Reds Decide to Put Griffey on Disabled List

Ken Griffey Jr., who has been unable to do anything but serve as a pinch-hitter for the Cincinnati Reds because of a hamstring injury, was put on the 15-day disabled list Sunday.

The Reds don’t plan to make a corresponding roster move until Tuesday, when they open a series at home against the Dodgers.

That is when Deion Sanders becomes eligible for promotion from Louisville, Cincinnati’s affiliate in the triple-A International League.

Sanders, 33, has not played in the major leagues since 1997, when he quit baseball to concentrate on playing cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys and then the Washington Redskins.

But Sanders’ baseball prospects blossomed this spring and he leads the International League in batting at .463.

Griffey, who suffered a partial tear of his left hamstring in spring training, has appeared in 16 games as a pinch-hitter. He was hitless in 12 at-bats with three walks.

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Ted Williams could be released from a San Diego hospital in a couple of weeks despite a malfunctioning kidney and a tracheotomy tube that keeps him from talking most of the time, his doctor said.

The 82-year-old Hall of Famer requires dialysis. His body fluids are backed up, and he’s been on and off a respirator. His New York cardiologist, Dr. Jeffrey Borer, said those problems wouldn’t prevent Williams from returning home to Florida.

“I wouldn’t say he’s fine, but he’s progressing,” Borer said in the Boston Sunday Globe. Borer performed open-heart surgery on the Boston Red Sox great in January.

“He is a sick man, but he’s better now than a month ago, and was better then than a month before that,” Borer said.

Williams’ son, John Henry, has been with his father every day since the surgery.

“I think he’s going to make it,” John Henry said. “I’m here for the duration. I’m not leaving until he leaves--one way or the other.”

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Pitcher Julian Tavarez of the Chicago Cubs has apologized for using profanity and a derogatory term toward gays after a loss to the San Francisco Giants at Pacific Bell Park.

“I want to apologize to the city. I want to tell them how sorry I am for what I said,” Tavarez said. “I’m an emotional guy and I don’t mean what I said. I’m really sorry for what I said. I let my emotion get in the way.”

The former Giant was frustrated after Saturday’s 5-0 shutout by San Francisco, during which he was roundly booed by the fans at Pacific Bell Park.

Cub General Manager Andy MacPhail said he would talk to Tavarez’s representative today to come up with a “mutually acceptable fine.”

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The Detroit Tigers took Dean Palmer off the disabled list and put outfielder Wendell Magee, who has a broken bone in his left wrist, on the 15-day disabled list.