DuPuy Will Replace Beeston

Baseball’s slow-oving labor talks recessed Wednesday night as management prepared to announce a major administrative shakeup.

Bob DuPuy, the longtime lawyer for Commissioner Bud Selig and a new member of the owners’ negotiating team, will replace Paul Beeston as baseball’s president and chief operating officer, the sport’s No. 2 position.

In another move to be announced today, Tampa Bay Devil Ray Chief Operating Officer John McHale will become Major League Baseball’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer, a post held by DuPuy since September 1999.

Jonathan Mariner, a former executive vice president of the Florida Marlins, will become senior vice president and chief financial officer, replacing Jeff White, who had held the post for more than a decade.

Both the moves and the timing were confirmed by a high-ranking baseball official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

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Florida Marlin catcher Charles Johnson has a sprained left thumb, and the team doesn’t know if he’ll be ready for the opener on April 2.

Johnson was hurt Monday when his left hand hit Montreal Expo first baseman Joe Vitiello while passing the base after hitting a grounder to third.

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The Boston Red Sox received permission to talk with Cleveland bench coach Grady Little in their effort to hire a manager by the weekend.

But that doesn’t mean he’s the leading candidate to succeed Joe Kerrigan, who was fired Tuesday, interim General Manager Mike Port said.

Oakland bench coach Ken Macha has been mentioned as a possibility, interim Manager Mike Cubbage said he wants a chance, and Port said individuals are being considered who do not need permission to talk with the Red Sox.

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Jim Beattie is returning to the Expos. Beattie, who resigned as the team’s general manager and vice president in October, was hired as a special assistant to General Manager and Vice President Omar Minaya.

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Baltimore Oriole catcher Brook Fordyce, who nearly died when an artery ruptured near his stomach, learned he does not have cancer.

Fordyce was at his Florida home Jan. 23 when he became nauseous and staggered to a bathroom after the artery between his esophagus and stomach ruptured.

He lost five pints of blood, spitting it up for nearly three hours before passing out, hitting his head on the wall.

The sound woke his wife, Jaci, who called for an ambulance.

Doctors still haven’t determined what caused the incident, but the result of the biopsy brought Fordyce a measure of relief.

“For me, it’s been easy to get over it. For my wife, it was difficult,” he said.

Fordyce might have died if he hadn’t received medical attention that night, but he’s convinced that it was an isolated incident that won’t happen again.

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Twin third baseman Corey Koskie will return to Minnesota today to have his sprained wrist examined by a hand specialist.

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John Parrish, who was vying for a spot in the Orioles’ bullpen, probably will sit out the season after tearing a knee ligament in an exhibition game.