Florida Marlins fans have had to suffer through the painful downsizing of last year's world championship team. Now, there appears to be a chance that their suffering will soon be over, if only owner Wayne Huizenga will agree to sell the club to Boca Raton, Fla., billionaire John W. Henry.

Henry has offered Huizenga $150 million for the team, which is less than his $169 million asking price, but a lot more than the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals are selling for under similar circumstances.

Huizenga has responded to the offer unenthusiastically and continues to hold out hope that club president Don Smiley eventually will bring together an ownership group and go through with an earlier agreement to purchase the team.

Why does it matter to local fans? Because the Smiley group figures to stay the unhappy course that the club has navigated during the 1998 season and put a cut-rate product on the field for the next several years. Henry presumably will be infected with "new ownership syndrome" and pump money into the franchise to get it back into contention.

Why does it matter to Huizenga? Because he had a sweetheart deal worked out with Smiley that would preserve a limited ownership interest in the team and would maintain the relationship between the Marlins and SportsChannel Florida, which Huizenga also owns. That relationship would enhance the value of the cable network significantly for a pending sale.

Smiley also has agreed to pay Huizenga $15 million to buy out the Marlins' lease at Pro Player Stadium if the club succeeds in getting public funding for a new baseball-only stadium. That guarantee dies with the Smiley deal if Henry buys the franchise, but the lease would remain in effect.

Huizenga and his spokesmen are saying nothing about the offer, but Henry has gone public in a big way, calling a news conference on Tuesday to trumpet his desire to buy the club and assure that it will remain in South Florida.

"I am here to say that I am very serious about attempting to purchase the Florida Marlins," said Henry. "But if the seller doesn't want to sell, you can't get to the negotiating table."

Henry originally committed to joining Smiley's group but pulled out because he didn't agree with a business plan that called for more payroll cuts and included the threat to move the team out of Florida if a stadium deal is not struck.

"I'm not interested in making money," Henry said.

If that's true, he would be getting into the right business.

He seems like the perfect potential owner. He says he would spend money on the team and privately finance a new domed stadium. But that approach runs contrary to the current trend in baseball, so look for Huizenga and his fellow baseball owners to steer clear.

What's wrong with this?

Somebody -- maybe it was me -- once said that buying a lottery ticket is the triumph of hope over reason. The same has to go for the Atlanta Braves' decision to sign former Orioles left-hander Norm Charlton to a minor-league contract and quickly promote him to the major leagues.

"This is exactly the way I hoped it would work," said Charlton, whose combined ERA over the past two seasons starts with a seven. "After I got released by Baltimore, this was a good situation to come to. If you're not playing for the World Series, you're in the wrong sport."

Hope over reason. The Braves felt that Triple-A pitching coach Bill Fischer could work a miracle and give Charlton back the command he misplaced in Seattle last season. Soon after Fischer suggested a mechanical change, the club recalled Charlton to take the place of struggling Mark Wohlers in the Braves' bullpen.

"Fischer said he looked good and was ready to go," manager Bobby Cox said. "We'll get him in and see what he's got. He's a guy we look at to make our postseason roster."

Hope over reason. Charlton made his Braves debut on Wednesday night and allowed two hits, two walks and a wild pitch in one inning.

Hats off to Martinez

It may not seem all that important to American baseball fans, but Dennis Martinez's 244th career victory last week was taken very seriously in Latin America, where he now is the winningest pitcher in major-league history.

Martinez has fielded calls from the vice president of Nicaragua and the Nicaraguan ambassador to the United States and gotten countless congratulatory messages, including a fax from Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal, whose record he broke.

"That was nice [of Marichal], even though I didn't hear his voice," Martinez said. "He congratulated me for the achievement of overcoming his record and said he was very pleased with it. It was nice to get something like that."

Martinez even received a bottle of expensive champagne from reliever Randy Myers when he arrived at Qualcomm Stadium for last week's series between the Braves and San Diego Padres.

The Arizona Diamondbacks liked Tony Batista because he is a versatile infielder who can play three positions. His sudden power surge is a bonus.

Batista hit two home runs Tuesday, giving him five in a span of 20 at-bats and a career-high season total of 10 in 147 at-bats -- a home run ratio that would rank him alongside some of the game's top home run hitters if he could produce at the same level on an everyday basis.

"Tony's always had that potential," manager Buck Showalter said. "It was good to see him hit not only the fastball but the breaking ball, too. It makes you continue thinking good things about him. He's right what [Diamondbacks scout Ron Hassey] thought he'd be: power potential and a guy who can play three infield positions."

Batista has hit the franchise's first pinch homer, gone deep on Kerry Wood and had the second two-homer game of his career.

Red Sox resilience

The Boston Red Sox entered the weekend with 36 come-from-behind victories and had won 14 games in their final at-bat -- not the kind of stats that indicate the likelihood of a late-season collapse.

"It says something about how much character and how much heart these guys have," said shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, who won Tuesday night's game against the Kansas City Royals with a three-run homer in the 10th inning. "Everybody's going out there and doing their job, not looking for someone else to do it."

That is much in contrast to last year's club, according to designated hitter Mike Stanley, who recently was traded back to Boston by the Toronto Blue Jays.

"There are different expectations -- expectations of going out and winning," Stanley said. "There's an air of confidence and more life on the bench. It's not so much players waiting for things to happen, but trying to make them happen."

Eckersley moves up

Reliever Dennis Eckersley continued to solidify his Hall of Fame credentials by moving into second place on the all-time appearance list behind knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm. Eckersley jumped a rung when he appeared in his 1,051st game and passed Kent Tekulve.

Look for Orioles reliever Jesse Orosco to pass Tekulve sometime next year and challenge for the second spot on the all-time list if Eckersley decides to retire at the end of the season.

No waiting for Wood

Though there is some concern that Chicago Cubs phenom Kerry Wood is passing through a "dead arm phase" because of his heavy workload at the major-league level, manager Jim Riggleman will pass on an opportunity to get him an extra day's rest this weekend.

The Cubs had a day off on Thursday, which would have allowed Wood to go on six days' rest Tuesday, but Riggleman bumped fifth starter Don Wengert to keep Wood on four days' and match him against the Houston Astros.

The Astros, you might recall, were the team that Wood dominated in his amazing 20-strikeout game on May 6 at Wrigley Field, but the decision probably was based more on Riggleman's desire to get in the best possible position to gain ground in the National League Central.

Wood probably will make his ensuing start against the Astros, too, possibly matching up against Randy Johnson on Saturday.

Tough trip

The Cleveland Indians don't have it very tough in the American League Central, but they had a tough trip through Seattle, Oakland, Anaheim and St. Petersburg. Three players went on the disabled list, and four others came up with potentially time-consuming physical problems.

Jeff Branson, Chad Ogea and Jim Thome went on the DL. Third baseman Travis Fryman missed half the games on the trip with a sore back. Outfielder Brian Giles missed three games after being bitten several times by an insect. And pitchers Dave Burba and Jaret Wright are suffering from arm fatigue.

Pub Date: 8/16/98