Rhodes Likely to Spurn Dodgers

It appears the Dodgers’ pursuit of free-agent pitcher Arthur Rhodes ended Tuesday with the left-hander close to signing with the Seattle Mariners, baseball sources said.

Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone discussed terms of a contract with Rhodes’ agent, Danny Horwits, for the second time in as many days Tuesday, but the suddenly cost-conscious Dodgers bowed out of the bidding for the top pitcher on their off-season wish list.

Attempts to contact Malone and Horwits were unsuccessful.

Malone and Manager Davey Johnson covet the hard-throwing Rhodes, whom Johnson helped develop when he managed the Baltimore Orioles.

The Dodgers had planned to offer Rhodes at least a three-year deal when the free-agent signing period began, but they put Rhodes on hold because of the Adrian Beltre situation.

Chairman Robert Daly was also involved in the process, team sources said. He hoped to persuade Rhodes to delay his decision until after the commissioner’s office rules whether Beltre should be declared a free agent because the Dodgers allegedly signed him before baseball’s legal minimum age of 16. A decision is expected early next week at the latest, and the Dodgers had hoped to make a late run at Rhodes if they retained Beltre.

Rhodes is expected to sign a three- or four-year contract averaging as much as $3 million annually.

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The Dodgers acquired reliever Dan Naulty from the New York Yankees for Class-A first baseman Nick Leach, and they designated pitcher Robinson Checo for assignment to make room for Naulty on the 40-man roster.

Naulty, 29, was 1-0 with a 4.38 earned-run average in 33 appearances last season. The right-hander made $300,000 and is eligible for arbitration.