BASEBALL ROUNDUP | News and notes

Brewers: Catcher Damian Miller's $8.75 million, three-year contract was finalized Monday. While the deal was agreed to last week and Miller took a physical Wednesday, the Brewers put off completing the agreement because it couldn't find any of its team physicians to read the MRI exam results ahead of the holiday weekend. Miller gets $3.25 million in each of the next two seasons and Milwaukee has a $3.75 million option for 2007. If the Brewers decline it, Miller would get a $2.25 million player option and the chance, if he exercises it, to earn $750,000 more in performance bonuses. Miller, 35, grew up in La Crosse. He hit .272 with nine homers and a career-high 58 RBIs in 110 games for Oakland last season, including .324 with runners in scoring position and .412 with the bases loaded. A top defensive catcher, Miller had one error in 751 total chances. He also has the second-highest fielding percentage in major league history for catchers with 600 or more games, trailing only Seattle's Dan Wilson.
Yankees: Backup catcher John Flaherty is close to agreement in what is likely to be the team's first free-agent signing of the off-season. Second baseman Miguel Cairo, who like Flaherty is represented by agent Alan Nero, also wants to return to the Yankees. His negotiations, however, have not progressed as far. Flaherty hit .252 in 127 at-bats but was the key to several New York wins, hitting six homers and driving in 16 runs. He made $775,000 and his new deal was likely to be for a salary between that and $1 million. Cairo began the season platooning with Enrique Wilson but soon won out as the regular starter, hitting .292 with six homers, 42 RBIs and 11 steals. He made $1.05 million, including $150,000 in performance bonuses based on plate appearances.
Padres: Left-hander Dennys Reyes and San Diego agreed Monday to a $550,000, one-year contract. Reyes was 4-8 with a 4.75 ERA in 40 games with Kansas City last season, including 12 starts. He's also played with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Arizona Diamondbacks. He has a career record of 19-29 with a 4.76 ERA.
Red Sox: Catcher Doug Mirabelli became the first of Boston's 16 free agents to re-sign, agreeing Monday on a $3 million, two-year contract with the World Series champion Red Sox. Mirabelli will earn a $200,000 signing bonus and $1.4 million in each of the next two seasons. Mirabelli made $825,000 last season, when he batted .281 with nine homers and 32 RBIs in 160 at-bats as Jason Varitek's backup and the regular catcher for knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Mirabelli had sought work as a regular catcher. Instead, he nearly doubled his pay to stay with the Red Sox, who also are trying to re-sign Varitek. Varitek's agent, Scott Boras, has said he wants a five-year deal for $50 million.
Marlins: Former Florida catcher Ramon Castro pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor indecent assault charge on Monday and will serve a year on probation, ending a criminal case that began when a woman accused him of raping her in his hotel room in August 2003. Castro, 28, a married father of two, appeared in Allegheny County Court with his wife and defense attorneys to enter the plea. Pittsburgh police filed felony charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault and unlawful restraint against Castro after the woman, then 28, reported that Castro raped her early on Aug. 28, 2003 in his hotel room while the Marlins were in town playing the Pirates.
Senators: Catcher Gary Bennett agreed Monday to a $750,000, one-year contract. Bennett, 32, fulfills the team's need for a backup to Brian Schneider. Bennett hit .224 with three home runs and 20 RBIs in 75 games for Milwaukee last year. He is a career .247 hitter in nine seasons with Philadelphia, the New York Mets, Colorado, San Diego and Milwaukee. Bennett's best season came with San Diego in 2003, when he had 42 RBIs in 96 games. Also, the District of Columbia Council is scheduled to vote today on financing a new ball park for the franchise, and baseball owners are to vote by Dec. 6 on the proposed move of the team.
Blue Jays: Toronto agreed to buy SkyDome, the team's ball park, for about $21.2 million. The 50,000-seat stadium, which opened in 1989, cost about $375 million to construct and was mostly funded by taxpayers. The Blue Jays, who are owned by Rogers Communications, will acquire the ballpark from Sportsco International LP, a Chicago-based group of investors who bought SkyDome out of bankruptcy court in 1999 for about $74 million. The team plans to replace the artificial turf with FieldTurf and install a new JumboTron scoreboard.
Associated Press