BASEBALL NOTES

San Diego Padre owner John Moores and General Manager Kevin Towers traveled to Atlanta and spent five hours with Kevin Brown and agent Scott Boras in an attempt to re-sign their pitching ace.

San Diego already had offered Brown a four-year deal believed to be worth about $44 million. Moores wouldn’t say if the Padres increased their offer during Friday night’s meetings, which included dinner at an Atlanta restaurant.

“Suffice it to say, we’ve always held Kevin in high regard and have so demonstrated in our offer,” Moores said. “Scott’s an old pro. He knows what he’s doing. I think we made it clear we don’t expect San Diego to be the high bidder. He [Brown] agreed that it’s not all about economics.”

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Boras, who is also Bernie Williams’ agent, met with New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner again and said the sides will resume talks next week.

“Bernie’s very open to strongly looking at New York and George is interested in having Bernie back,” Boras said. “We exchanged a lot of information.”

Boras met with Steinbrenner at a Cleveland hotel for about 15 minutes and spent about 45 minutes on the telephone with Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman. Boras then traveled to Atlanta.

Williams and Boras are to meet with the Boston Red Sox on Monday. Arizona already has met with the center fielder.

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The Florida Marlins acquired catcher Jorge Fabregas from the New York Mets for right-handed reliever Oscar Henriquez and cash.