Tuesday, January 27, 2004
NEW YORK (AP) -- Ivan Rodriguez's agent made a counter offer Friday to the Detroit Tigers, who already have offered the 10-time All-Star catcher a deal worth $40 million over four years.
"We communicated today and continued to talk," agent Scott Boras said, without going into details on his proposal.
Rodriguez, the top free agent still unsigned, was at the White House on Friday along with the Florida Marlins to celebrate their World Series victory over the New York Yankees. He did not speak with reporters.
Detroit, which lost an American League-record 119 games last season, is looking to spark its rebuilding efforts.
"We're still in that limbo stage," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said Friday. "But it's a great topic because it's building interest for our ballclub. Certainly, we have an interest, but we'll see what happens."
It is not clear which other teams Boras is talking with about Rodriguez.
The others
Another free agent signed Friday, with left-hander Shawn Estes agreeing to a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies.
Estes, 30, would get a $600,000, one-year contract if he is added to the 40-man roster and the chance to earn $250,000 more in performance bonuses based on innings. He must pass a physical before the deal can be finalized.
After winning 19 games for San Francisco in 1997 and 15 games in 2000, Estes has gone 22-31 the past three seasons. He was 8-11 with a 5.73 ERA for the Chicago Cubs last year.
Also, the Houston Astros were negotiating with right-hander Dave Veres.
Kansas City left-hander Darrell May, who had filed for salary arbitration, agreed to a $4.95 million, two-year contract. May, 31, was 10-8 with one shutout and a career-best 3.77 ERA last year, leading the team in victories. He will make $1.75 million this season and $3.2 million in 2005.