Stoneman Has Been in This Position Before

Few people in baseball know how a work stoppage can damage a franchise as well as Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman, who was the Montreal Expos’ vice president for baseball operations for 15 seasons.

Stoneman said the 1994 strike put the Expos in a tailspin they have never recovered from, reaching the point where they were a contraction candidate last winter.

The Expos may have been the best team in baseball in 1994, with a roster that included Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom, Ken Hill, Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker and John Wetteland. They were eight games ahead of the Atlanta Braves and pulling away in the NL East when the strike hit.

“We were running away,” Stoneman said. “It was a lot of fun and then it stopped.”

The strike did more than just derail their season. It made key Expos exports before play resumed in 1995. Walker left as a free agent and Hill, Grissom and Wetteland were traded.

“The Expos never recovered,” Stoneman said. “The work stoppage cost the club $16 million-$17 million. When we added it all up, we figured that was exactly what it was going to cost us to have Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom, Ken Hill and John Wetteland. The team was quickly very different and not as good.”

Stoneman doesn’t see the same potential for disaster with the Angels if there is a strike this season.

“The ownership is very different and much more stable,” he said. “This is a better baseball environment than Montreal. It is not fair to draw comparisons.”

*

Tim Salmon, who has missed 15 games because of a bruise on his left hand, did not call it a setback, but he was disappointed Wednesday that his injury had not healed enough for him to return to the lineup.

Salmon had a cortisone injection Friday and was told to remain inactive for three to five days. Salmon went through hand exercises Tuesday and swung a bat briefly Wednesday but felt no closer to returning the lineup.

“It is not healing by my timetable,” Salmon said. “I feel like it has gone from 10 to three, pain-wise.... I feel so much pressure to push this thing and rightfully so. I should do everything I can to get back into the lineup. But my goal is not just to play, it’s to play and be productive. I don’t want to get back and just stink it up for the final four weeks.

“If I had a nine-to-five job, I’d be just great. But I have to pick up a bat and swing it.”

TONIGHT

ANGEL’S

KEVIN APPIER

(12-9, 3.83 ERA)

vs.

DEVIL RAYS’

TANYON STURTZE

(2-13, 5.00 ERA)

Edison Field, 7

TV--Channel 9.

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

Update--Orlando Palmeiro, who missed Tuesday’s game with bruised ribs, returned to the Angel lineup Wednesday. Angel reliever Dennis Cook is scheduled to pitch one inning in his second rehab start for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga tonight.

Tickets--(714) 663-9000.