Cards C LaRue gets $950K, 1-year deal
November 30, 2009
ST. LOUIS (AP)—Catcher Jason LaRue(notes) has agreed to a $950,000, one-year contractto remain with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Yadier Molina’s(notes) backup for two seasons, LaRue hit .240 with two homers andsix RBIs in 104 at-bats last season. He started 26 games and appeared in 51overall.
“Jason is a great fit for our ballclub in his current role,” Cardinalsgeneral manager John Mozeliak said Monday. “His veteran leadership both on andoff the field is something we value highly.”
LaRue’s deal, the same as his 2009 contract, includes a $50,000 performancebonus if he has 60 starts.
St. Louis also agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Ruben Gotay(notes),who hit .272 with 29 doubles, 11 homers and 57 RBIs last season for Reno,Arizona’s Triple-A farm team.
Pirates send Karstens, Thomas to minors
November 30, 2009
PITTSBURGH (AP)—The Pirates have sent right-hander Jeff Karstens(notes) andleft-hander Justin Thomas(notes) outright to Triple-A Indianapolis after both clearedwaivers.
Catcher Robinzon Diaz(notes), designated for assignment along with Thomas andKarstens on Nov. 21, has cleared waivers and becomes a minor league free agent.
Karstens, acquired from the Yankees in a 2008 trade, was 4-6 with a 5.42 ERAlast season. The Pirates claimed Thomas on waivers from Seattle after the seasonended.
The Pirates also agreed to a minor league contract with left-hander WilLedezma(notes) and invited him to spring training along with Karstens and Thomas.Ledezma is 15-22 with a 5.17 ERA in 160 major league games with five teams.
Renowned Cuban umpire defects to US
November 30, 2009
MIAMI (AP)—A top Cuban umpire has defected to the United States.
The Spanish-language newspaper El Nuevo Herald reports that Nelson Diazarrived in Miami on Sunday with his wife and two daughters.
Diaz worked in the Olympics and the 2006 World Baseball Classic. His 26-yearcareer supposedly ended after he was picked to work the 2009 WBC in Japan butwas told by Cuban baseball officials he couldn’t go because they didn’t trusthim.
Diaz said one of the first things he did in the U.S. was place flowers atthe tomb of his mother, who died in Miami before he could see her.
In 1999, Diaz called the exhibition game between the Cubans and Orioles inBaltimore. He helped restore order after a Cuban umpire body-slammed ananti-Castro demonstrator.
Diaz also participated in World Cups and the Pan American Games, among manyother international tournaments.
Announcer Chip Caray, TBS part ways
November 30, 2009
ATLANTA (AP)—Chip Caray has called his final baseball game for TBS.
Network spokesman Jeff Pomeroy said Monday that TBS and the announcer havedecided to part ways.
A son of late Braves broadcaster Skip Caray and a grandson of famedbroadcaster Harry Caray, Chip Caray had called first-round playoff games for TBSduring the past three seasons. He originally worked with Tony Gwynn(notes) and BobBrenly, then teamed with Ron Darling and Buck Martinez.
Caray also was part of the network’s Sunday regular-season package.
Pomeroy said no replacement has been picked.
“Since the end of the 2009 MLB Playoffs, we’ve had several discussions withChip Caray regarding 2010 and beyond. Both sides agree that now is the righttime to move ahead on different paths,” the network said in a statement.
Mets INF Cora agrees to $2M, 1-year deal
November 30, 2009
NEW YORK (AP)—Alex Cora(notes) is staying with the New York Mets, agreeing to a $2million, one-year contract.
Details of the infielder’s deal were revealed Monday by two people familiarwith the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Mets hadnot yet formally announced it.
Cora can earn an additional $1 million in performance bonuses: $250,000 eachfor 80, 90, 100 and 110 starts. There is a $2 million option for 2011 thatbecomes guaranteed if he has about 80 starts next season.
The 34-year-old played 82 games this year, batting .251 with 18 RBIs andeight steals. He made 54 starts at shortstop, becoming the regular after JoseReyes got hurt. Cora didn’t play after Aug. 12 because of torn ligaments in boththumbs that required surgery.
White Sox’s Teahen wins Hutch Award
November 30, 2009
SEATTLE (AP)—Mark Teahen(notes) of the Chicago White Sox has won the 2009 Hutch Awardfor his efforts on and off the field.
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle made the announcementMonday. The award goes to a player who best exemplifies the honor, courage anddedication of former major league pitcher and manager Fred Hutchinson, who diedfrom cancer in 1964 at age 45.
Teahen was traded this month from the Kansas City Royals to Chicago. Theinfielder-outfielder will receive his award Jan. 27 in Seattle.
While in Kansas City, Teahen was a spokesman and fundraiser for a programthat gave children with physical or mental challenges the chance to playbaseball.
