St. Louis Drops Gaetti for Tatis

The St. Louis Cardinals designated third baseman Gary Gaetti for assignment Saturday.

The move means that after 10 days, if the Cardinals haven’t traded him, Gaetti will be free to sign with any team.

Gaetti, 39, in his third season with the Cardinals, was hitting .265 with 11 homers and 43 runs batted in. The Cardinals acquired third-baseman Fernando Tatis from Texas in a July 31 trade, making Gaetti expendable.

Gaetti has 343 career homers in a career that began in 1981 with Minnesota. He was part of the Twins’ 1987 World Series championship team, and also played for the Angels and Kansas City.

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Paul Molitor stole his 500th career base Saturday night, making him the fifth player in major league history to reach that milestone while also collecting 3,000 career hits.

The Minnesota Twins’ designated hitter singled leading off the third inning against Baltimore, his second single of the game and his 3,268th hit, 10th on the career list. Then he stole second.

Molitor, who will turn 42 on Aug. 22, joined Ty Cobb (4,191 hits, 892 steals), Honus Wagner (3,415, 722), Eddie Collins (3,315, 744) and Lou Brock (3,023, 938).

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Cleveland’s Jim Thome was put on the 15-day disabled list because of a broken bone in his right hand that’s expected to sideline the all-star first baseman four to six weeks.

Thome, who was batting .303 with 29 homers and 82 RBIs, was hit by a pitch by Tampa Bay’s Wilson Alvarez in the seventh inning of the Indians’ victory Friday night.

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The Texas Rangers put designated hitter Lee Stevens on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained muscle in his right rib cage.

Stevens strained the muscle going back into first base during Thursday night’s game against Boston. He struck out in his first two at-bats on Friday night and grimaced in obvious pain in the dugout.

To replace Stevens, the Rangers purchased the contract of outfielder Warren Newson from Oklahoma City of the Pacific Coast League.

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Former Chicago Cub Manager Jim Lefebvre will become the Milwaukee Brewers’ batting coach, replacing Lamar Johnson, the team said.

Lefebvre, 56, 1965 rookie of the year for the Dodgers, has not worked in the majors since being fired as Oakland’s hitting coach after the 1995 season.

Before their loss Saturday in Cincinnati, the Brewers ranked 11th in the 16-team National League with a .256 average. They were ninth in runs scored, 13th in total bases and had grounded into the most double plays (106).

Johnson, 47, was in his fourth year with Milwaukee. He was offered work elsewhere in the organization.

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A former New York Yankee clubhouse worker claims he was the victim of gay-bashing by players and maintains he was fired because he has the AIDS virus.

Paul Priore filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in the Bronx on July 29, contending that Yankees relief pitchers Mariano Rivera and Jeff Nelson and former reliever Bob Wickman made anti-gay remarks and played cruel pranks on him.

The 34-year-old former equipment man said the players threatened him between April and July 1996.

The lawsuit also accused General Manager Brian Cashman and major league administrator for baseball operations Thomas May, of ignoring the alleged abuse and falsely charging Priore with stealing team uniforms so they could fire him because he is HIV-positive.