All-Star managers say the rosters need to be larger

NEW YORK - For every player who felt slighted after being left off the All-Star game rosters, managers Joe Torre and Bruce Bochy can only sympathize and plead for understanding.

The dilemma for both was having more deserving players than they had room on their rosters.

Torre and Bochy agreed Thursday that the toughest part of assembling their teams for the 70th All-Star Game Tuesday night at Boston was deciding which players to leave behind.

''There are so many deserving players not on the club,'' said Torre, who will manage the American League for the second time in three years. ''I know Bruce is aching the same way I am.''

He is.

''I knew it would be difficult,'' said the NL's Bochy, who is managing in his first All-Star game. ''When you try to figure it out, you start thinking about players who deserve to go but you don't have a spot for them. It was a little tougher than I thought.''

Both Torre and Bochy said they would like rosters expanded by five players to provide more room for the managers to fit in deserving players. All-Star rosters were set at 28 players from 1969 until last year when they went to 30.

Torre said the toughest call for him was in the outfield.

''There are so many you can choose,'' he said, ticking off names like Troy O'Leary of Boston and Jermaine Dye of Kansas City, both hitting over .300 with 17 home runs going into Thursday's games, but left off the AL team.

He also mentioned Mike Sweeney and Johnny Damon of Kansas City, Toronto's Carlos Delgado and Seattle teammates Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez as players he would have selected if he had room.

Torre said his most difficult call was passing on Harold Baines of the Baltimore Orioles. ''It was so tough with the great years he's had, with his reputation, to have to leave him off the team,'' Torre said. ''He's been around a long time and he's putting up terrific numbers.''

Baines was batting .341 with 18 home runs and 60 RBIs as Baltimore's designated hitter going into Thursday's game.

Torre at first had to pass on Cleveland pitcher Charles Nagy, then added him when Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees was forced to withdraw in order to take care of personal matters.

''Pitching was tough for me,'' Bochy said. ''In the National League, we're seeing some of the best in years.''

He mentioned relievers Armando Benitez of New York, John Rocker of Atlanta and Jeff Shaw of Los Angeles who were left off despite fine seasons.

Position players he had to pass on included outfielders Roger Cedeno of New York, leading the NL in stolen bases, and Henry Rodriguez of Chicago, the league's No. 4 hitter.

''The Mets were tough,'' he said. ''Their infield (John) Olerud, (Edgardo) Alfonzo, (Rey) Ordonez and (Robin) Ventura, all could have made it. But because of the parameters, they were left off.''

All-Star regulations require that every team have at least one representative on the team. By adding five more roster spots, Torre and Bochy said deserving players could be acknowledged.

''Getting there, being there and recognized is the most important thing,'' Torre said.