BASEBALL / BOB NIGHTENGALE : Twins’ Fire Sale Has Puckett Fuming--and Seeking to Leave

Minnesota Twin outfielder Kirby Puckett is threatening to exercise an escape clause in his contract at the end of the season and declare himself a free agent.

Puckett, a 10-time all-star, is seething over the Twins’ fire sale and can’t stomach the thought of playing for a loser for the final two years of his contract.

“To me it seems the organization doesn’t want to win,” Puckett said. “I think that’s the message they’re sending. Who’s going to want to come here and play? You trade your best players, and what free agent at the end of the year is going to want to come here? It’s not a good message. I think it’s garbage.”

Yet, while Puckett may threaten to leave, the truth is that no one would come close to matching the $5-million guarantee in 1996 and $6-million guarantee in 1997 under his existing contract.

HEY BUDDY, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?

Montreal Expo General Manager Kevin Malone, who’s still unsure whether baseball will work in Montreal, received assurances this week from ownership that the club’s fire sale is over.

He informed the Padres, among other teams, that left fielder Moises Alou is staying put.

“We can’t get the payroll any lower and still be competitive,” said Malone, whose current payroll is $10,593,000. “If we’re not in this to win, I’ve got to move along. I mean, what kind of message are we sending here? What are we in business for?”

PSST, OVER HERE

While the Dodgers are red-faced over releasing left-handed reliever Ed Vosberg this spring, only to see him tear up the American League for the Texas Rangers, they at least saved themselves a colossal all-star embarrassment.

Vosberg, 4-2 with a 2.60 earned-run average, was arrested this week for scalping his six all-star tickets outside the Ballpark in Arlington. He said he merely was trying to cover his brother’s travel expenses from Phoenix when he was caught by an undercover cop.

“I made a mistake,” Vosberg said. “No one’s more embarrassed about it than I am.”

Vosberg faces a maximum $500 fine.

BABY, IT’S OVER

There are only three major league ballparks still in use since the Cleveland Indians last were in postseason in 1954, but oh, how times have changed.

Cleveland began the second half with a record of 46-21 and had the largest lead (12 games) of any American League team since the start of divisional play in 1969.

If Cleveland were to maintain that .687 winning percentage, it would finish with a record of 99-45. That would leave the Royals having to finish 67-12 (.848) and the White Sox going 72-6 (.923) to pass Cleveland.

Even if Cleveland plays .500 ball in the second half, the Royals would have to go 53-26 (.671) and the White Sox 58-20 (.744) to pass them.

Message: Order your playoff tickets now.

AROUND THE DIAMOND

The Atlanta Braves are talking to the Toronto Blue Jays in an attempt to pry away all-star second baseman Roberto Alomar. The Braves desperately need another right-handed hitter. They are batting only .240 with eight homers from the right side. They have let it be known that outfielder Mike Kelly and relievers Mike Stanton and Kent Mercker are available. The Braves had hoped that Tony Graffanino, 23, would be the heir apparent to Mark Lemke, but he has developed a potential career-ending back condition. . . . One of most coveted pitchers in baseball is the Cardinals’ Ken Hill, who’s eligible for free agency at the season’s conclusion. Hill, who earns $4.375 million this season, told the Cardinals he won’t be coming back. The Cardinals privately say he will be gone by July 31 to the highest bidder.

Although July 31 is the trading deadline after which players can’t be dealt without being put on waivers, few expect it will be much of a hindrance this year. “You won’t be seeing too many claims,” Detroit Tiger General Manager Joe Klein said, “for the simple reason that if you claim one of those guys, you might be get stuck with him.” . . . While it may seem to be the handiwork of principal owner George Steinbrenner, actually New York Yankee Manager Buck Showalter is the one who fired pitching coach Billy Connors. Showalter wanted to fire him a year ago. . . . The Giants would like to bring up double-A starter Steve Bourgeois, who has eight victories and a 2.38 ERA, lowest in the organization. Yet, Bourgeois was a replacement player, and the Giant players already drove off replacement infielder Joel Chimelis . . . Jeremy Burnitz, former Met outfielder now is in the Cleveland organization, on Met Manager Dallas Green: “He’s clueless. To be a successful manager in the big leagues, I think you’d have to be able to deal with young people. And that means you don’t rip them publicly every time they do something wrong. You’ve got to give people a chance, especially young people, but he doesn’t. He gets off on being confrontational. Look what he did to me. Look what he did to Pete Schourek. He tried to destroy us. Every time I put on a Met uniform, I always felt he was wearing a different one. I never felt we were on the same team.” Burnitz should be a happy man in a couple of months. Met General Manager Joe McIlvaine plans to fire Green at the season’s conclusion and will replace him with either Bobby Valentine or Mike Cubbage.

