Weaver and the Dodgers Part Ways

Jeff Weaver will pitch for a team other than the Dodgers after a Sunday night deadline passed without the right-hander coming to agreement with his team of the last two seasons.

Weaver, 29, had hoped to return to the Dodgers, but General Manager Ned Colletti was reluctant to sign him even though Weaver scaled back his asking price a few days ago.

“It was a difference of opinion of value and philosophy,” Colletti said. “I like Jeff Weaver a lot. I would have loved to have had Jeff be a Dodger. It just didn’t work out.”

Baseball rules stipulate that free agents who have been offered arbitration have until Jan. 8 to re-sign with their former teams. After that, they can’t re-sign until May 1. By then, Weaver undoubtedly will have hooked on with another team.

Weaver is represented by agent Scott Boras, a tough negotiator who this off-season has struck lucrative deals for starters Jarrod Washburn (four years, $37.5 million with Seattle) and Kevin Millwood (five years, $60 million with Texas).

Weaver sought a contract somewhere between the two, but during the last week told the Dodgers he would accept a three-year deal with an option for a fourth year based on performance.

Although Weaver was the most reliable Dodger starter the last two seasons, throwing 444 innings and winning 27 games, Colletti believes recent acquisitions Brett Tomko and Jae Seo can fill the void until top prospect Chad Billingsley is ready.

The rotation appears set with Tomko and Seo joining returners Derek Lowe, Brad Penny and Odalis Perez. D.J. Houlton, who pitched 129 innings as a rookie last season, or prospect Edwin Jackson could make the team as a spot starter and long reliever.

Lowe and Penny are under contract through 2008, and Perez and Tomko have deals that extend through 2007.

The Dodgers are reluctant to give another starter a long-term deal because they believe Billingsley and other prospects could break into the rotation within a year.

Weaver is 78-87 in seven seasons and posted his first winning record in 2005, going 14-11 with 157 strikeouts in 224 innings. The only blemish in his numbers was giving up a career-high 35 home runs.

Like Lowe a year ago, Weaver is the last proven starter left on the free-agent market. Lowe, who also is represented by Boras, signed a four-year, $36-million deal with the Dodgers on Jan. 12, 2005.

The Baltimore Orioles are expected to pursue Weaver, and the Boston Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Angels might show interest.

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The Dodger bullpen coach will be Dan Warthen, who was the San Diego Padre pitching coach from 1996 to 1997 and the Seattle Mariner pitching coach in 1992. He served as the Mets’ triple-A pitching coach the last two seasons.

Warthen, 53, pitched in the major leagues from 1975 to 1978.