Owners Get Jump on Sale of Marlins

Jeffrey Loria doesn’t have a signed agreement to buy the Florida Marlins from John Henry, but baseball’s ownership committee already has recommended approval of the sale.

In another unusual development in baseball’s bizarre off-season, the ownership committee convened by telephone conference call Friday and unanimously agreed that owners should vote in favor of a deal that hasn’t even been finalized.

Henry, who heads the group that was given approval by major league owners on Jan. 16 to buy the Boston Red Sox from the Jean R. Yawkey Trust for $660 million, intends to sell the Marlins to Loria for $158.5 million.

Loria plans to sell the Montreal Expos for $120 million to a new entity--either a corporation or a partnership--that is owned by the other 29 major league teams.

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Six-time All-Star outfielder Kenny Lofton agreed to a $1.25 million, one-year contract with the Chicago White Sox.

Lofton, 34, who has played nine of his 11 seasons in Cleveland, has a .302 career batting average with 92 homers, 551 runs batted in and 479 stolen bases in 1,366 games.

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Pitcher Miguel Batista and the Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to a $5.8 million, two-year contract....Outfielder Jeremy Giambi and the Oakland Athletics agreed to a $1,065,000, one-year contract, avoiding arbitration.