Baseball Notebook | Giants give Vizquel, 40, one-year deal
SAN FRANCISCO - Omar Vizquel got his wish to return to the San Francisco Giants.
The 11-time Gold Glove shortstop agreed Friday to a $5.3 million, one-year contract, a deal that includes a club option that could make it worth $10.2 million over two seasons.
“I’m pretty excited because the Giants gave me another opportunity to be with the team after the disappointing year I had,” Vizquel said before playing a winter-league game in his native Venezuela.
“I know I was expecting more from myself, and I am getting ready for a better year. I still think I can play in the toughest division and play at the major-league level.”
The 40-year-old Vizquel, who played for the Mariners from 1989 to 1993 and is an Issaquah resident, said throughout the season that he wanted to return to the Giants - and San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy and general manager Brian Sabean are fans.
“Who couldn’t love Omar?” Bochy said late in the season.
A-Rod to Dodgers?
NEW YORK - Joe Torre said he thinks there is a chance Alex Rodriguez could join him in Los Angeles, and the new manager of the Dodgers certainly sounded hopeful.
“It’s possible,” said Torre, repeating that phrase twice and smiling. “You’ve got four or five clubs, maybe, that figure to be in the sweepstakes.”
The Dodgers are a big-market team - and they could use a big bat. They hit a mere 129 home runs this year, so the 32-year-old Rodriguez would seem to be a perfect fit at third base. Former Mariner Rodriguez batted .314 with 54 homers and 156 runs batted in this year, his fourth with the New York Yankees.
Notes
• Italy took advantage of three errors by the United States to score five unearned runs in a 6-2 victory at the 37th Baseball World Cup in Taiwan. The U.S. team is managed by Davey Johnson.
• Ex-Mariners manager Jim Lefebvre’s challenge is to shape up the China team ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
After a 9-5 loss Thursday to Taiwan in the Asia Series, the China Stars were trounced 13-0 by South Korea’s SK Wyverns.
“We only play 30 games a season in China,” Lefebvre said. “In Korea they play 130, in Japan 140 and in the major leagues 162. You can’t become a good player playing 30 games a year.”