Cubs Reportedly Will Get White

The Montreal Expos reached agreement to trade Rondell White to the Cubs, provided Chicago can sign the outfielder to a multiyear contract extension, according to the Associated Press.

“Yeah, there’s something on the table, but if it’s not right, I’m not going to sign with the Cubs,” White said after the Expos lost to Cincinnati on Sunday.

It was not known what other players were involved in the deal. Baseball’s deadline for making trades without waivers is 1 p.m. PDT today.

White was hitting .307 with 11 home runs and 54 runs batted in before going on the disabled list. Last year, he hit a personal-best .312 and played in a career-high 138 games.

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Mark McGwire won’t be rejoining the St. Louis Cardinals in Montreal this week, and Manager Tony La Russa isn’t sure when his biggest star will return. “Unless you have a crystal ball or you’re Mother Nature, you’re prepared for whatever it takes,” La Russa said. “It could be sooner, it could be later, it could be as long as late August. I don’t know.”

The Cardinals added a left-hander to their bullpen for the stretch run, acquiring Jason Christiansen from the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league infielder Jack Wilson. The Cardinals also optioned reliever Gene Stechschulte to triple-A Memphis.

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Reliever Doug Henry, who helped San Francisco win the NL West in 1997, was traded by the Houston Astros to the Giants for pitcher Scott Linebrink.

Henry, 36, was 1-3 with a 4.42 ERA in 44 appearances. He also had one save, which came June 18 at San Francisco.

“Our familiarity with Doug and his track record makes this a win-win situation for us,” Giant General Manager Brian Sabean said.

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Darryl Strawberry begins two days of tests in St. Petersburg, Fla., today, the start of his latest battle with cancer. Strawberry, suspended from baseball this season because of substance abuse, learned last week that his cancer had returned, this time to his lymph nodes. In October 1998, he underwent surgery for colon cancer with follow-up chemotherapy to fight the disease. The tests are to determine whether the cancer has spread to other parts of his body.

“I am handling it,” Strawberry told the New York Post. “I feel good. I don’t feel sick or anything. It’s not like I’m feeling bad.”

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John Schuerholz, general manager of the Atlanta Braves, dismissed a New York Post report that he will trade closer John Rocker to Cleveland before the trading deadline. “I will say this,” Schuerholz said. “There’s a bartender in New York who starts all those.” . . . Arizona optioned slumping reliever Byung-Hyun Kim to triple-A Tucson and promoted reliever Johnny Ruffin, who hasn’t been in the major leagues since 1996. . . . Boston’s Bret Saberhagen, still in rehab after rotator cuff surgery last November, pitched four innings for triple-A Pawtucket, R.I., and gave up five runs and six hits against Columbus, Ohio.