MLB TRADES CLAIM GARLAND.

Byline: PATRICK HIPES Minor-League Baseball

As tends to happen when the Major League Baseball trading deadline approaches, fans find themselves returning to their sports-talk radio shows in anticipation of deals.

Will the Angels bolster the roster for a postseason fight? Will the Dodgers trade minor-league prospects and peanut vendors (again) for middle-relief help?

Even at newspaper offices, workers from different sections of the paper wander over to the sports department, asking about the latest trade updates.

And Friday, at the 9 p.m. (PDT) deadline, the deals were complete. In all, there were 13 trades involving 45 players - including 22 minor-leaguers.

If the deadline affects fans and journalists with such intensity, imagine what it must have been like for key prospects such as Jon Garland, the former Kennedy High ace who found out Wednesday he had been traded from the Cubs to the White Sox for reliever Matt Karchner.

Garland, the 10th pick of the 1997 draft, found himself, his $1.4 million signing bonus and his bags on a plane from Single-A Rockford (Ill.) of the Midwest League to Hickory (S.C.) of the Single-A South Atlantic League.

It was a long trip for an 18-year old who had just been swapped across one city.

``It's tough to give up a kid with that kind of talent,'' Cubs manager Jim Riggleman said, ``but we're trying to win in 1998, not 2001.''

It was that thinking that made Garland, considered one of the top players in the Cubs organization, expendable. He had been mentioned in nearly every package teams proffered to the Cubs.

Garland, who throws in the mid-90s, was 4-7 with a 5.03 ERA with Rockford at the time of the deal. He joined the Crawdads on Friday. He is scheduled to start today against the Capitol City Bombers in Columbia, S.C.

``Oh yeah, he's going to help us,'' said Hickory infielder Matt Berger on Saturday, still awaiting his new roommate. ``It's kind of a big deal when they trade a major-leaguer for a prospect.''

With the move, the White Sox added to their collection of '97 draftees. With Garland, they have seven of the top 51 picks from that draft, including former Crescenta Valley High pitcher Jim Parque, the first player from that class to reach the majors.

``We're not in the wild-card race, we're not going to win the division. So we have to look at ways to improve our club down the line in a year or two,'' White Sox general manager Ron Schueler said. ``It wasn't easy to get this kid.''

Surprisingly, after the Cubs rejected other offers for the prized Garland, they settled for Karchner. He was supposedly the closer of the future before a groin-muscle pull put him on the disabled list. He is 0-2 with a save in four chances since he returned July 9 and will be used by the Cubs as a set-up man for Grant High alumnus Rod Beck.

``We're hoping that between Terry Adams, Karchner and Terry Mulholland we'll be more consistent in getting to Rod Beck,'' Riggleman said.

For Garland, he will hope that a new start was worth the agony of the trade watch.

Not the only one: As Garland was en route to the Carolinas, former Chatsworth High standout Jon Tucker felt the immediate effects of Dodger GM Tommy Lasorda's quick trigger in L.A.

Tucker, batting .297 with Double-A San Antonio, was traded Friday to the Montreal Expos with two other minor leaguers and Wilton Guerrero for Carlos Perez and Mark Grudzielanek.

He will be assigned to Double-A Harrisburg.

MINOR-LEAGUE REPORT

It has not been a triple-crown type year for Eric Cole (Antelope Valley High, Antelope Valley JC), but you wouldn't know it by his performance Saturday for Single-A Quad City. The right fielder, hitting .263 for the River Bandits, was 3 for 5 with a double, home run, two stolen bases and four RBI in an 11-1 victory over Burlington.

Saturday: Former Dodger Paul Konerko was 3 for 6 with a double and two RBI for Triple-A Indianapolis. . . . Jack Wilson (Thousand Oaks High, Oxnard JC) was 3 for 4 with a double, run scored and RBI, upping his average to .366. . . . Rob Crabtree (CSUN) tossed two scoreless innings of relief in Double-A Shreveport's 7-2 victory over Arkansas, salvaging a doubleheader split. . . . Jalal Leach (Pepperdine) was 3 for 4 with a run scored in Triple-A Fresno's 6-5 loss to Las Vegas. Mike Rossiter (Burroughs High) picked up his second save for the Stars. . . . Andy Dominique (Alemany High) was 3 for 5 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI in Single-A Piedmont's 6-4 win over Savannah.

- Patrick Hipes

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BOX: MINOR-LEAGUE REPORT (see text)