MLB wants Sizemore photos off Web sites
November 30, 2009
CLEVELAND (AP)—Major League Baseball officials have asked Internet sitesto remove racy photographs of Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore(notes).
Sizemore said the photos—one of them showing him nearly nude—were stolenfrom his girlfriend’s e-mail account and posted online. He contacted baseballofficials to stop the spread of the photos, which began appearing Sunday onvarious Web sites.
It is not known how many sites are complying with MLB’s request. At leastone site, deadspin.com, is refusing to take the photos down.
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“There’s no reason to,” editor A.J. Daulerio said Monday. “They were upother places already.”
Daulerio said the photos originated on a community message board and wereforwarded to his site, which is also displaying a letter from an MLB officialrequesting the photos be removed.
The letter reads: “The photos posted in the article cited below are theproperty of Grady Sizemore. They were stolen from a personal computer. We’vebegun an investigation and request that you immediately remove Mr. Sizemore’sproperty from the posting. We also ask that you preserve any records associatedwith its submission in anticipation of a criminal complaint to be filed withlocal law enforcement.”
MLB investigators are trying to determine how many sites ran the photos ofSizemore standing in front of a bathroom mirror in various stages of undress.Sizemore used a cell phone to take the pictures of himself. He told The PlainDealer of Cleveland they were intended only for his girlfriend.
The Indians said Sizemore wouldn’t make any further comment on the photos.
“We fully support Grady as he deals with this personal matter,” theIndians said in a statement Monday. “The posted photos were stolen from hisgirlfriend’s e-mail account and a legal investigation is under way.”
The 27-year-old Sizemore is the Indians’ most popular player. His fan baseincludes “Grady’s Ladies,” and several other women’s groups devoted to thethree-time All-Star.
With a rare combination of speed and power, Sizemore has developed into oneof baseball’s best all-around players. He is one of only two players in clubhistory to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in one season.
A two-time Gold Glove winner, Sizemore has endeared himself to Clevelandfans with his hustle and durability. In 2006 and 2007, he played in all 162regular-season games, but he was limited to just 106 games last season.
Sizemore suffered an elbow injury and sports hernia during spring trainingin 2009 and was never 100 percent. He batted a career-low .248 with 18 homersand 64 RBIs before he deciding to stop playing on Sept. 4. He underwent twooffseason surgeries.
AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.
Weiner likely to succeed Fehr with MLBPA
November 30, 2009
NEW YORK (AP)—The man poised to become the first new leader of baseball’spowerful union in more than a quarter-century is a ballplayer’s lawyer.
Michael Weiner speaks plainly, wears jeans and sneakers to work—and aftermore than 20 years with the Major League Baseball Players Association, knows hisstuff.
“Michael has the ability to break things down to the players,” pitcher TomGlavine(notes) said. “He speaks English. He doesn’t speak lawyer talk.”
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Weiner is likely to succeed Donald Fehr as executive director of theplayers’ association on Wednesday during the organization’s annual boardmeeting. He will be just the fourth head of the union since 1966.
And while Fehr has a similar sartorial sense, the two men have far differentstyles otherwise.
Weiner talks in far shorter and simpler sentences and represents agenerational shift from his 61-year-old predecessor, who went to work for unionhead Marvin Miller in 1977 and took over as head six years later after KenMoffett’s brief tenure.
Weiner, who turns 48 on Dec. 21, has been a baseball union lawyer for nearlyhis entire professional life. After graduation from Williams College and HarvardLaw School, Weiner clerked for a federal judge and got hired by Fehr in 1988 asa staff lawyer.
While the union was under constant attack during the first half of Fehr’sreign—there was a two-day strike in 1985, a 32-day lockout in 1990 and a7 1/2 -month strike in 1994-95 that wiped out the World Series—Weiner facesdifferent challenges as head of a membership with an average salary of justunder $3 million.
Drug testing—and now congressional scrutiny—are a fact of life in themajor leagues. Management is likely to want to tinker with complex economicissues such as revenue sharing and the luxury tax, and teams already have saidthey want to widen the amateur draft to cover international players andinstitute a slotting system that would eliminate individual negotiations fordraft picks.
For Weiner, the 1994-95 strike and the negotiations that finally led to anagreement in March 1997 were the seminal event in baseball’s labor-managementrelations. The sides had fought nearly constantly during two contentious decadesthat saw players gain free agency and salary arbitration, then win threegrievance decisions that owners conspired against free agents.
“I think that helped some people on the owners side to finally accept thatthe union was a fixture and the union was an entity they were going to have todeal with,” he said during a mid-November interview at the union’s officeoverlooking Rockefeller Center. “There was never a chance for anything tosettle in until we got through collusion, and really until then we got throughthe bargaining in ’94 and ’95.”
