01:00 AM EST on Saturday, March 25, 2006

Top prospect Andy Marte and veteran utility infielder Lou Merloni were among six players cut yesterday from the Cleveland Indians' spring training camp.

The Indians obtained Marte from Boston on Jan. 27 in the six-player trade that sent outfielder Coco Crisp to the Red Sox.

The 22-year-old third baseman batted .359 this spring with six doubles and nine RBI, but Cleveland intends to begin the regular season with veteran Aaron Boone at third base. Marte was optioned to Triple A Buffalo.

Merloni, 34, was reassigned to the team's minor-league camp. The former Providence College star missed nearly all of the 2005 season with torn ligaments in his right ankle. He was hit on the right hand by a pitch in Cleveland's first spring training game and batted .174 in 16 games.

Merloni has a career .272 average and has played every position but catcher. The Framingham, Mass., native spent his first 11 professional seasons in the Boston organization.

ROUNDUP

BIGBIE INJURED: Larry Bigbie, among the contenders for the St. Louis Cardinals' vacant left field job, said yesterday he'll be sidelined two to three weeks with a stress fracture in his left foot. The left-handed hitting Bigbie, 28, batted .248 for the Orioles last year with five homers and 21 RBI in 206 at-bats.

REED BREAKS WRIST: Seattle Mariners starting center fielder Jeremy Reed has a broken bone in his right wrist and could miss six weeks. General manager Bill Bavasi said Reed fractured a small bone inside his wrist when he ran into the padded center-field fence at Peoria Sports Complex on Thursday night. Reed was pursuing a fifth-inning fly ball hit by Arizona catcher Johnny Estrada.

UMPIRES PLAN STRIKE: Minor-league umpires plan to strike when the season starts next month and filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. The Association of Minor League Umpires, which represents about 220 umps in 16 leagues, said it filed the charge in the NRLB's Florida region, alleging the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation threatened to fire employees who went on strike and asked several of the unionized umps to work as replacements during any strike. Minor-league umpires unionized in 2000. "A strike is a serious step and it's not what we wanted to do," union president Andy Roberts said in a statement yesterday, "but reports of league officials talking about firing umpires who strike has backed us into a corner. The AMLU has to take a stand against PBUC's heavy-handed tactics."

HEREDIA CUT: The Arizona Diamondbacks released left-hander Felix Heredia yesterday. Heredia was signed as a free agent and had been sent to the Diamondbacks' minor-league camp. He pitched only three games with the New York Mets last season before undergoing surgery to remove a blood clot in his shoulder.

PLEA AGREEMENT: Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers won't face possible jail time for knocking down a cameraman during a videotaped tirade last year in Arlington, Texas, if he completes an anger management class, prosecutors said. Rogers made the agreement yesterday while appearing before Tarrant County Criminal Court Judge Brent Carr, Assistant District Attorney Mark Thielman said. Rogers, then with the Texas Rangers, was charged with a Class A misdemeanor after pushing a television camera and its operator to the ground.