CONTRACTS Tribe declines option on Danys Baez

Cleveland is still hoping to come up with another deal to sign the pitcher.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CLEVELAND -- Danys Baez wasn't offered a 2004 contract by the Cleveland Indians on Saturday, the latest step in an offseason of intriguing roster moves.
Since Nov. 14, the Indians have declined their $5 million option on the right-hander, sent him outright to Triple-A Buffalo, purchased his contract and offered him a two-year proposal worth $4 million.
Under baseball's collective bargaining agreement, the Indians were prohibited from cutting a player's salary by more than 20 percent. Baez made $5,125,000 this year and if the rule applied, a contract to Baez would have had to be for at least $4.1 million.
By allowing him to become a free agent, the Indians can now sign him for any amount without the chance of a grievance over whether taking him off the 40-man roster last month meant he wasn't subject to the maximum cut rule.
"We are still hopeful that Danys will be a member of our 2004 bullpen," Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. "But under his current contractual parameters, we did not feel like a positive compromise was possible. Non-tendering him represents the best alternative and our best hope for reaching a new contract."
As the Indians' closer, Baez went 2-9 with a 3.81 ERA, blew 10 of 35 save chances and eventually lost his job to David Riske.
The Indians, who are looking to add depth to their bullpen, have tried Baez as a starter, setup man and closer since signing him to a $14.5 million, four-year contract in 2000.
Cleveland also declined to offer a contract to left-hander Carl Sadler, who expected to sign a minor league contract with the Indians next week.
Around the majors
NEW YORK -- Freddy Garcia and David Ortiz were among the players awaiting decisions Saturday night as the midnight deadline approached for teams to offer 2004 contracts to unsigned players on their rosters.
The deadline has become increasingly important in recent years because teams are squeezing players to agree to contracts by threatening to make them free agents. Players with more than three years of major league service who are offered contracts are eligible for salary arbitration.
While a few teams announced their decisions early, many didn't. With about four hours left before the deadline, Boston still hadn't announced if it was making an offer to Ortiz, who hit .288 last season with 31 homers and 101 RBIs, both career highs.
Garcia slumped to a 12-14 record with a 4.51 with Seattle last season.
Facing the deadline, 20 players agreed to deals Friday and four players settled for one-year contracts Saturday: Oakland designated hitter Erubiel Durazo ($2.1 million), Toronto shortstop Chris Woodward ($775,000), San Diego utilityman Brian Buchanan ($650,000) and St. Louis outfielder Kerry Robinson ($450,000).
As of 8 p.m., teams had failed to offer contracts to 22 players, among them Colorado outfielder Jay Payton. The Rockies agreed to a one-year contract with free agent outfielder Jeromy Burnitz that guaranteed him $1.5 million.
Others cut loose
Also cut loose were Anaheim utilityman Shawn Wooten; Baltimore pitchers Jason Johnson and Damian Moss; Cleveland pitchers Baez and Sadler; New York Yankees outfielders David Dellucci and Karim Garcia; Oakland pitchers Jeremy Fikac and Mark Redman and Athletics infielder Frank Menechino.
Not offered contracts in the NL were Colorado pitcher Scott Elarton and infielder Kit Pellow; Montreal right-handers Hector Almonte, Orlando Hernandez and Britt Reames; New York Mets reliever Scott Strickland; Pittsburgh pitcher Mike Lincoln; St. Louis pitcher Gene Stechschulte; and San Diego pitcher Mike Matthews, catcher Miguel Ojeda and infielder Todd Sears.