Dodgers Looking to Deal Costly Infielders

The Chicago Cubs have joined the St. Louis Cardinals in expressing serious interest in Dodger second baseman Eric Young, baseball sources said Saturday.

Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone met with Cub General Manager Ed Lynch during the winter meetings in Anaheim in hopes of sending Young--and the remaining $9 million of the leadoff batter’s contract--to Chicago before the meetings end Tuesday. The Cubs are also interested in pitcher Ismael Valdes, and Malone and Lynch are scheduled to meet again today.

Also, Malone and St. Louis General Manager Walt Jocketty have resumed discussions regarding Young. The Dodgers and Cardinals reached an impasse on a potential multiplayer deal involving Young during the general managers’ meetings in November, but sources said the Cardinals are now more receptive to adding Young’s contract to their payroll.

However, the Cardinals are growing tired of discussing a potential deal and might back out today. The Cardinals want the Dodgers to pay part of Young’s contract, but Dodger Chairman Robert Daly isn’t willing to pay players to play elsewhere at this point.

“It could be an option at some point, but it’s an option that’s far down the road,” Malone said. “That’s just not our focus right now.”

Young is expendable because team officials consider him a liability defensively. It doesn’t appear the Dodgers will receive a leadoff batter in exchange for Young, but that doesn’t matter to Manager Davey Johnson, who has pushed for Young to be traded.

Johnson has said repeatedly that Young is not good enough to play second base regularly for a contending team. Moreover, Johnson and Young had a stormy relationship last season.

Although Daly and Malone said the problems between Johnson and Young can be resolved, others within the organization are less optimistic.

The Dodgers are trying to attach infielder Jose Vizcaino to Valdes in trade talks with many teams.

Malone wants to dump the remaining $3.5 million Vizcaino is owed in the final year of his contract. It appears Malone won’t accomplish his goal unless he persuades teams interested in Valdes to take the often-injured Vizcaino.

That has been difficult because Dodger team officials believe Vizcaino, 31, can’t play regularly at this stage of his career, and other teams are aware of their view of the former starting shortstop. Most teams consider $3.5 million too much for a utility player, and the Dodgers have been unwilling to pay part of the remainder of Vizcaino’s contract.

Malone will remove Vizcaino from an overwhelming offer for Valdes if keeping the players together would kill a deal. Some in the organization are concerned about trading the team’s second-best starter last season.

However, Valdes is expected to make as much as $6 million in arbitration, and the Dodgers are determined to dump payroll.

Malone also hopes to sign former Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser to replace Valdes, sources said. Malone has spoken with Hershiser, 41, about rejoining the Dodgers, for whom he pitched from 1983-94.

Hershiser--the 1988 National League Cy Young Award winner--went 13-12 with a 4.58 earned-run average for the New York Mets last season. He made almost $1.4 million in his only season with the Mets.

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Center fielder Jim Edmonds and closer Troy Percival both grew up in Southern California and envisioned playing their entire big league careers for the Angels, but Edmonds is the most likely Angel to be traded at the winter meetings, and Percival’s feelings toward Anaheim have changed dramatically since Tuesday’s departure of ace Chuck Finley.

“He hasn’t asked for a trade, but we’ve intimated [to General Manager Bill Stoneman] that if he can trade him to a contender, Troy would welcome that,” said Paul Cohen, the agent for both Percival, 30, and Edmonds, 29. “This is about as 180-degree of a reversal as we’ve had with a client.

“This is a guy who throughout his career has taken below-market value to stay in Anaheim, but that changed when Finley left. . . . Jim and Troy love being in Anaheim, but they want to play in October. That’s not to say Stoneman can’t make that happen, but looking at their pitching staff, it may be a couple of years.”

With Finley gone, the current Angel rotation consists of Tim Belcher, who recently underwent elbow surgery; Ken Hill, who has an arthritic elbow; and youngsters Ramon Ortiz, Jarrod Washburn and Brian Cooper. Stoneman is hoping to trade one of his extra outfielders for a starting pitcher, but that still may not vault them into contention.

Stoneman didn’t seem discouraged by Percival’s sentiments. “It’s something that you hear nowadays,” he said, “but I’m not thinking about trading Troy. As we stand right now, a number of our pitchers are less experienced, but everybody started out with no experience at some point.”

Percival, a fan favorite who has 73 saves in the last two seasons, is signed through 2000, but the Angels hold options for 2001 and 2002. Edmonds, who is entering the final year of his contract, has drawn interest from the Mets, Cubs, Rockies and Devil Rays, among others. He has given Cohen a list of nine teams that, if traded to, he would not sign a contract extension with.

“If he’s traded to any of those nine, he’s a rent-a-player,” said Cohen, who declined to name the teams. “There are also seven or eight teams that he feels are a perfect match for in terms of baseball and money.”

If Stoneman trades Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad or Tim Salmon instead of Edmonds, Cohen said Edmonds would be open to signing an extension with the Angels “because it’s home and because of the way the fans have treated him.”

Notes

The Indians bumped a two-year proposal to Chuck Finley to a firm three-year, $22-million offer and the Orioles chimed in with a three-year offer in the $20-$22-million range. Finley also has a three-year, $22-million offer from the Seattle Mariners, and the Red Sox are interested in the left-hander. . . . Charlie Strasser, longtime Dodger trainer, has been reassigned to another position in the organization, team sources said.