New Moves

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Tuesday, February 11

 

Bell to sign minor league contract as early as Thursday

 

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ESPN.com news services

 

 

Jay Bell is expected to sign with the Mets as early as Thursday morning, ESPN's Peter Gammons reported. It's a minor league contract with a major league invite to compete for the third base job.

 

Bell hit .163 with two home runs and 11 RBI in only 49 at-bats last season with Arizona.

 

 

Urbina, two others won't join Rangers for start of camp

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Two-time All-Star reliever Ugueth Urbina is one of three Texas Rangers pitchers who won't be in camp for the first workout Thursday.

 

 

Urbina is not expected to join the team until Feb. 22. The Rangers knew that when the former closer signed as free agent.

 

 

Also, pitchers Joaquin Benoit and Reynaldo Garcia, who live in the Dominican Republic, are having visa problems, manager Buck Showalter said Tuesday.

 

 

"Their troubles are all being taken care of," Showalter said. "They will not be in camp to start, but we're hoping they will be here within a week."

 

 

Still, the Rangers expect 28 pitchers for their first workout. The first full-squad workout is Feb. 18.

 

Orioles sign Helling to minor league deal

BALTIMORE -- Former 20-game winner Rick Helling signed a minor-league contract with the Baltimore Orioles, who hope he can stabilize a shaky starting rotation.

 

Helling, a 32-year-old right-hander, went 10-12 with a 4.51 ERA last season as the No. 3 starter with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

 

The contract he signed Monday will pay him $1 million if he makes the Opening Day roster and includes $1 million in other incentives. Helling will not become part of the 40-man roster unless he makes the team.

 

"He gives us more flexibility," Orioles vice president Mike Flanagan said.

 

Helling expects to fill out a rotation that will be set during spring training, which opens Friday. Rodrigo Lopez, Sidney Ponson and Omar Daal most likely will be the top three, but the last two slots are up for grabs.

 

Scott Erickson was demoted to the bullpen toward the end of last season, and his offseason workouts were slowed by shoulder trouble. Jason Johnson went 5-14 last year, and Pat Hentgen was 0-4 after getting a late start coming off elbow reconstruction surgery.

 

Helling went 20-7 for Texas in 1998 and reached double figures in wins in each of the last five seasons. He made about $6.5 million with Arizona last year.

 

D-Backs continue strong sales of tickets

PHOENIX -- The Arizona Diamondbacks sold more than 32,000 tickets on the second day of sales for individual game tickets for the 2003 season, the team announced Sunday.

 

Although Saturday's sales didn't surpass the 46,000 tickets sold prior to the 2002 season, it is a sizable increase from the 27,000 tickets sold prior to the 2001 season.

 

"We're very pleased with these numbers, and we are looking forward to our sales efforts moving forward,'' said Dianne Aguilar, vice president of ticket operations.

 

Expos renew lease at Olympic Stadium

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Expos renewed their one-year lease at Olympic Stadium for the upcoming baseball season.

 

The Expos, owned by the 29 major league teams and up for sale, will play 59 of their 81 home games in Montreal and the remaining 22 home games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

The league has been in discussions with potential buyers from Northern Virginia, Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C.

 

Olympic Stadium has been home to the Expos since 1977.

 

Montreal's home record last season was 49-32, the best since going 50-31 in 1996.

 

The Expos open their season at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 22.

 

 

Rangers reach one-year deals with Lamb, Hart

ARLINGTON -- The Texas Rangers on Friday reached one-year deals with infielders Mike Lamb and Jason Hart.

 

Terms weren't released.

 

Lamb hit .283 with nine home runs and 33 RBI in 115 games with the Rangers last season. He started 38 games at first base, 18 as designated hitter, 13 at third base, five at left field and one at catcher.

 

Hart, acquired from Oakland in January 2002, hit .267 in 10 games with the Rangers last season. He spent most of the season at Triple A Oklahoma, hitting .263 with 25 home runs and 83 RBI in 134 games.

 

The Rangers have 28 of the 40 players on their major league roster under contract for 2003. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in Surprise, Ariz., on Thursday.

 

 

All-Star Padilla agrees to deal with Phillies

PHILADELPHIA -- Vicente Padilla, who made the All-Star team last year in his first season as a starting pitcher, agreed Wednesday to a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

 

Padilla will be paid at an annual rate of $425,000 if he is in the major leagues and $196,000 if he is in the minors.

 

Assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. called Padilla's performance last season was a "pleasant surprise.''

