DODGERS NOTEBOOK: THEY'VE STAYED IN BLUE : KARROS TOLD TAMPA HE WOULDN'T STAY.

Byline: Matt McHale Daily News Staff Writer

Fred Claire never talks about the protected list, but Eric Karros, Todd Zeile and Eric Young know they weren't on it.

Three months after Claire, the Dodgers executive vice president, went to Phoenix for baseball's expansion draft, those players know they were available to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks. And they are OK with that.

``It was a calculated risk on their part, but everything worked out,'' Young said Thursday, after the entire Dodgers squad worked out for the first time. ``It wasn't like I didn't feel wanted. They had just given me a multiyear contract. It's not something I think about or talk about.''

Young, 30, selected by Colorado from the Dodgers in the 1992 expansion draft, received a four-year deal worth $18.5 million last fall after returning from the Rockies. After batting .324 with 113 runs and 53 stolen bases in 1996, Young wanted a multiyear contract. Instead, the Rockies sent him to the Dodgers last August in exchange for right-hander Pedro Astacio.

Claire, in fact, had Young, Karros and Zeile under long-term deals at the time of the draft. But he was hoping to leave them off the 15-man list long enough to protect young pitchers Dennis Reyes and Antonio Osuna. When power-hitting Karim Garcia, on whom the Dodgers soured in 1997, was taken by the Diamondbacks in the first round, the Dodgers were able to pull back Karros, Young and Zeile.

But the day was not without intrigue. Karros, 30, was believed to be Tampa Bay's first pick, but he told the Devil Rays he would opt out of his contract after one season. Any player moved in the middle of a multiyear deal has that option.

``I know it sounds cliche, but you have to approach these things as a business,'' said Karros, who agreed to a four-year, $20 million contract last winter. ``We're all here today and that is all that matters. There was no reason to feel like you weren't wanted. These were things that had to be done.''

No one knows that better than Zeile, a member of five teams between June 1995 and December 1996. During that time he worked for St. Louis, the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia, Baltimore and the Dodgers. The Cardinals offered a three-year deal in the months before trading him to the Cubs, then reconsidered and proposed one season. There were several hassles in salary arbitration.

Zeile, 32, is in the second of a three-year $9.5 million contract. He hit 30 home runs last season and emerged as a team leader down the stretch.

``Things felt very good here; I was from here and it was a good situation,'' said Zeile, who attended Hart High and UCLA. ``Teams have to make decisions. We all understood that.''

If anything, the expansion draft was harder on right-hander Ramon Martinez, whose brother Jesus was drafted by Arizona, then traded to the Florida Marlins after coming through the Dodgers organization.

Jesus Martinez probably would have left the organization anyway. He was out of options and wasn't going to make the big club this year because of control problems. But Ramon's brother Pedro was traded to Montreal after the 1993 season and won the National League Cy Young Award last year.

``They say it's a business, but it can still be hard,'' said Ramon Martinez, who the Dodgers considered leaving off the protected list. ``I liked them being here. It's different when they are talking about you. It's not so bad. But losing those guys? I miss them.''

SPRING TRAINING '98

DODGERS

Fact: Catcher Mike Piazza came in at 235 pounds, 20 pounds more than his playing weight. Nobody minded when the added muscle produced two dozen home runs in his first batting-practice session. ``I put it on because it will come off during the season,'' he said. ``If I came in here at 215, I'd weigh 170 pounds by the end of the year.'' . . . The Dodgers have seven players unsigned after minor-league infielder Adam Riggs agreed to terms Thursday.

Notes: In the first full workout, Ramon Marttinez was impressive, showing good velocity throwing batting practice to Eric Karros and Todd Zeile. Martinez says the partial rotator-cuff tear has healed and he is pitching pain-free. . . . Infielders Wilton Guerrero and Paul Konerko took fly balls with the outfielders. . . . 57 of the 58 players in camp participated in Thursday's workout. Todd Hollandsworth was in Phoenix at his arbitration hearing and didn't arrive here until early this morning.

Quote: ``I think everyone was excited today. They came in with a good attitude and they're all in good shape. We had a lot of enthusiasm with the drills today. We got a lot of work done and that is what we are here for.''

- Dodgers manager Bill Russell.

ANGELS

Fact: The Angels have 55 players in camp, including 18 nonroster players, but with rain forcast today, their first full-squad workout will probably not happen.

Notes: Jim McDowell, the agent for brother Jack McDowell, faxed a new contract proposal to general manager Bill Bavasi late Thursday and identified the Angels as the front-runner in the curiously plodding race to sign the 1993 American League Cy Young Award winner from Notre Dame High and Stanford. ``It's up to them to decide what to do now,'' said Jim McDowell. The Angels' most recent offer of $500,000, plus another $500,000 guaranteed if McDowell made the major-league team out of spring training, is by far the best from any other team.McDowell's proposal asked for an increase in the $1 million guarantee and in the incentive package. . . . Joe Cubas, agent for exiled Cuban pitcher Orlando Hernandez, is in Arizona and is scheduled to meet with Bavasi today. Cubas will also meet with representatives from the other clubs interested in the pitcher.

Quote: ``Pep and Shiggy showed their value last season and William, if he can be anything like the pitcher I saw when I was in the National League, would certainly be a help. You take those guys with a setup guy (Mike James) and a top closer (Troy Percival) and you have to feel pretty good.'' Angels manager Terry Collins, on having pitchers Pep Harris, Shigetoshi Hasegawa and William VanLandingham as long relievers.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: no caption (Ramon Martinez)

Box: SPRING TRAINING '98 - DODGERS - ANGELS (See Text)