Cleveland Gets Reds' Smiley In 6-Player Deal

CINCINNATI - The Cincinnati Reds today unloaded the $3.75 million annual salary of pitcher John Smiley in a six-player trade that gave the contending Cleveland Indians an established left-handed starter.

The Reds sent Smiley and backup infielder Jeff Branson to Cleveland for pitchers Danny Graves, Jim Crowell and Scott Winchester and infielder Damian Jackson.

The deal beat a midnight trading deadline.

The Reds, who have fallen from contention and are trying to cut their payroll, had been offering Smiley to contending teams.

Smiley, 32, broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 and had his best season when he went 20-8 in 1991, his last year in Pittsburgh. He pitched a year for Minnesota before signing as a free agent with the Reds.

In 4 1/2 seasons with Cincinnati, Smiley was 48-48. He had 2 1/2 years left on a Reds contract that would pay him $3.75 million annually. He was 13-14 last year and 12-5 with the Reds in 1995, but never approached his best mark with Pittsburgh.

Smiley pitched seven shutout innings against Florida on Monday night in his final Reds appearance, when scouts from other teams were watching him work in Miami.

Graves and Jackson will report to Class AAA Indianapolis, and Crowell and Winchester to Class AA Chattanooga. Graves and Winchester are right-handers and Crowell a lefty.

Murdoch gets OK to buy Dodgers

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Dodgers were given permission by Major League Baseball's ownership committee to draft an agreement with Fox Group for the sale of the team to Rupert Murdoch.

Owner Peter O'Malley announced in January that his family planned to sell the team it has controlled since 1950.

"This is a significant step in the process and, quite frankly, I do not anticipate any surprises down the road," O'Malley said in a statement yesterday.

The team is expected to fetch $350 million to $400 million, which would be a record for a baseball team.

NOTES

-- Major-league baseball was brought a step closer to losing part of its 75-year exemption from antitrust laws today when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-6 to revoke the part dealing with labor relations. The measure next goes to the full Senate. Before it can become law, the House also must approve the measure.

Baseball would continue to have its antitrust exemption in all other areas, including relocating teams, the minor leagues and sports broadcasting.

-- Oakland slugger Jose Canseco said he doesn't want to play for the New York Yankees, who are looking for a right-handed power hitter to replace injured Cecil Fielder in the lineup. "Absolutely not," said Canseco, who is hitting .236 with 21 home runs and 67 runs batted in.

-- Tom Glavine, hampered by a sore right Achilles tendon, will skip his scheduled start tonight when Atlanta opens a four-game series against Florida.

-- After a four-hour meeting yesterday by a 12-member committee studying realignment for next season, acting commissioner Bud Selig said the next step would be another meeting, perhaps by conference call early next week, and then to take any plan to the Executive Council.

-- Outfielder J.D. Drew, Philadelphia's top pick last month in the amateur draft, lost his bid to become a free agent when the Executive Council rejected his petition, ruling that the Phillies retain Drew's professional contract rights.

-- Pete Harnisch, making his sixth appearance in a 30-day rehabilitation assignment from the New York Mets, struck out eight in six innings and singled in a run to lead Norfolk to a 7-1 victory over Richmond in the International League.

-- Milwaukee outfielder Marc Newfield will have surgery on his right shoulder this week.

-- Brewer pitcher Jeff D'Amico has no structural damage in his right shoulder, a magnetic resonance imaging test revealed.