Glendon Rusch signed a two-year, $7.3 million contract with Milwaukee on Tuesday. He will receive a base salary of $2.8M in 2002 and $4M in 2003. The deal also includes a club option for 2004 at $5M with a $500K buyout and IP-based performance bonuses throughout all three potential years of the contract.

While Rusch still has a lot to prove, this salary seems appropriate for a pitcher who will be expected to take over the duties of a #2 starter for the Brewers. I believe this contract should take him through his arbitration years, and if they exercise the option, one additional year of free agency, giving the organization a top-of-the-rotation lefty starter for a few good years.

Innings-pitched incentives make sense for a club as prone to injuries as Milwaukee. Reportedly the overall amounts are not particularly large, only $275K available in 2002 and $400K in each of the final two years, as well as a potential base salary bump of $500K in 2003 and $650K in 2004. The bonuses reportedly revolve around reaching a high of 225 IP a season.

At 27, Rusch's arm should be mature enough to handle that workload as long as the pitch count in the individual games is kept at a reasonable level. However, I am concerned that it would be around a 50 IP jump for him to reach the goal this season. Sizeable jumps from year to year can be damaging for pitchers regardless of age, so Rusch might find it better for his career to miss out on those bonuses this season to stay off the operating table.

Rich Garces also agreed to a new contract on Tuesday, signing a one-year, $2.2M deal with the Boston Red Sox. Although he pitched relatively well last season, this salary seems fairly high for the potentially injury-prone portly right-handed reliever. However, he should be the Sox primary setup man in 2002, and barring injury they should be able to expect a fairly steady level of production from him. He did have some hamstring troubles last year, but I wouldn't expect those to recur. What will be interesting to watch is whether or not Boston honors his request for a trade, though right now the chances of him departing the area anytime soon seem slim, unlike Garces himself, despite recent reports of his reduced stature.

The New York Yankees were able to avoid all of their potential arbitration hearings this off-season. Shane Spencer signed a one-year, $855K contract on Monday, which includes plate appearance incentives of $15K for 350, and $25K for each of 450, 500, and 550 PA. Although considering his injury history, New York shouldn't have to worry about paying any of those PA bonuses. Spencer missed the first half of last season after knee surgery and has a history of injury problems. As long as he can stay off the DL, he should receive a good number of AB in the outfield, probably in a platoon with John Vander Wal, though he may be used to occasionally spell Rondell White in left or Nick Johnson at DH.

David Dellucci agreed to a one-year contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday. He will receive a base salary of $775K and has the opportunity to earn up to a total of $1M for the season if he reaches the games played performance bonuses in his deal. The contract is set up so that he will collect $12.5K when he reaches both 85 and 116 G, $62.5K when he hits each of 120 and 130 G, and $75K for 135 G. He has had some injury troubles in the past, so we'll have to seem how much of that bonus money he'll be able to earn.

Boston signed a handful of players to minor league contracts Monday, including C Henry Mercedes, 2B Quilvio Veras, and OF Jeff Abbott. Mercedes hasn't spent much time in the majors lately, but considering the Red Sox past problems with catcher injuries and the uncertain status of Jason Varitek, he's nice AAA insurance. Veras should have a strong shot at making the team as a back-up middle infielder provided Boston doesn't make any other IF acquisitions this off-season. However, the fact he isn't on the 40-man does make his role somewhat questionable, especially since Boston refused to promote him after picking him up last August. Injury troubles have diminished his production considerably from the days when he was starting at 2B for San Diego. Abbott will compete with Michael Coleman and Damon Buford in Spring Training for a position as a back-up outfielder.

Cole Liniak and Chuck McElroy signed minor league deals with Houston. At 25, Liniak has pretty much lost any status he might have had as a 3B prospect and will be lucky to receive significant time as a corner infielder in the majors. His plate discipline and power just aren't there, and as he also unsurprisingly offers little speed, he doesn't have much to offer. Though a LHP, McElroy pretty much has a reverse platoon split and doesn't really pitch particularly well against batters from either side of the plate. The Astros would probably be much better off going with any number of other relievers, despite McElroy's major league experience.

On Tuesday, Brad Clontz signed a minor league contract with the Padres. Clontz isn't anything special in the way of relievers, but though he's been relegated to AAA for over a year now, he has enough talent to fill in as an injury replacement at the bottom of a pen. The Padres have several relievers who are questionable for the start of the season including Jeremy Fikac, who may need to have a cyst removed from the index finger of his pitching hand. Fikac should be ready to return by the middle of May at the latest, so Clontz shouldn't be in the majors for too long.

Cleveland signed Omar Olivares to a minor league deal on Tuesday. While he probably won't make the Opening Day roster, Olivares' past success and major league time will secure him a solid look in Spring Training and make him a prime candidate for mid-season innings as an injury replacement. The Indians certainly could have done worse for AAA depth.

Gregg Olson signed a minor league contract with Pittsburgh on Sunday. Although he's well removed from his days as a closer and even farther removed from the days when he deserved to be a closer, Olson probably has a decent shot at making the Pirates' pen if Fetters doesn't rescind his trade demand. If he doesn't make the cut in Spring Training, I still fully expect him to see some time in the majors before the year is out.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Chicago Cubs signed Donovan Osborne to a minor league contract. I remember Osborne as a Cardinal from most of the 90's and was quite puzzled when he dropped out of site in 2000. However, I later learned that he had left baseball because of chronic injury troubles. After two years of rest, Osborne has decided to attempt a comeback. If he is truly healthy and hasn't grown too rusty, he has a shot at really contributing to the Cubs as he was a decent pitcher before he retired. His main obstacle to major league playing time will be the wealth of other talent in the Chicago system.

For those of you keeping track, when the Mets claimed Endy Chavez off waivers from the Tigers last Friday, thereby uniting Endy with his brother Ender, they DFA'd Craig House. LA then claimed House, the pitching prospect acquired from the Rockies in the three-way trade with the Brewers, off waivers from New York.

Ender Chavez was acquired from the Rockies as the PTBNL for Gary Bennett earlier in the off-season. The 20-year-old outfielder doesn't have much upside beyond a back-up outfielder, as although he put up fairly nice stats last season, he was only in Rookie ball. Endy began his career with the Mets before KC selected him in the 2000 Rule 5 draft. He was claimed off waivers from KC by Detroit earlier this off-season. He is also an outfielder and is likely destined for AAAA status in the near future.

We discussed House at the time of the trade, but to recap, he is a fairly good pitching prospect who had some troubles early in his career due to a very erratic pitching motion. He has reportedly made progress in smoothing out those kinks and managed some very good numbers in relief at AAA Colorado Springs last season. LA has a fairly full pen, but House is ready to attempt to prove himself in the majors and should receive a call-up at some point this season. He has significantly more long-term closing potential than current Dodger relievers Matt Herges and Paul Quantrill.

Before we close for today, I just have a few quick comments on Ramon Ortiz. Earlier this week, Ortiz was discovered to be three years older than previously known, making him almost 29 as opposed to almost 26. Other than slightly modifying his long-term upside, the primary effect this has on Ortiz's projections is to make him less of a risk for injury than formerly expected, since his arm was theoretically more mature and better able to handle his recently sizeable workload.

We can likely expect to see adjustments in several more players' ages over the season as passport security measures have been tightened in the last few months, exposing these discrepancies in birth dates.