Cubs’ GM Lynch Is Stepping Aside

Ed Lynch, whose offer to resign as general manager of the struggling Chicago Cubs was refused in mid-May, got no such reprieve this time as he stepped down from the job on Wednesday.

Team president Andy MacPhail, who had urged patience earlier, accepted Lynch’s resignation and will assume the general manager duties himself, less than two weeks before the trade deadline.

“It was easy to see his frustration,” MacPhail said. “I was frustrated along with him. So it really wasn’t a surprise.”

The Cubs are 40-53, despite new Manager Don Baylor and the acquisition of Eric Young, Damon Buford, Ismael Valdes, Joe Girardi and Ricky Gutierrez.

He said the Sammy Sosa trade soap opera did not affect his decision to resign.

Lynch will help the Cubs with major league scouting and be involved in their Arizona fall league and instructional league operations next year.

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Colorado outfielder Brian Hunter and Cincinnati Red reliever Scott Sullivan were suspended for three games and fined by baseball for fighting last week when Hunter charged the mound after being hit near the head by a Sullivan pitch.

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The Toronto Blue Jays shook up their rotation, acquiring right-hander Esteban Loaiza from the Texas Rangers and sending struggling right-hander Chris Carpenter to the bullpen.

In exchange for Loaiza, the Blue Jays sent two minor leaguers to the Rangers. Loaiza, 28, was 5-6 with a 5.37 earned-run average for the Rangers. Carpenter is 7-9 with a 6.66 ERA.

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Baseball has turned down the New York Mets’ protest of the opener of the July 8 two-ballpark doubleheader against the New York Yankees over a play in which first baseman Todd Zeile was ruled to have stood in Chuck Knoblauch’s way before he was thrown out trying to stretch a single. Knoblauch was awarded second base by umpire Robb Cook.

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Florida Marlin right-hander Alex Fernandez will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery today on his shoulder for the second time in less than three years. . . . Barry Larkin, Cincinnati’s 11-time all-star shortstop, says the Reds have told him he will be traded or allowed to become a free agent because the team can’t afford his asking price of $27.9 million for three years on a new contract. . . . Milwaukee’s Jeromy Burnitz broke off talks with the team on a long-term contract extension, frustrated as the club heads for its eighth consecutive losing season. He is signed through the 2001 season. . . . Mark Wohlers, the former Atlanta Brave star reliever who has been trying to overcome adversity and regain his old form, was promoted from triple-A Louisville to the Cincinnati Reds’ roster. . . . The Baltimore Orioles waived reliever Darren Holmes, who had a 25.08 ERA in five games. . . . After a failed attempt to reach the United States last month, Cuban baseball star Andy Morales made it. Morales, a 25-year-old third baseman, was in federal custody after landing in the Florida Keys.