Molitor Signs With the Brewers

Infielder Paul Molitor has agreed to terms of a multi-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers, General Manager Harry Dalton announced Wednesday.

The announcement was made two days before the Brewers would have been prohibited for nearly four months from negotiating with the player whose 39-game hitting streak last year was the fifth-longest in modern major league history and seventh-longest overall.

Because Molitor, 31, refused the team’s offer to go to salary arbitration last month, the club would not have been able to negotiate with him again until May 1.

Molitor will play his 11th major league season this year, all with the Brewers. He has a career batting average of .297 with 95 home runs, 465 runs batted in, 790 runs scored and 276 stolen bases in 1,128 games. He set club records last season with a .353 batting average and 45 stolen bases.

Molitor recently dropped his demand for a three-year contract. The Brewers had been offering a two-year term.

Molitor, who became a free agent after the 1987 season, had indicated since talks began that he wanted to return to the Brewers. He earned $1.2 million last season in the final year of a $5-million, 5-year contract.