Fehr was a product of those battles, and distrust of management andcommissioner Bud Selig became part of his nature. For many fans, Fehr’s imagewas that of a snarling lawyer at the podium during work stoppages.
Weiner is an unknown, spending his career in the background behind Fehr andhis No. 2, Gene Orza. He has a more laid-back style—he even teaches Hebrewschool on Sundays to fourth and fifth graders.
“I learned from my dad that you could get your point across and you couldstand very firm for what you believe without raising your voice. That wasfurthered by the experience I saw when I worked for the judge,” he said. “Iexpect that will continue to be my approach.”
Yet, he figures to be somewhat like Fehr, too.
“Don and I have somewhat different personalities, but the fundamentals ofwhat it means to do this job I’ve learned from Don,” Weiner said. “How to keepthe players together, negotiations, principles of negotiation, all of that I’velearned from Don.”
Already he is speaking out against comments from unidentified managementofficials who have predicted a down free-agent market this offseason. Weinersays what he objected to were comments about the likely salaries of specificfree agents.
What else is on his agenda?
For one thing, players are unhappy with the increased number of off daysduring the postseason. “That’s not the way the game of baseball is played,”Weiner said, and while there’s no consensus yet, the union could proposed onestartling playoff shift.
“There have been some players who expressed concern about the threeout-of-five division series and whether or not having played a 162-game seasonit’s fair for them to have everybody get thrown into that kind of a series,”Weiner said.
He became one of the union’s two primary negotiators along with Steve Fehr—the union head’s brother—in talks that led to the last two collectivebargaining agreements, in 2002 and 2006. He developed a good relationship withmanagement’s primary negotiators.
“I think that Michael is a really zealous advocate for the interests of theplayers. At the same time, he has a very practical realization or a practicalunderstanding of the need to make agreements so that both the players and theowners can be successful,” said Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice president oflabor relations. “Any good relationship is founded on respect, and I do have aton of respect for him, I really do. Candidly, I like Mike personally. He’s avery engaging individual. So I think the combination of the fact that I have alot of respect for him and I like him personally gives you a nice bedrock towork from.”
Still, being the head of the union will put different pressures on Weiner ashe prepares for the next round of bargaining, which will take place ahead of thecurrent agreement’s expiration in December 2011.
“The executive director is akey figure in maintaining the integrity of the MLBPA,” first baseman Tony Clark(notes)said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “He is inevitably responsible forEVERYTHING.”
Fehr says there is only so much preparation for the top spot.
“You can know an awful lot about the job, what has to be done, the role ofthe union, but until you become executive director, with the ultimateresponsibility insofar as can be held by staff, it’s very difficult tounderstand what the job is,” he said. “That has to be learned after you getthere.”
Angels give Adenhart full playoff share
November 30, 2009
NEW YORK (AP)—The Los Angeles Angels voted to give a full postseason share tothe estate of Nick Adenhart(notes), the rookie pitcher killed in April in a caraccident allegedly caused by a drunken driver.
The Angels’ shares were worth $138,039. Los Angeles lost to the New YorkYankees in the AL championship series.
The Yankees won the World Series, and their full postseason shares wereworth a record $365,053, Major League Baseball said Monday. That was up from$351,504 on the 2008 champion Philadelphia Phillies and the previous mark of$362,173 set by the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals.
With a hike in some ticket prices this year, the players’ pool for thepostseason was $59.1 million, an increase from $51.16 million last year and theprevious record of $55.60 million in 2006.
Yankees players received $21.27 million and split it among 46 full shares,12 partial shares and two cash awards.
A full share on the Phillies, who lost to the Yankees in six games, wasworth $265,358, up from $223,390 last year on the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays.The Phillies voted 45 full shares, 8.35 partial shares and three cash awards.
The players’ pool includes 60 percent of ticket money from the first fourgames of the World Series, the first four of each league championship series andthe first three of each division series.
Full shares for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost in the NLCS, came to$102,620.
Among first-round losers, full shares were worth $37,993 for Minnesota,$32,141 for Colorado, $29,447 for St. Louis and $28,263 for Boston. Forsecond-place teams that didn’t make the playoffs, full shares were worth $11,138for Detroit, $10,424 for Florida, $9,276 for Texas and $8,262 for the ChicagoCubs.
Average MLB salary just shy of $3M
November 30, 2009
NEW YORK (AP)—The average baseball salary fell just short of $3 million thisyear, with the percentage increase slowing to its lowest level since 2004.
The 926 players in the major leagues before rosters expanded in Septemberaveraged $2,996,000, according to the annual report of the players’ association,which was obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
That is up just 2.4 percent from last year’s average of $2.93 million. Theincrease had not been that small since a 2.5 percent drop in 2004.
