officials counted 18,000 absentee ballots on the measure.

John Charles, manager of the King County elections division, said the latest results show the stadium proposal down by 1,535 votes out of more than 488,000 cast with several thousand votes still to be counted.

Charles said the remaining ballots would not be counted until Thursday. They include between 1,000 and 2,000 “special ballots” that are under investigation and a handful of ballots that were postmarked by last Tuesday’s election but have not yet arrived at the elections division. The results are not expected to be official until Friday.

The proposed $286-million retractable-roof stadium would be funded by a 0.1 percent sales tax increase that would also provide $170 million in improvements and repairs to the indoor Kingdome, where the NFL Seattle Seahawks would continue to play.

Mariner owners, whose Kingdome lease expires after next season, have threatened to sell the team if they don’t get a new stadium by 1999.