Tampa Bay May Be Added to AL West

In the strange geography of baseball, Tampa Bay’s expansion team appears headed to the American League West for at least the 1998 and 1999 seasons.

To get the Devil Rays into the American League and the Arizona Diamondbacks into the National, owners agreed that none of the existing teams would have to switch divisions in 1998 and 1999, sources at the baseball meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., said Friday.

Some teams wound up trading interleague opponents in 1998. The New York Yankees, for instance, traded games against the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins to Tampa Bay for games against the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.

Tampa Bay got the regional opponents it wanted, and the Yankees got games against the two former New York area teams--probably better draws at Yankee Stadium, and perhaps weaker opponents.

Among the understandings reached by owners are that schedule makers will try to ensure regional rivalries are included among the interleague games each year.

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The Dodgers avoided going to arbitration with one player, signing pitcher Pedro Astacio to a one-year contract worth about $2.5 million, but may still face it with catcher Mike Piazza. They have made little progress toward signing Piazza since a four-hour meeting 10 days ago and he has filed for arbitration. Arbitration figures must be submitted Tuesday but the Dodgers can continue to negotiate with Piazza until their hearing in Orlando, Fla., sometime in February.

The Dodgers also learned that they had lost out on free-agent second baseman Robbie Thompson, who signed a one-year, nonroster contract with the Cleveland Indians.

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Seventy-eight players joined Greg Vaughn of the Padres and Mike Bielecki of the Atlanta Braves in filing for salary arbitration. And New York Met catcher Todd Hundley got a $21-million, four-year contract just after filing.

Mike Mussina of Baltimore, Ivan Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers, and Bernie Williams of the Yankees were among the top players who filed.

College Sports

Four men who prosecutors said have links to organized crime face charges that they ran a sports gambling ring using student bookmakers at Boston College.

One of the men was an employee of a popular bar near the campus, where he allegedly took bets and made payoffs that resulted in a scandal involving BC football players. Another ordered a student bookmaker who was behind in his payments to be severely beaten, according to officials.

Washington State basketball star Carlos Daniel, the team’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, has been arrested for shoplifting.

The NCAA has suspended Virginia guard Harold Deane for a game for playing against Wake Forest without having been enrolled for the required 12 semester hours.

Miscellany

Italian skier Deborah Compagnoni, the Olympic and world champion, blazed down the icy, bumpy Nordhang course in the first run to take a commanding lead, then survived a few mistakes in the second heat for an overwhelming victory in a World Cup giant slalom at Zwiesel, Germany.

Anita Wachter of Austria finished second. Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden extended her overall World Cup lead by placing third.

Don Hardy, 1940s USC football standout at end, died Friday of an apparent heart attack on a 40-mile bike ride, his brother and USC teammate, Jim Hardy, said. He was 72.

Hardy, a long-distance bike enthusiast had competed in races up to 100 miles long.

He was a contract administrator for Hughes Aircraft for 30 years before retiring in the 1980s. Services are pending.