Cardinals sign 14 players to minor league contracts

Tue, Nov. 15, 2005
ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Cardinals signed 14 players to minor league contracts on Monday and added one of them, catcher Michel Hernandez, to the 40-man roster.
Hernandez, 27, spent all last season at Triple-A Portland in the San Diego Padres system and batted .288 with three home runs and 31 RBIs in 82 games. He played six years in the Yankees organization from 1998-2003 and played five games in the major leagues in 2003 with New York.
Five players from the team's minor league system were re-signed, including right-hander Andy Cavazos, left-fielder Randy Leek, infielders Juan Diaz and Milko Jaramillo, and outfielder Brian Martin.
Cavazos was 2-7 with a 3.71 ERA in 51 relief appearance for Class A Palm Beach and Double-A Springfield. Leek, a starter, was 15-7 with a 3.83 ERA at Springfield. Diaz, a first baseman/DH at Springfield, batted .308 with 13 homers and 38 RBIs.
Jaramillo played 55 games at Springfield before a late season call-up to Triple-A Memphis where he batted .395 in 20 games. Martin hit .297 with five homers and 38 RBIs in 60 games for Palm Beach.
Others agreeing to contracts were left-handers Rich Rundles and Sam Walton, right-handers Brad Voyles and John Webb, catchers Brent Cordell and Brian Esposito, infielder Ramon Nivar and outfielder Prentice Redman.
Devil Rays
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have hired Los Angeles Angels bench coach Joe Maddon as manager, six weeks after beginning their search to replace Lou Piniella.
The team confirmed Maddon's hiring Monday. The St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune reported in Monday editions that the team selected Maddon over incumbent Devil Rays bench coach John McLaren the day before.
"I'm very happy, excited, eager, all those things," Maddon told the Times. "It's a great situation and I'm really looking forward to it."
The Devil Rays scheduled a news conference for today. Maddon did not immediately return phone messages left by The Associated Press.
Maddon, 51, inherits a team with a promising nucleus of young talent that made the job attractive.
Andrew Friedman, Tampa Bay's new executive vice president of baseball operations, interviewed nine candidates and also had discussions with former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine.
The selection of Maddon over McLaren brings yet another fresh face to the Devil Rays, who have undergone a massive overhaul in the front office in the past six weeks. He has been was been a coach with the Angels for the past 12 seasons, with much of that time spent as manager Mike Scioscia's right-hand man.
The other candidates were Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, former Detroit manager Alan Trammell and Atlanta batting coach Terry Pendleton.
Former New York Yankees bench coach Joe Girardi also interviewed with Tampa Bay before the Florida Marlins hired him as their manager.
Dodgers
Texas Rangers executive John Hart has withdrawn as a candidate for the Los Angeles Dodgers' general manager's job.
The 57-year-old Hart resigned as GM of the Rangers on Oct. 4. He had talked with Dodgers owner Frank McCourt in early November.
"I want to thank Frank McCourt for the opportunity to speak with him regarding his opening. I enjoyed speaking to him," Hart said. "However, I have indicated to Texas owner Tom Hicks my desire to remain with the Rangers. Therefore, I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the general manager's job with the Dodgers."
Current Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng and assistant San Francisco Giants GM Ned Colletti are believed to be the leading candidates to succeed Paul DePodesta, fired as general manager of the Dodgers on Oct. 29.
Dodgers spokeswoman Camille Johnston said Monday the team has "narrowed the field, and the general manager's search is moving forward."
Yankees
Hideki Matsui's agent and the New York Yankees neared agreement Monday on a four-year contract worth about $50 million.
Arn Tellem and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman faced an end-of-Tuesday deadline to reach a deal. Matsui's first contract with the Yankees states that if there is no agreement by then, New York must place the outfielder on unconditional release waivers, which would mean the Yankees could not re-sign him until May 15.
Matsui is coming off a three-year contract that guaranteed him $21 million, and Cashman and Tellem have been optimistic about striking a deal by the deadline. Matsui hit .305 with 23 homers and 116 RBIs last season.

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