Bryn Smith

A Montreal Expos pitcher could face up to 60 days in jail after his arrest during a widespread prostitution sweep, police said. Bryn Smith, 33, was among 116 people charged with solicitation during the Feb. 6-8 operation in which six police officers posed as prostitutes along a busy street in West Palm Beach, about 60 miles north of Miami, said Police Chief Billy Riggs. "We're sending a message. . . . Don't come into our city looking for prostitutes," Riggs said Monday.

Montreal Expos owner Charles Bronfman said today he would consider selling the team but only if the purchaser agreed to keep the club in Montreal. The Expos owner responded to a report in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated that said Bronfman wants to sell and that a Florida investment group in Orlando or St. Petersburg might bid for the franchise early in 1990. "I'm thinking of selling, but not to just anyone," Bronfman said.

Many regard Ryne Sandberg as the best second baseman in baseball, and Monday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates he showed why. Sandberg had four hits, including a home run and a game-winning single in the 13th inningthat gave the Chicago Cubs a 6-5 victory over the Pirates at Chicago. With two out in the 13th, reliever Stan Belinda (3-2) hit Damon Berryhill with a pitch. Mark Grace then walked and Sandberg looped a single to right to score Berryhill with the winning run.

The St. Louis Cardinals recalled third baseman Todd Zeile from triple-A Louisville and waived pitcher Jose DeLeon. Zeile was hitting .311 in 21 games after being sent down because of hitting problems. DeLeon has won only eight of his last 61 starts and was 2-7 with a 4.57 ERA this season. The Cardinals also added Ozzie Canseco, Jose Canseco's twin brother, and four veterans recovering from injuries.

In a bold move sure to send the skyrocketing price of baseball free agents even higher, the Angels today signed Mark Langston to a five-year contract worth $16 million, making the 29-year-old left-hander the game's highest paid player. (Details, Page P10) Langston, who had a combined 16-14 record with the Mariners and Expos last season, got the longest contract awarded a player since the mid-1980s.

Pitcher John Tudor, frequently disabled in recent seasons, signed a one-year contract Thursday for a guaranteed $450,000 with his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals. The left-hander, disabled most of last season and 1987, became the third free-agent pitcher signed by the Cardinals in the past three weeks. The Cardinals signed Bryn Smith on Nov. 28 and Frank DiPino on Wednesday. The 35-year-old left-hander was traded to the Dodgers for first baseman Pedro Guerrero in August of 1988.

The three-game suspension of Cleveland outfielder Albert Belle was upheld Wednesday after a hearing by American League president Dr. Bobby Brown. Belle, leading the major leagues in home runs with 17, and runs batted in with 48, was suspended for charging Kansas City pitcher Hipolito Pichardo on May 13. The suspension begins Friday in Cleveland where the Indians play a three-game series against Minnesota. * The Colorado Rockies released right-hander Bryn Smith, 2-4 with an 8.

Vince Coleman and Terry Pendleton each homered, pacing a 10-hit St. Louis attack and Bryn Smith won his fifth game as the Cardinals defeated the slumping Houston Astros 10-6 today. Smith, 5-3, had a no-hitter through five innings against the Astros, who have lost six in a row and nine of 10 and scored only 15 runs in their last eight games. He tired in the sixth when Rafael Ramirez hit a leadoff home run and ended up allowing six hits and five runs, three of them earned, in 6 2-3 innings.

As expected, the Colorado Rockies sent spring-training sensation Roberto Mejia down to Triple-A Colorado Springs on Friday along with three other players. The other players optioned to Colorado Springs were catcher Brad Ausmus, pitcher Keith Shepherd and first baseman Jay Gainer. Outfielder Braulio Castillo was outrighted to Colorado Springs, and pitcher Calvin Jones was released. The moves lowered the Rockies' spring roster to 33. They must get to 25 for the season opener April 5.