Major League Baseball
Notebook: Tampa trades for Tino

By Seattle Times news services

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tino Martinez hopes a move home can spark his slumping bat.

The St. Louis Cardinals traded the 35-year-old first baseman to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays yesterday for minor-league pitcher Evan Rust and a player to be named.

"I did not come here to retire and play out the rest of my career," Martinez said at Tropicana Field. "I came here to be a productive player for these guys."

Born in Tampa, Martinez was a star at the University of Tampa before starting his major-league career with the Mariners. Back in Tampa, he will be reunited with Devil Rays skipper Lou Piniella, who managed him in Seattle from 1993 through 1995.

A two-time All-Star, Martinez averaged nearly 30 homers and 111 runs batted in for seven seasons before joining the Cardinals. His numbers dipped to 15 homers and 69 RBI last season.

Martinez is owed $7.5 million next season under the $21 million, three-year deal he agreed to with the Cardinals in December 2001, and his contract contains an $8 million option for 2005 with a $1 million buyout.

St. Louis will pay $7 million of the remaining $8.5 million Martinez is guaranteed, according to a baseball official.

Notes

• Ulice Payne Jr.'s one-year reign as president of the Milwaukee Brewers ended when he agreed to a contract buyout worth about $2.7 million. Payne, the first black team president in major-league history, lost favor when he criticized the team's plans to cut payroll 25 percent.

• Right-hander Kevin Appier signed a one-year, $300,000 contract with the Kansas City Royals.

• Derek Jeter, New York Yankees shortstop, learned that his injured left thumb will not need an operation.

• The Anaheim Angels said Rex Hudler will return as the team's television analyst despite his arrest on suspicion of marijuana possession.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company