DENVER (AP) — Reliever Adam Ottavino and the Colorado Rockies have agreed to a $1.3 million, one-year contract that avoided arbitration.
The 6-foot-5, hard-throwing righty was 1-4 with a 3.60 ERA in a career-high 75 appearances with the Rockies last season, when he made $502,000.
Colorado claimed Ottavino off waivers from St. Louis in 2012. He was a first-round pick by St. Louis in the 2006 amateur draft and has a 7-10 career record with a 4.05 ERA in 184 games.
Ottavino had asked $1,475,000 in arbitration and had been offered $1 million.
Colorado announced the deal Monday. Catcher Wiln Rosario is the Rockies’ last player in arbitration.
NEW YORK (AP) — Rob Manfred’s desk on the 31st floor of baseball’s Park Avenue offices was tidy on Monday, the first business day after he succeeded Bud Selig and started a five-year term as commissioner.
Having worked for MLB since 1998 as an executive vice president and then as chief operating officer, he didn’t have to move into a new office.
The issues are piled up: Oakland and Tampa Bay want new ballparks; negotiations are ongoing with players over pace of play and domestic violence; Baltimore and Washington are fighting in court over broadcast revenue; there is widespread agreement initiatives must be undertaken to develop young fans and players.
A pitch clock must be considered and decreased offense scrutinized along with increased offensive shifts.
Tighter balls? Shorter fences? A lower mound? Banning defensive shifts?
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals have invited 23 non-roster players to spring training, including former fifth overall draft pick Bubba Starling and promising youngsters Miguel Almonte and Raul Mondesi.
Starling, who grew up near Kansas City, has struggled in the minor leagues but will get a taste of big league camp. Almonte, a right-hander, and Mondesi, an infielder, are non-drafted free agents who have become two of the club’s top prospects.
Other notable players headed to camp are infielder Hunter Dozier, the eighth overall draft pick in 2013; pitcher Sean Manea, the 34th overall choice the same year; and outfielder Brett Eibner, a second-round choice in 2010.
Pitchers and catchers report to Surprise, Arizona, for the start of spring training on Feb. 19. The Royals’ first full-squad workout is scheduled for Feb. 25.
NEW YORK (AP) — On his final day as baseball commissioner, Bud Selig predicts a future that could include expansion to other countries.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Selig says he leaves with no regrets after nearly 22½ years in charge of the sport.
Selig says “my dream is for this sport to really have an international flavor. Does it need teams in other countries? … If one uses a lot of vision it could.”
There has not been a major league team outside the U.S. and Canada.
Selig’s reign saw expanded playoffs and wild-card teams, the start of interleague play, the use of video review to aid umpires, expansion to Arizona and Tampa Bay, the formation of baseball’s Internet and broadcast companies and the start of drug testing.
Rob Manfred, Selig’s top deputy, becomes baseball’s 10th commissioner on Sunday.
Lincoln – The Nebraska baseball team will host a free Fan Fest on Friday, Feb. 6 at the Hawks Championship Center. The event is free to the public and is scheduled to run from 6 to 8 p.m. Fans also do not need to pre-register for the event and the first 1,000 fans will receive a free hot dog, chips and water.
There will be multiple family activities, including a pitching station with a radar gun, home run derby, face painting, balloons, and inflatables.
Starting at 7 p.m. there will be a formal program where the 2015 team will be introduced. Head Coach Darin Erstad and players will also discuss the upcoming season.
The Huskers open the 2015 season on Friday, Feb. 13 in Las Vegas with a three-game series against UNLV. The 2015 home slate starts on Tuesday, March 10 when the Huskers host Northern Colorado starting at 1:35 p.m.
Season tickets are currently available at huskers.com/tickets or by calling the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-8-BIGRED.
DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies and right-hander Jhoulys Chacin avoided arbitration Friday by agreeing to a one-year, $5.5 million contract, up from $4.85 million last season.
