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Left-hander Scott Eyre agreed Friday to a $2.45 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants, avoiding salary arbitration.
Eyre, a seven-year major leaguer, has gone 2-1 with one save and a 3.03 ERA in 95 relief appearances since being awarded to San Francisco on waivers from Toronto on Aug. 8, 2002.
He gets a $50,000
signing bonus, $975,000 next season and $1,425,000 in 2005. He can earn an additional
$270,000 in performance bonuses during the contract.
In 2003, the 31-year-old Eyre had a 3.32 ERA and pitched in a career-high 74
games for the NL West champions -- the second-highest single-season total by
a lefty in Giants franchise history.
The Giants still have three players on their 40-man roster eligible for arbitration: pitcher Jim Brower, catcher A.J. Pierzynski and infielder Pedro Feliz. The club has until 9 p.m. Saturday to offer them 2004 contracts.
San Francisco also agreed to a one-year contract with left-handed reliever Chad Zerbe, who was not eligible for salary arbitration. He gets paid at an annual rate of $325,000 when in the major leagues, $100,000 when in the minors.
Zerbe has spent parts of the last four seasons in the big leagues with San Francisco, going 6-1 with a 3.87 ERA in 114 games, including two starts. The 31-year-old Zerbe appeared in 33 games -- one start -- last season for the NL West champions. He was 1-1 with a 4.71 ERA.
Zerbe was the winning pitcher in Game 5 of the 2002 World Series against Anaheim.
Earlier Friday, the Giants signed 10 minor leaguers and invited them to spring training: 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.