New York ? The ownership shuffle is barely over. The coaches were hired moments before the players arrived. None of it matters now: The Florida Marlins and Montreal Expos are playing ball.

A day after former Expos owner Jeffery Loria closed on his purchase of the Marlins and fired at least 60 Florida employees and replaced them with his Montreal staff All-Star catcher Charles Johnson and the other Florida pitchers and catchers met their new coaching staff led by manager Jeff Torborg.

“We have a month and a half to really get to know each other,” Johnson said. “The coaches seem to be very positive, they seem to be ready to get started.”

Omar Minaya had six employees, including manager Frank Robinson, when he was named Montreal’s general manager on Tuesday by the commissioner’s office.

“My No. 1 priority when I signed on for this job was to have this coaching staff in place for today (Sunday), the first day of spring training,” Minaya said.

Robinson didn’t think that the Expos were at a disadvantage, even if his coaching staff wasn’t familiar with many of the players.

“This is no big deal with the players down here because this is the first day of spring training and they are here to get ready for the season,” Robinson said. “From this point we are not behind the other clubs, we are in the same condition as they are.”

The 25-year-old catcher Michael Barrett didn’t seem to mind that he had a new manager.

“This man is etched in stone in the Hall of Fame,” he said. “The opportunity to be on the same field as that guy is awesome.”

Elsewhere in Peoria, Ariz., the Padres are trying to cope with loss of teammate Mike Darr. The absence of Tony Gwynn for the first time since 1981 has made it that much more difficult.

“It’s been a difficult spring,” manager Bruce Bochy said, two days after Darr and one of his friends were killed in a single-car accident. “Not having Tony here makes it just a little more difficult.”

Gwynn retired at the end of last season, completing his 20-year playing career with 3,141 hits and a .338 career batting average.

Veteran Mike Hampton is hoping that he can improve on a terrible second half in which he went 5-11 with a 7.37 ERA as the Rockies opened camp in Tuscon, Ariz., with a bunch of new faces.

Third baseman Todd Zeile, right-handed reliever Todd Jones and lefty Dennys Reyes head a list of 11 new Rockies.

Colorado traded Brent Mayne, Neifi Perez and Pedro Astacio during the season, and let Jeff Cirillo go for salary reasons and traded reliever Mike Myers in the offseason.

In Florida, Yankees pitcher David Wells reported no problems Sunday, one day after his first throwing session off a mound in seven months.

Wells underwent back surgery last summer. He threw for 10 minutes Saturday, one week earlier than expected.

“I feel good, and that’s a good sign,” Wells said. “I was a little stiff (Sunday) like every morning. After exercising, it loosen right up.”

In Cardinals’ camp, Darryl Kile threw 30 pitches Sunday after spring-training warmups and got favorable reviews from coach Dave Duncan.

“He threw well. He’s throwing better each time,” Duncan said of the 33-year-old right-hander rebounding from the surgery that cleared some loose debris from his throwing shoulder.