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The Giants avoided the possibility of going to salary arbitration with reliever Scott Eyre, signing him to a two-year, $2.45 million deal on Friday.
Eyre, who earned $725,000 in 2003 when he was 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 74 appearances,
will make $1.025 million in 2004 and $1.425 million in 2005. With Jason Christiansen
coming off Tommy John surgery last season, Eyre has become the top left-hander
in the bullpen.
The Giants had until 9 p.m. (PST) today to offer Eyre salary arbitration or lose negotiating rights to him. The team has three arbitration-eligible players remaining: catcher A.J. Pierzynski, infielder Pedro Feliz and reliever Jim Brower. All three are valuable players, and it appears the team will offer arbitration to each before tonight's deadline.
Eyre had no concerns that the Giants would not offer him arbitration. He said
his agent, Tommy Tanzer, was told by Giants assistant general manager Ned Colletti
that an offer would be forthcoming.
"We were told four or five days ago that I would be tendered and we would
do something and go forward," Eyre said. "It was a pretty easy negotiation.
We went back and forth about four times. My agent knew what I wanted and we
worked together on it. I'm pretty happy about the contract.
"Now there are no worries about where I'm going to be the next two years,
unless they trade me. I can go in worry free and improve on last season."
Eyre had just returned to Bradenton, Fla., from the Bay Area, where he had Lasix
surgery on both eyes.
"I was pretty much blind in both eyes," he said. "My vision was
bad, and it caused some problems last year in different weathers like Florida
and Colorado."
In other news, the Giants signed left-handed reliever Chad Zerbe to a one-year
deal. He was 1-1 with a 4.71 ERA in 33 games last season.
The team also signed 10 players to minor-league deals and invited them to spring
training. They are pitchers Brian Cooper, Chris Gissell, Matt Montgomery, Adam
Pettyjohn, Kevin Pickford and Tyler Walker; infielders Brian Dallimore and Francisco
Santos; and outfielders Nathan Haynes and Robert Stratton.
Haynes, a Pinole Valley High School graduate, was a first-round pick of the
A's in the 1997 draft. He hit .276 with six homers and 49 RBI and stole 33 bases
while splitting time between Anaheim's Double-A and Triple-A teams in 2003.