NEW YORK -- Karim Garcia was cut loose Friday by the New York Yankees, a day after he was charged with assault and battery for brawling in the bullpen during a playoff game in Boston.
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New York also cut David Dellucci and agreed to a $900,000, one-year contract with infielder Miguel Cairo. In addition, left-hander Gabe White accepted the Yankees' offer of salary arbitration, making him a signed player.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Garcia and Dellucci will not be offered 2004 contracts by the Saturday deadline, making them free agents.
With the signing of Gary Sheffield to play right field and the imminent deal for Kenny Lofton, who will compete with Bernie Williams in center, Garcia and Dellucci became expendable. New York also has Ruben Sierra as an emergency backup.
In addition, the Yankees ran out of room on their 40-man roster. Right-hander Eddi Canderlario was sent outright to Triple-A Columbus on Friday, clearing space for White, and Lofton still hasn't been officially added.
"They were grinders," Cashman said. "But with where we were on the 40, these were the only practical choices I could make."
Garcia hit .305 with six homers and 21 RBI in 151 at-bats for the Yankees, who acquired him from Cleveland on June 25.
LaRue, Jimenez agree to one-year deals with Reds
CINCINNATI -- Catcher Jason LaRue and infielder D'Angelo Jimenez agreed Friday to one-year contracts with the Cincinnati Reds, avoiding salary arbitration.
LaRue gets $2.6 million and Jimenez for $1,615,000.
LaRue hit .230 in 118 games last season with 16 homers and 50 RBI.
Cincinnati acquired Jimenez from the Chicago White Sox on July 6 for minor league pitcher Scott Dunn. Jimenez hit .290 in 73 games for the Reds with seven homer and 31 RBI.
Infielder Russell Branyan, outfielder Ruben Mateo and pitchers Chris Reitsma and John Riedling remain eligible for arbitration.
Expos ship IF/OF Macias to Cubs
MONTREAL -- The Montreal Expos traded utility player Jose Macias to the Chicago Cubs on Friday for right-hander Wilton Chavez.
Chavez went 11-7 with a 4.14 earned run average in 28 appearances, including 23 starts, with Triple-A Iowa and Double-A West Tennessee last season. The 25-year-old, who made all but two of his appearances at Iowa, had 128 strikeouts and only 52 walks.
The Expos assigned Chavez to Triple-A Edmonton.
Macias, 29, hit .239 with four home runs and 22 RBI over 111 games last year. He played six different positions, including designated hitter, in 2003.
Cubs reach deals with Martinez, Bako
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs bolstered their bench Friday, agreeing to one-year deals with infielder Ramon Martinez and catcher Paul Bako.
Martinez will be paid $900,000, while Bako will earn $865,000. The Cubs also agreed to a $750,000, one-year deal with Jose Macias, acquired from the Montreal Expos earlier in the day.
The Cubs value Martinez for both his bat and his versatility. He hit .283 with three homers and 34 RBI in 108 games for the Cubs last year, and made 73 starts at second, third and shortstop.
Martinez, who played his first five seasons in San Francisco, is a career .273 hitter with 23 homers and 140 RBI.
Bako saw action behind the plate in 69 games last season. Pitchers had a 3.81 ERA when he was catching, and he threw out 11 of 38 baserunners. He hit .229.
McEwing, Perez reach deals with Mets
NEW YORK -- The New York Mets agreed to deals Friday with two players eligible for salary arbitration, giving utilityman Joe McEwing a $1 million, two-year contract and outfielder Timo Perez an $850,000, one-year deal.
McEwing, 31, hit. 241 last season with 11 doubles, one homer and 16 RBI. He has spent four seasons with the Mets.
Perez, 28, hit .269 with four homers and 42 RBI in 346 at-bats.
Giants agree to two-year deal with reliever Eyre
SAN FRANCISCO -- Left-hander Scott Eyre agreed Friday to a $2.45 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants, avoiding salary arbitration.
Eyre, a seven-year major leaguer, has gone 2-1 with one save and a 3.03 ERA in 95 relief appearances since being awarded to San Francisco on waivers from Toronto on August 8, 2002.
Eyre, 31, gets $1,025,000 next season and $1,425,000 in 2005. He can earn an additional $270,000 in performance bonuses during the contract.
Eyre had a 3.32 ERA and pitched in a career-high 74 games last season -- the second-highest single-season total by a lefty in Giants franchise history.
The Giants still have three players on their 40-man roster eligible for arbitration: pitcher Jim Brower, catcher A.J. Pierzynski and infielder Pedro Feliz. The club has until mdinight Saturday to offer them 2004 contracts.
San Francisco also agreed to minor league contracts with 10 players and invited them to spring training: pitchers Brian Cooper, Chris Gissell, Matt Montgomery, Adam Pettyjohn, Kevin Pickford and Tyler Walker; infielders Brian Dallimore and Francisco Santos; and outfielders Nathan Haynes and Robert Stratton.
