MLB Franchise Notes: Giants Extended Baer's Contract 8-10 Years

Baer Taking More Active Role In Baseball Operations For Giants

TOUCHING TRIBUTE: A SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE editorial is written under the header, "The Moores Era." Padres Owner John Moores, who has reached an agreement to sell the team to an ownership group led by former D'Backs General Partner & CEO Jeff Moorad, will be "remembered in the long run not for the won-loss record of the ball team." Rather, his "lasting imprint will be the historic renaissance of downtown that occurred with the development of Petco Park, one of [MLB's] most successful stadiums," as what was once a "threadbare warehouse district on the eastern side of downtown is now a thriving urban quarter known as the East Village." Moores, as a developer, has displayed a "clearer vision of downtown San Diego's long-range potential than anyone at City Hall," and he has "succeeded spectacularly in spite of the oversized hurdles he has encountered." Moores and his wife, Becky, also have "left a substantial philanthropic legacy." In spite of the "forced sale of the Padres" due to his divorce proceedings, John Moores "still has much to contribute to San Diego." The editorial: "Our fervent hope is that he will stay committed to the future of his adopted city, because we all stand to benefit from his leadership" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/8).

TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS: ESPN's Peter Gammons yesterday appeared on WEEI-AM and was asked if there is a "strain on the relationship" between agent Scott Boras and the Red Sox after 1B Mark Teixeira signed with the Yankees. Gammons: "I think in time, things will heal. ... There are some hard feelings, but they'll do business again. We'll see what happens. I don't think he has anything else on the market that they'll go after right now." Meanwhile, Gammons said of the reporting of MLB offseason news, "What happened this winter is that, as the Internet has expanded to become the media power, the flow of information is quickly controlled by agents. A lot of general managers and those of us in the business kid about a couple of sites referred to as ScottBoras.com, and Scott will float things out there and throw it out there and people will report it" (BOSTON.com, 1/7).

COST Conscious: Blue Jays Senior VP/Baseball Operations & GM J.P. Ricciardi yesterday said the team has been "directly hit" by the downturn of the Canadian dollar and "as a result we’ve got to really watch what we’re doing with our money. At this point, we weren’t really able to get into a bidding war with a team like the Yankees for the services of (former Blue Jays P A.J. Burnett).” Ricciardi said the team “feels like we’re in a good spot, just unfortunately right now we’re not able to spend any money” (“Hot Stove,” MLB Network, 1/7).

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