The Rockies also avoided arbitration with left-handed pitcher Rex Brothers and catcher Michael McKenry.
Brothers’ bump in pay is nearly $1 million, from $502,000 last year to $1.4 million this season. McKenry’s salary goes to $1,087,600 in 2015, up from $750,000 last year.
Chacin pitched in just 11 games last season, going 1-7 with a 5.40 ERA before the club shut him down in June because of a right shoulder injury. The Rockies are counting on him returning to his 2013 form, when he won 14 games with a 3.47 ERA.
Chacin projects as the Rockies’ No. 2 starter behind ace Jorge De La Rosa.
Brothers made 74 relief appearances last season, going 4-6 with 5.59 ERA and 15 holds.
McKenry had two stints with the Rockies last season after beginning the year in Triple-A. He finished with a career-best .315 batting average with nine doubles, eight homers and 22 RBIs over 57 games in Colorado.
Two Colorado players remain in arbitration, and both are eligible for the first time: right-hander Adam Ottavino and catcher Wilin Rosario. Ottavino asked for $1,475,000 and was offered $1 million; Rosario asked for $3.3 million and was offered $2.8 million.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Relief pitchers Louis Coleman and Tim Collins agreed to one-year contracts with the Kansas City Royals on Friday, allowing both of them to avoid arbitration.
Collins agreed at $1,475,000 and Coleman at $725,000.
The 25-year-old Collins, a left-hander, had a 3.86 ERA in 22 appearances with the Royals and earned $1.362,500. He made four appearances in the postseason, including three during the World Series.
Coleman, a 28-year-old right-hander, had a 5.56 ERA in 31 appearances with the Royals and earned $537,000. He has pitched parts of the past four seasons in Kansas City.
Kansas City still has seven players in arbitration without deals: pitchers Danny Duffy, Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland; first baseman Eric Hosmer; third baseman Mike Moustakas; and outfielders Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson.
PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — Bud Selig concluded his final baseball owners meeting as commissioner after two days of basking in praise for the job he’s done during more than 22 years in charge of the game.
The meeting of all the owners Thursday followed a gala in Selig’s honor the previous night.
Selig said there was more emotion than he thought there would at the dinner and at the end of Thursday’s meeting. Selig noted that there were three generations of owners during his time on the job.
Selig, 80, will be replaced by Rob Manfred on Jan. 25.
Manfred said every speaker at the dinner talked about how Selig had unified the owners after taking over a game that was, in Selig’s words, “a mess” in 1992.
PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — San Diego’s Petco Park will host baseball’s All-Star game in 2016, making the second straight year the game will be played at a National League site.
This summer’s game will be played in Cincinnati on July 14. The same league hasn’t hosted the game in consecutive years since 2006 at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park and 2007 at San Francisco’s AT&T Park.
Bud Selig made the announcement Thursday at the conclusion of his final owners’ meeting as baseball commissioner.
DENVER (AP) — Outfielder Drew Stubbs and right-hander Jordan Lyles avoided arbitration by agreeing to one-year contracts with the Colorado Rockies.
Stubbs gets $5,825,000 under Wednesday’s agreement and Lyles receives $2,475,000. Both deals are not guaranteed.
Stubbs made $4.1 million last year, his first season in Colorado. He hit a career-best .289 with 15 homers and 43 RBIs in 132 games for the Rockies.
In six seasons with the Cleveland, Cincinnati and Rockies, Stubbs has a .246 batting average with 84 home runs.
Lyles was 7-4 with a 4.33 ERA in 22 starts last year and made $502,000. He was sidelined for two months after breaking his left hand June 4 when he tried to tag out Arizona’s Martin Prado at home after a first-inning wild pitch.
Colorado’s other players who filed for arbitration Tuesday are right-handers Jhoulys Chacin, Tyler Chatwood and Adam Ottavino; left-hander Rex Brothers; and catchers Mike McKenry and Adam Ottavino. Players who don’t settle by Friday will swap proposed arbitration salaries with the Rockies.
