MLB COMMISSIONER SCENARIO: A COLEMAN HEATER?

          Because MLB management "has accomplished previously
     unimaginable things" during the reign of Acting Commissioner
     Bud Selig, "many owners have lost their desire to hire an
     outside candidate," according to Tom Haudricourt of the
     MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.  With COO Paul Beeston running
     the business side, the "prevailing theory is 'don't fix what
     ain't broke.'"  One possible scenario has Beeston remaining
     as COO, Selig staying in his post as Chair of the Executive
     Council and "someone such as" NL President Len Coleman being
     "named commissioner in what amounts to a figurehead role"
     (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 3/22).  In Philadelphia, Jayson
     Stark wrote there are "indications Coleman has emerged as a
     prime in-house alternative to Selig as permanent
     commissioner" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/22).
          IF A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST...: In N.Y., Murray
     Chass, writing on the inaction during the search for a
     commissioner, asked, "So does anybody really care?"  Red Sox
     CEO John Harrington: "Everybody does."  But Twins Owner Carl
     Pohlad said there has "been less conversation 'than you'd
     think.'"  Pohlad: "It's been strangely silent" (N.Y. TIMES,
     3/22)....In Boston, Peter Gammons wrote that Selig and
     Beeston "should seriously consider enlisting" Paul Molitor
     as a Deputy Commissioner and liaison to the MLBPA after he
     retires at the end of the season.  Gammons: "[F]ew union
     leaders have ever understood management's side more than
     Molitor" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/22)....In N.Y., Tom Keegan wrote
     that Expos ownership is a "topic that should have been
     discussed" at MLB's quarterly meeting.  Keegan called the
     Expos a "disgrace.  And their competitors are growing sick
     and tired of it."  One MLB club exec: "Teams are losing
     money going there to play.  A lot of people are fed up with
     the way that's being run up there" (N.Y. POST, 3/22).