Yankee third baseman Wade Boggs on the new rule changes designed to speed up the game: “Everybody wants to be Abner Doubleday and change this and that. The game has changed 20 minutes in the last 20 years. If that’s a problem, let’s start playing cricket out there.” . . . Just what is the key to the Rockies’ bid for their first division championship? The Rockies are 26-10 when their starter goes at least six innings, but are 13-20 when they go fewer than six. “For this team to win,” outfielder Dante Bichette said, “we have to believe in ourselves because that’s the only thing keeping us from winning.” . . . Cleveland is looking to wrap up the World Series as well as the division title with its attempts to acquire Met pitcher Bret Saberhagen.

The Phillies are planning to dump first baseman Dave Hollins by the end of the season. They then plan to move Lenny Dykstra from center field to left and Greg Jefferies from left to first base. . . . How good are things for Cleveland these days? Outfielder Albert Belle has yet to be suspended, which would end his four-year streak of being suspended from three to 10 games from everything from a corked bat to throwing ball at a fan. Yet, Belle was up to his old tricks this week when he canceled his appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman” on Wednesday. He says he was too tired. It’s the same excuse he used a month ago when there was a news conference to announce his new candy bar. . . . Dave Pavlas, who last played professional baseball in this country in 1992, became the Yankees’ first replacement player. “Basically, I’m going to treat him like a scab, to tell you the truth,” Yankee captain Don Mattingly said. ‘But he’s a scab who’s on our team. There’s going to be a point where he’s out there with us on the field, but after that. . . .”

While the Dodgers may consider free-agent second baseman Roberto Alomar too expensive this winter, don’t be surprised if they go after Houston Astro second baseman Craig Biggio, who also becomes a free agent. . . . The Yankees, Indians and Angels are leading the pursuit for starter David Cone, according to a Blue Jay official, but the Angels may instead grab Twin starter Kevin Tapani. . . . Giant reliever Rod Beck, who didn’t blow a save last year, already has blown five this season. . . . The Padres are talking to the Mets about Bobby Bonilla, to the Pirates about Jeff King and to the Cardinals about Ken Hill.

NAMES AND NUMBERS

Chicago White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas says he isn’t too impressed after seeing Hideo Nomo in the All-Star game.

“Randy Johnson is a more dominant pitcher,” Thomas said. “Bottom line, the hype is that he’s the first Japanese player to play in the major leagues. He’s got very good stuff, but not the intimidating pitcher they make him out to be.”

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Manager Davey Johnson of the Cincinnati Reds after learning that disabled first baseman Brian Hunter had been married over the All-Star break and then joined the Class AAA Indianapolis team in Nashville for a rehabilitative assignment:

“A honeymoon in Nashville, now that’s doing real rehab.”

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The San Francisco Giants considered Robby Thompson one of the finest second basemen in the game in 1993 when he batted .312 with 19 homers and 65 RBIs. They rewarded him with a three-year, $11.625-million contract.

Thompson has responded by hitting .204 with four homers and 19 RBIs, with three stints on the disabled list.

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How is Charlie Hough doing these days since his hip replacement surgery? He played 36 holes of golf last Sunday, 18 more on Monday and 27 on Tuesday.

“I’m limping halfway decent,” he said.

Most difficult, he added, has been trying to explain to Al Campanis, general manager of the independent Palm Spring Suns, that his career is over.

“I said, ‘Boss, I can barely walk. If I could pitch, I’d be in the big leagues.’ ”

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Mickey Mantle, upon spotting sports memorabilia collector Barry Helper at his news conference: “Hey Barry, did you buy my liver?”

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The Oakland Athletics are fed up with outfielder Ruben Sierra and are pleading for someone to take him off their hands.

“There comes a point when you can’t accept it anymore,” pitcher Dave Stewart said. “With a player like Ruben, it’s hard to understand how a player with all those abilities can have all those inconsistencies. He’s got a ton of ability, but he doesn’t show up every day.”

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The Milwaukee Brewers opened the second half of the season with a record seven rookies on their 12-man pitching staff. Four of them are in the starting rotation--Steve Sparks, Scott Karl, Brian Givens and Sid Roberson. None had thrown a pitch in the major leagues before this year.

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Athletics’ first baseman Mark McGwire after hearing Blue Jay pitcher David Cone’s explanation that his pitch that hit McGwire in the head was accidental:

“I don’t think it matters whether it’s intentional or not. The fact is he hit me in the head. It’s like the drunk driver saying he didn’t mean to hit the little kid crossing the street.”