Major League Baseball
Notebook: Dodgers officials make their pitch for Maddux

By The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers have expressed interest in free-agent pitcher Greg Maddux, with pitching coach Jim Colborn speaking to the likely future Hall of Famer and manager Jim Tracy talking to the right-hander's brother.

The conversations were confirmed yesterday by a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Maddux, 37, has won 289 major-league games, including 15 or more in a record 16 straight seasons. He was 16-11 with a 3.96 earned-run average for the Atlanta Braves last year, then became a free agent.

Tracy and Colborn made the calls at the behest of general manager Dan Evans to gauge Maddux's interest in pitching for the Dodgers, the source said.

Evans declined comment on the matter.

The Chicago Cubs made a two-year offer to Maddux last month, reportedly for $10 million to $12 million total, and remain interested. Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said he hasn't given Maddux or agent Scott Boras a deadline and plans to speak with Boras this week.

"We're just talking to four, five teams and are waiting to see," Boras said.

Maddux pitched for the Cubs from 1986 to 1992 before joining the Braves as a free agent.

Colborn worked for the Cubs during Maddux's time in Chicago and Maddux's brother, Mike, pitched for the Dodgers in 1999, when Tracy was the team's bench coach.

Greg Maddux ranks second among active pitchers in wins, 21 behind Roger Clemens.

Notes

• The New York Yankees have worked out a trade to get third baseman Mike Lamb from Texas. The Rangers said the deal for minor-league pitcher Jose Garcia cannot be finalized until the Yankees clear a spot on their 40-man roster.

• Outfielder Wil Cordero passed his physical and finalized a $600,000, one-year contract with Florida.

Cordero, 32, could earn an additional $200,000 in performance bonuses if he plays in 140 games for the World Series champions. He hit .278 in 130 games last season for Montreal.

• Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Jason Boyd was sentenced Monday to court supervision and ordered to seek anger-management counseling for hitting a man outside an Alton, Ill., bar in November.

Boyd, 30, was initially charged with felony aggravated battery for the Nov. 16 fight, but prosecutors reduced that charge Monday to misdemeanor battery. A Madison County (Ill.) judge found Boyd guilty during a subsequent bench trial.

The judge sentenced Boyd to one year of court supervision and also fined him $200. Prosecutor Steve Wigginton said both sides agreed Boyd hit the man with a fist, not a beer bottle, as was first alleged.

• Talks concerning a proposed baseball World Cup have slowed.

Baseball's international governing body will not sanction a World Cup unless there is drug testing that meets Olympic guidelines, a decision that complicates plans to launch a tournament in March 2005. "We can't have a competition without anti-doping tests," said Aldo Notari, International Baseball Federation president.

• Former Philadelphia reliever Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams, 39, resigned as manager of the Atlantic City (N.J.) Surf. His career record with the Atlantic League Surf was 112-90.

• Benji Gil homered and had three of Mexico's 15 hits in a 10-4 win over Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic beat Venezuela 4-3 on Mendy Lopez's RBI single in the 10th inning.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company