 

Padilla went 14-11 with a 3.28 ERA. He is expected to be part of the rotation along with Kevin Millwood and Randy Wolf.

 

Right-handers Brad Baisley, Josh Hancock, Franklin Perez and Jeremy Wedel also agreed to one-year contracts.

 

 

Devil Rays sell Double-A affiliate in Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Devils Rays have sold their Double-A affiliate in Orlando to an Alabama businessman.

 

Tom Dickson will move the team to Montgomery, Ala., after this season. The O-Rays open their final season at Disney's Wide World of Sports starting April 11.

 

If no team replaces the O-Rays, the city would be without a baseball team for the first time since 1919.

 

The Devil Rays refused to say why they sold the Southern League team or disclose the selling price.

 

In a two-paragraph statement, the Devil Rays said they were approached late last year with an offer to buy the team and relocate it to Alabama once the O-Rays' lease at Disney expired after this season.

 

"After much consideration, we agreed to do that,'' the Devil Rays said. "We very much enjoyed our association with Disney Sports and are proud of the Southern League championship we brought to the city as partners in 1999.''

 

Although the team had the benefits of a world-class facility on Disney property and the Disney name behind it, the O-Rays had been last in the Southern League in attendance since the move.

 

Last year, the team averaged 2,113 fans a game and had a total attendance of 139,489 over 66 games. Average attendance among the 10 Southern League teams in 2002 was 3,386.

 

The city of Montgomery has approved a $26 million stadium to be built in time for the anticipated move in 2004.

 

All that remains is the expected approval from Major League Baseball and the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, which is minor-league baseball's governing body. The Southern League already has approved.

 

Veteran Telford gets minor league deal from Astros

HOUSTON -- Right-hander Anthony Telford and the Houston Astros agreed Friday to a minor league contract.

 

Telford, 36, pitched in 20 games for the Texas Rangers last year, going 2-1 with a 6.46 ERA. He was 8-2 with a 3.40 ERA in 35 relief appearance for Triple-A Oklahoma.

 

Telford has a 22-25 career major league record with a 4.17 ERA in 333 games for Baltimore, Montreal and Texas.

 

Morris to be TV commentator for 40 Tigers games

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -- Former Detroit ace Jack Morris will serve as color commentator on the 40 Tigers games that WKBD-TV will broadcast this season.

 

The five-time All-Star joined Detroit in 1977 and had a 198-150 record in 14 seasons. Morris was a teammate of newly chosen Tigers manager Alan Trammell and coaches Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish on the 1984 World Series championship team.

 

Morris also pitched for Minnesota, Toronto and Cleveland, retiring after the 1994 season with a career record of 254-186. His postseason record included two complete-game victories for Detroit against San Diego in 1984 and two wins over Atlanta while with the Blue Jays in 1991, including a 10-inning, complete-game shutout in Game 7.

 

Morris will join Frank Beckmann, who has broadcast Tigers games on radio and also has done play-by-play for the Detroit Lions, Pistons and Red Wings.

 

Mets invite veteran Munoz to spring training

NEW YORK -- The Mets signed 34-year-old pitcher Bobby Munoz to a minor league contract Thursday and invited him to spring training.

 

The right-hander was 1-4 in 15 games with Colorado Springs of the Pacific Coast League last year before signing as a free agent with the Mets. He appeared in three games for Norfolk of the International League.

 

Munoz was 0-4 with a 5.14 ERA in 15 games with Montreal in 2001 and has an 11-22 record in 100 major league games with the New York Yankees, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Montreal. His best season was 1994, when he went 7-5 in 21 games with the Phillies.

 

Ex-NL batting champ to manage Newark

NEWARK, N.J. -- Four-time National League batting champion Bill Madlock was hired Wednesday as manager of the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League.

 

Madlock won batting titles in 1975 and 1976 with the Chicago Cubs, and in 1981 and 1983 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

 

"This is a great opportunity,'' Madlock said. "On top of helping our players develop and improve, I am going to immerse myself into the city of Newark and the surrounding area.

 

"It's about making people want to come to Bears games and, most importantly, it's about making our ballpark the place to be,'' he said.

 

Known as "Mad Dog'' during his 15-year playing career, Madlock hit .300 or better 10 times, including a career-high .354 with the Cubs in 1975. He was a three-time All-Star, mainly as a third baseman.

 

He served as the Detroit Tigers' hitting coach in 2000 and 2001, and most recently worked for the commissioner's office as on-field operations supervisor.

[Chisoxfn]

Bell is a bum. He's done. Jason Dellaeoro could hit as good as him at the major league level.