Easler Files Suit Against Cardinals

Mike Easler, dropped as the St. Louis Cardinals’ batting coach this month, filed suit Thursday claiming he was unjustly ousted.

The suit charges the Cardinals with wrongful termination, defamation of character and invasion of privacy, and seeks damages in excess of $25,000 and additional punitive damages.

“Mike wants closure to this,” said James Schottel Jr., Easler’s attorney. “He wants another opportunity to be a hitting coach and eventually an opportunity as a manager.”

Easler was in his third season with the Cardinals when he was reassigned July 13. He declined an offer to become a a roving minor league hitting coach for the organization.

Easler was unavailable for comment Thursday and not expected back in St. Louis before the weekend, Schottel said.

“I’m speaking from the gut. I can’t believe Mike’s getting the best advice,” Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said. “We did everything more than right. I’m disappointed. I really liked Mike.”

In the petition, Easler admits he missed a nine-game road trip before the All-Star break, blaming the absence on several unspecified health conditions. But he insists he kept the Cardinals informed of his whereabouts and treatment.

Easler charges that Cardinal trainer Barry Weinberg and team physician Jim Loomis asked an emergency room doctor at Saint Louis University Hospital to “give [Easler] some medicine and tell [Easler] to catch the next flight out in the morning” to rejoin the Cardinals on the road.

Instead, Easler went home to San Antonio and was treated by his personal doctor. When he rejoined the club, the suit says, the Cardinals informed Easler he was being replaced.

The Chicago Cubs activated catcher Todd Hundley from the 15-day disabled list and placed pitcher Courtney Duncan (right shoulder tendinitis) on the disabled list.

Hundley hit .179 with four homers and 19 runs batted in before being placed on the disabled list June 19 because of a lower back muscle strain.

Hundley hit .222 with three homers in 63 at-bats in rehab stints at double A and triple A. Manager Don Baylor said Hundley “did everything we asked him to defensively down there.”

Bartolo Colon’s seven-game suspension was reduced by one game, and the Cleveland Indian pitcher will begin serving his penalty this weekend. Colon was suspended and fined an undisclosed sum July 20 for buzzing the Houston Astros’ Scott Servais with a pitch July 17. . . . The New York Yankees sent pitcher Ryan Bradley, once considered among the top prospects in the organization, to Class-A Tampa. The right-hander was pitching for double-A Norwich, where he was 4-5 with a 6.63 earned-run average in 16 games. . . . The Seattle Mariners said that John McCaw, who helped assemble a group that bought the team in 1992, has sold his stake in the franchise to VoiceStream Wireless chairman John Stanton.