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BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJORS : Gant Signs Two-Year Deal With Reds

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Associated Press

Free-agent outfielder Ron Gant, still disabled because of a broken right leg, signed a two-year contract with the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.

The contract minimizes the Reds’ risk if he can’t play again. Gant will get the major league minimum of $109,000 this season until he is activated and $10,000 a day thereafter for the rest of the season.

The Reds also agreed to a $500,000 base salary for next season that will automatically increase to $3.5 million if Gant is fully recovered.

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General Manager Jim Bowden said doctors agree Gant, 29, probably will be fully recovered between August and November.

Gant suffered the injury in a dirt-bike accident last February, one week after he signed a non-guaranteed, one-year contract with the Atlanta Braves for $5.5 million. The Braves released him after the injury, paying a $901,639 buyout.

Gant averaged 29 homers, 97 runs batted in, 30 doubles and 31 stolen bases the last four seasons for Atlanta. He bated .274 last season with career highs in homers (36) and RBIs (117).

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The San Francisco Giants confirmed that pitcher Salomon Torres has left the team.

Torres, 22, was coming off a start Sunday in which he gave up 10 hits and four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings of a 10-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs. The Contra Costa Times, citing an unidentified player, reported Torres left a note for Manager Dusty Baker after Sunday’s game that said: “I can’t take this. I’ve had enough. I can’t pitch at this level.”

Torres is 2-6 with a 4.86 earned-run average. He is 0-4 with a 5.73 ERA in his past four starts, including Sunday’s 87-pitch outing, his shortest of the season.

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The Florida Marlins plan to activate closer Bryan Harvey for tonight’s game against the Chicago Cubs, and he probably will pitch one inning, Manager Rene Lachemann said. Harvey had a brief rehabilitation assignment with Class-A Brevard County of the Florida State League.

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