Cruz Has New-Age Explanation

Shortstop Deivi Cruz reported Sunday to the San Diego Padres’ spring training camp at Peoria, Ariz., insisting he is 26 years old.

The commissioner’s office informed team officials Friday that Cruz’s original birth certificate shows he is 29.

“If I show you my license, everything, it says 26 years old,” Cruz said. “I’ve got 26 on one paper; I’ve got 29 on another paper. That’s the problem. I had to go back to the Dominican and find out how old I really am.”

So, how old is he?

“I’m 26,” Cruz said. “But they say I was born in ’72.”

Cruz is among several major league players from the Dominican Republic who have suffered age inflation with more stringent record-checking on visa applications.

Cruz, who spent his first five major league seasons with the Detroit Tigers, became a free agent last winter and signed with the Padres for $600,000.

“I wasn’t trying to pull anything on anybody,” Cruz said. “When you go out there and play, it doesn’t matter how old you are. You don’t think about how old you are. You just go out and do your job.”

Cruz batted .256 with seven home runs and 52 runs batted in last year but probably will be a backup to rookie Ramon Vazquez, who has drawn praise in early workouts.

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Toronto Blue Jay right-hander Esteban Loaiza won’t throw for 15 days because of a lesion in the labrum of his right shoulder.

Loaiza was Toronto’s opening day starter in 2001 but moved to the bullpen in midseason, finishing with an 11-11 record and 5.02 earned-run average.

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Former New York Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly was released from a hospital at Tampa, Fla.

Mattingly, a guest spring instructor for the Yankees, hurt his back during a training drill Thursday.