Hammonds Signs With Brewers

Free agent Jeffrey Hammonds, whose .335 batting average was the fourth highest in the National League last season, agreed to a $21.75-million, three-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.

“Jeffrey adds a new dimension to our ballclub,” Brewer General Manager Dean Taylor said.

Hammonds, 29, hit 20 home runs last season for the Colorado Rockies and drove in a career-high 106. He played all three outfield positions and had a .991 fielding percentage.

Hammonds’ agent, Jeff Moorad, said he and Hammonds took a wait-and-see approach to see if Colorado would make an arbitration offer.

“When they didn’t, it took [Taylor] only a week to make a great offer,” Moorad said.

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The Dodgers are interested in left-handed reliever Jesse Orosco, who sat out most of last season because of an injury to his pitching elbow. Alan Meersand, Orosco’s agent, confirmed that General Manager Kevin Malone is considering signing the 21-year veteran.

Orosco, coming off elbow surgery, began spring training with the New York Mets and was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals before the regular season began.

He had no record in six appearances and a 3.86 earned-run average, and received a salary of $1.1 million.

Orosco, who turns 44 on April 21, has an overall record of 84-75 with 141 saves and a 3.03 ERA. He spent 1988 with the Dodgers, posting a 3-2 record with a 2.72 ERA.

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After seeing how millions have been spent recently on players’ contracts, Pedro Martinez recommends that the Boston Red Sox extend his.

“Because if they wait until I’m close to being a free agent, then offers could come from other teams--offers that maybe I couldn’t refuse,” Martinez said Monday on a Dominican Republic TV show.

Martinez set a record for the highest average salary in November 1997 when he agreed on a $75-million, six-year contract with the Red Sox. His $12.5-million average salary is now tied for 16th.

“I feel comfortable in Boston, and I’d like to finish my career there,” said Martinez, who is eligible to become a free agent after the 2003 season.

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Ryan Minor, once considered to be the heir apparent to Cal Ripken Jr. in Baltimore, was traded by the Orioles to Montreal for minor league pitcher Jorge Julio. . . . The Seattle Mariners signed free-agent second baseman Bret Boone to a $3.25 million, one-year contract. Catcher Tom Lampkin decided to stay with the Mariners and agreed to a $1.2 million, one-year contract. . . .The Cleveland Indians signed Karim Garcia, former minor league player of the year with the Dodgers’ triple-A team in Albuquerque, to a minor league contract with an invitation to the club’s major league training camp. . . . The St. Louis Cardinals agreed to a one-year contract with outfielder Quinton McCracken. Also, Cardinal president Mark Lamping agreed to a three-year contract extension. . . . The Brewers agreed to minor league contracts with 16 free agents, 11 of them pitchers. . . . Outfielder Eric Davis, 38, and the San Francisco Giants agreed to a $1.5-million, one-year contract. The Giants also agreed to multiyear contracts with shortstop Rich Aurilia and outfielder Felipe Crespo, avoiding salary arbitration.

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Louis A. “Crip” Polli, 99, one of the nation’s oldest surviving major league baseball players, died in a nursing home in Berlin, Vt.

In 1927 he signed his first professional contract with the New York Yankees. He played for several years in the Yankees’ minor league system, then pitched briefly in the major leagues for the St. Louis Browns in 1932 and the New York Giants in 1944, compiling a 0-2 record in 24 games.

Miscellany

The Avengers will begin their second Arena Football League season at the San Jose SaberCats on April 14 and will play their home opener at Staples Center April 19, against the Houston ThunderBears.

President Clinton granted a pardon to Rick Hendrick, the NASCAR team owner who was banished from the sport for a year after pleading guilty to mail fraud. Hendrick, a Charlotte, N.C., automobile dealer and head of Hendrick Motorsports, was sentenced in 1997 for his role in the American Honda Motor Co. bribery and kickback scandal.

Lazio star defender Sinisa Mihajlovic is being investigated for possibly violating a criminal anti-racism law for his taunting of Arsenal soccer player Patrick Vieira.

The 31-year-old Yugoslav, who publicly apologized for using the word “black” in a curse against the Arsenal midfielder in October, could face a three-year prison sentence if convicted, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Friday.

A court in Lille, France, cleared French cyclist Richard Virenque of organizing drug use on his Festina team.

Connecticut College in New London said its hockey team will forfeit three games because of violations of the school honor code, which include violations of rules on alcohol and curfews.