Williams to Miss All-Star Game Again

San Francisco third baseman Matt Williams will sit out Tuesday’s All-Star game because of a badly bruised elbow, the Giants announced. It will be his second consecutive All-Star game missed because of injury.

San Diego’s Ken Caminiti will take Williams’ spot on the roster for the game in Philadelphia, and Atlanta’s Chipper Jones probably will replace him in the starting lineup.

Williams will spend the All-Star break in Los Angeles, where San Francisco opens a four-game series Thursday, to receive treatment.

Williams sat out last year’s game at Arlington, Texas, because of a broken foot, although he did attend the game.

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Baseball owners will hire a new top man after a labor agreement is reached, acting commissioner Bud Selig said, reiterating that he is not a candidate.

“It’s not going to be me, and I have said that right from the beginning,” Selig said on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “I have never deviated since September of 1992.”

Baseball has been without a commissioner since Fay Vincent resigned under pressure on Sept. 7, 1992, and without a collective bargaining agreement since Dec. 31, 1993.

Selig said baseball eventually will expand to 32 teams, but that it may not happen by the target date of the 2000 season. He also said that although he is reluctant to have teams change cities, he wouldn’t rule out a possible move by Houston to northern Virginia.

“[Drayton] McLane has never officially asked us for anything and really hasn’t discussed it for a long time,” he said of the Astros’ owner. “I wouldn’t want to say there is no chance, but at this point, he has made no formal or informal request to move his club.”

The last baseball team to move was the Washington Senators, who became the Texas Rangers after the 1971 season.

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Julio Franco’s right hamstring is not torn, but Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove does not know when he will return. Franco aggravated the injury in Saturday’s game.