Lopes to have cancer surgery

Philadelphia Phillies first base coach Davey Lopes, 62, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and team officials said he was expected to make a full recovery.

The former Dodgers second baseman and Milwaukee Brewers manager will have surgery this month and is expected to be out for six weeks after that.

Lopes’ cancer was found after he had a routine examination with the rest of the coaching staff Feb. 12.

“Of course what Davey has is very serious, but the doctor feels like everything is going to be fine,” Manager Charlie Manuel said Monday. “The medical department feels like . . . everything is going to work out for him.”

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The Atlanta Braves renewed outfielder Jeff Francoeur’s contract for the second year in a row after failing to agree on terms.

With less than three full years in the big leagues, Francoeur is not eligible for arbitration until 2009.

Terms of the deal were not immediately available, but Francoeur probably will earn about $450,000 this year. He was paid $427,500 last season after the Braves renewed his deal in similar fashion; he went on to hit .293 with 19 home runs and 105 runs batted in.

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Infielder Jerry Hairston Jr., whose name appeared in the Mitchell Report, signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds.

The report said former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski alleged he sold human growth hormone to Hairston on two or three occasions in 2003 and 2004.

Reds General Manager Wayne Krivsky said the team talked to Major League Baseball about Hairston’s situation before offering the contract.

Hairston, who played for Reds Manager Dusty Baker in 2005 and part of 2006 with the Chicago Cubs, spent the bulk of his 10 seasons with Baltimore. He has also played for Texas.

The Reds also signed outfielder Corey Patterson to a minor league contract. He played for the Cubs from 2000 to 2005 and for the Orioles in 2006 and 2007.

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Cubs Manager Lou Piniella returned to Peoria, Ariz., the spring-training home of the Seattle Mariners, whom he led for 10 years through their glory years ending in 2002, and said this is his final job as a manager.

Piniella, 64, who was in Peoria for the Cubs’ exhibition against the Mariners, began managing with the New York Yankees in 1986. He won a World Series title with Cincinnati in 1990 and guided the Mariners to an American League-record 116 wins in 2001.

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Yankees broadcaster Bobby Murcer was resting in a Houston hospital after undergoing a brain biopsy. Results are expected later in the week.

An All-Star outfielder who played 17 seasons in the major leagues, Murcer had surgery in December 2006 -- four days after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

An MRI exam last week showed an area of concern, which could be scar tissue or another tumor.