Braves, Alfonseca reach deal
ATLANTA -- Free-agent reliever Antonio Alfonseca agreed Friday to a one-year contract with the Atlanta Braves.
Alfonseca, a 31-year-old right-hander, was 3-1 with a 5.83 ERA in 60 games with the Chicago Cubs last season. In 2000, he led the NL with 45 saves in 49 chances.
In parts of seven seasons, Alfonseca has a 23-30 record, 4.11 ERA and 121 saves.
Cora agrees to one-year deal with Dodgers
LOS ANGELES -- Second baseman Alex Cora, who hit .249 while playing in a career-high 148 games for Los Angeles last season, agreed Friday to a $1.3 million, one-year contract with the Dodgers.
Cora, 28, had four home runs, with a career-high 24 doubles and 34 RBI. He has a .241 career batting average.
2B Rivas staying with Twins
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins agreed to Friday to a $1.5 million, one-year contract with second baseman Luis Rivas.
Rivas, 24, hit .259 with 43 RBI last season for the AL Central champions. He had a career-high nine triples and eight homers, but went 0-for-13 against the New York Yankees in the Twins' four-game playoff loss.
Rivas had been eligible for salary arbitration.
Marlins sign four players to deals
MIAMI -- The Florida Marlins reached agreement with backup catchers Mike Redmond and Ramon Castro and two others on one-year deals Friday, leaving the World Series champions still to make decisions on more prominent players.
The Marlins had until Saturday to decide whether to offer contracts to several other arbitration-eligible players, including starting pitchers Brad Penny and Carl Pavano, shortstop Alex Gonzalez and reliever Braden Looper.
Pitcher Michael Tejera and reserve outfielder Brian Banks also reached agreement.
Redmond will make $840,000 next season, 20 percent less than the $1.05 million he earned in 2003. Tejera will get $425,000 while Castro and Banks signed deals worth $400,000.
Florida had a payroll of about $54 million last season, and the cash-strapped franchise doesn't figure to exceed $60 million next year.
"We're getting close to our payroll range," general manager Larry Beinfest said.
Rays agree to one-year deals with Blum, Bell
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have agreed to terms with infielder Geoff Blum and pitcher Rob Bell on one-year contracts.
The Devil Rays acquired Blum from Houston in a Dec. 14 trade that sent pitcher Brandon Backe to the Astros.
Blum, 30, hit .262 with 10 homers and a career-best 52 RBI last season, his second with the Astros. He played all four infield positions and also spent time in left field and right field, while pulling in $1.5 million in 2003.
Bell, 26, was 5-4 with a 5.52 ERA in 19 games, including 18 starts, for the Devil Rays last year. Bell started the season in Triple-A, but was promoted in mid-June.
Pirates agree on one-year deal with lefty Beimel
PITTSBURGH -- Left-hander Joe Beimel agreed to a $535,000, one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, avoiding salary arbitration.
Beimel, 26, struggled in a setup role after the Pirates traded Scott Sauerbeck to Boston last season, but still got a $213,000 raise. He allowed 25 of 53 inherited runners to score, the second-worst rate among NL relievers.
Beimel, who would have become a free agent if not offered a contract by Saturday, was 1-3 with a 5.05 ERA last season.
Beimel also gets $10,000 if he appears in 60 games, $15,000 each for 65 and 70 games, and $25,000 for 75 games.
Surhoff turns down Orioles' arbitration offer
BALTIMORE -- Free agent B.J. Surhoff declined the Baltimore Orioles' offer of salary arbitration Friday.
The Orioles have until Jan. 8 to re-sign the outfielder and designated hitter. They made the arbitration offer Dec. 7.
Surhoff, 39, is a 17-year veteran who has spent 5½ seasons over two tours with the Orioles. He hit .295 with four homers and 41 RBI in 93 games last season.
Surhoff earned $1 million last season.
Piatt, four others offer from Indians
CLEVELAND -- Outfielder Adam Piatt was among five players who agreed Friday to minor league contracts with the Cleveland Indians.
Piatt, 27, split last season between Oakland and Tampa Bay, hitting a combined .227 with six homers and 18 RBI in 61 games.
If Piatt is added to the major league roster, he would get a split contract for $385,000 in the majors, $100,000 in the minors.
Piatt was invited to spring training along with the others: right-hander Giovanni Carrara, lefties Mike Porzio and Tim Young, and outfielder Ernie Young.
Wife wins injunction to freeze Gooden's bank account
TAMPA, Fla. -- The wife of former Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden has won an emergency injunction to have his bank account frozen.
The attorney for Gooden's wife Monica asked for the judgment after receiving bank statements showing that half of the $682,000 profit from the sale of the couple's home last year had disappeared.
Gooden will be allowed to withdraw about $11,000 a month to pay support for his wife and four children, and $5,000 a month for his own expenses.
The couple's divorce trial is scheduled for March.
Gooden, the 1985 NL Cy Young Award winner, went 194-112 with a 3.51 ERA before retiring in 2001. He is now an adviser to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and a minor league pitching coach for the club.
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