You’d think Stump Merrill would have learned by now. You’d think after 18 years in the New York Yankees organization he’d have learned loyalty is a concept even more alien than revenue sharing to the front office suits in the Bronx.

If you missed it, Merrill got his walking papers as manager of the Triple A Columbus Clippers last weekend.

“They called me at home last Saturday morning,” said Merrill, taking a few minutes to talk Thursday while preparing to return to his home in Topsham this weekend. “They just said, `we want to go in a new direction. You’re going to be reassigned.’ ”

That was it? No explanation? No timetable on his next job, what it will be, where it will be?

“They said there would be some type of special reassignment. That was it,” he said.

It’s not that Merrill expected to be shown the kind of loyalty that keeps a man in a job even if his performance has slipped a little. And don’t go jumping to that conclusion. Declining job performance is highly suspect where Merrill is concerned given Columbus’ 74-68 record this past season, good for third place in the International League’s Western Division.

Even if not making the Triple A playoffs was the reason Yankees player development director Bill Livesey decided to replace Merrill with Bill Evers of Double A Albany-Colonie, Merrill could take it. He just wants to hear an explanation. Any explanation. His sense of loyalty demands it.

“I just feel 18 years of service deserves something,” he said.

He won’t complain further. It’s too soon. And if Merrill has learned anything during his pride-bruising sojourn on the Yankees career ladder, which culminated in his 1 1/2-season high-wire act managing the big club in the Bronx in 1990-91, it’s that you don’t burn the ladder.

“There are a lot of questions I have to have answered. Until I do, I can’t say if I got screwed or didn’t get screwed,” he said.

The Yankees front office isn’t talking. Livesey did not return a message. Which leaves only speculation and the ugly image of Merrill twisting in the wind.

Aside from Evers being 10 years younger than Merrill, there does not appear to be any obvious reason for the move. All the major players have been in place for awhile. Livesey has known Merrill for almost as long as Merrill has been with the organization. Owner George Steinbrenner is back at the top.

Merrill has another year on his contract, so the move won’t save the Yankees any money during the strike. According to Merrill, despite the strike, feeling in the organization was running high with the Yankees’ first-place standing in the AL East.

“I’ve thought about all the possibilities, and I can’t come up with anything,” Merrill said.

All he knows is at age 50 he’s been asked to once again pick up stakes from Columbus and be ready to depart for a place or places unknown. It will be move No. 10 since Merrill was named a pitching coach at double-A West Haven, Conn., back in 1977.

If it stings more this time, it’s because Columbus had come to represent security for Merrill, at least what passes for security in the Yankees organization. He was here on the way up in 1984 and into ’85. He started the ’90 season in Columbus before replacing Bucky Dent in the Bronx. And he came back to Columbus in ’93, after the fall.

“It’s an area I’ve come to like a great deal. It’s almost home… It is a second home to Maine,” Merrill said.

Merrill would like to think his wishes will be taken into consideration when he is eventually reassigned. He has little interest in being a roving instructor or scout.

“If I do have a forte, for me it’s on the field as opposed to scouting and that type of thing. If they ask me what my druthers are, that would be the only thing to interest me… being on the field,” he said.

If they ask him…

And if the Yankees continue to show him the kind of respect he’s getting right now, could it finally be time to end his loyalty?

“I’ll have a year to evaluate the situation. If I’m not enjoying what I’m doing, at the end of the year I’ll do something else,” said Stump Merrill, who may finally learn what pro baseball has taught fans so well. Loyalty doesn’t count.