Irabu Can Show His Independence

Hideki Irabu took his 100-mph fastball and went home.

The right-hander, unable to sign with the New York Yankees as he wished, got on a plane Wednesday in Los Angeles and followed through with his threat to return to Japan.

Even if the San Diego Padres don’t deal his rights to the Yankees, Irabu could end up pitching in North America this summer, albeit at a much lower level.

The Regina Cyclones of the independent Prairie League sent a letter to baseball officials in both New York and Tokyo on Wednesday, notifying them they will pursue Irabu for the 1997 season and asking whether such a deal would jeopardize his future in major league ball.

“I don’t believe anybody knows of a rule,” Cyclone owner Dave Ferguson said. “I think the independent leagues would be a perfect place to play until all his problems and controversies are rectified.”

On Tuesday, Irabu’s agent said the Japanese commissioner was quoted in Japanese newspapers as saying that if Irabu goes to an independent league, he will be suspended.

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Cincinnati shortstop Barry Larkin got a cortisone shot in his sore left heel and was told to rest for a few days. Larkin has sat out the last week of spring games because of swelling at the base of the Achilles’ tendon and in a bursa sac in the heel. . . . Chris Sabo was given his unconditional release by the Seattle Mariners. Sabo, 35, who played third base for Seattle Manager Lou Piniella on Piniella’s 1990 World Series champions at Cincinnati, was among seven players cut by the Mariners. . . . The Cleveland Indians, who expect to be without Jose Mesa when the season opens, have asked the American League for a roster exemption while the star closer is on trial for a rape charge. . . . Two owners of a restaurant chain with a minority interest in the Cincinnati Reds said they want to sell a 6.66% share of the club for $10 million. Barry Nussbaum and Jerry Ruyan of Frisch’s Restaurants Inc. triggered an internal dispute with Frisch’s, accusing the two in a statement of grandstanding by taking their plan public. . . . Veteran outfielder Luis Polonia signed with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who announced he will spend the 1997 season with the Mexico City Tigers of the Mexican League. The Devil Rays begin play in 1998.