Ortiz stays with Red Sox; Haren becomes free agent

[November 03, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- As the first deadlines of baseball's offseason passed, the Los Angeles Angels allowed pitcher Dan Haren to become a free agent Friday night and David Ortiz agreed to a $26 million, two-year contract to remain with the Boston Red Sox.

Los Angeles tried to trade Haren before the midnight deadline to exercise his $15.5 million option, but a proposed deal with the Chicago Cubs for closer Carlos Marmol fell apart and the Angels decided to decline the option and pay Haren a $3.5 million buyout.

"Obviously, it didn't happen," Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto said. "We had a variety of different deals that we worked through during the course of the last week or 10 days. Some were closer than others. But I'll leave it at that."

Haren was 12-13 with a career-worst 4.33 ERA this year and the right-hander was on the disabled list for the first time. He became the second starting pitcher in three days to be jettisoned by the busy Angels, who shipped Ervin Santana to Kansas City for minor league left-hander Brandon Sisk on Wednesday.

A baseball official with knowledge of the Ortiz negotiations said the designated hitter could earn $30 million in the 2013 and `14 seasons, including bonuses. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal had not been signed.

Speaking at the Celtics' home opener against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night, Ortiz said, "We haven't finished it up yet."

"It's coming," he said as he walked back to his courtside seat at the TD Garden. "It's coming."

Ortiz was a free agent and able to discuss money with all teams at midnight. The Red Sox made him a $13.3 million qualifying offer -- new under baseball's labor contract -- earlier Friday, but the sides continued negotiating and reached an agreement a few hours later.

Ortiz batted .318 with 23 homers and 60 RBIs while missing almost half the season due to a strained right Achilles tendon.

The Yankees made qualifying offers to right fielder Nick Swisher, pitcher Hiroki Kuroda and reliever Rafael Soriano.

Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton, Tampa Bay outfielder B.J. Upton, Atlanta outfielder Michael Bourn, Washington first baseman Adam LaRoche and St. Louis pitcher Kyle Lohse also got the offers before the 5 p.m. deadline.

Players have until Nov. 9 to accept the qualifying offers. If a player turns down the offer and signs elsewhere, his former team would receive an extra selection immediately following the end of the first round of next June's amateur draft.

The Angels declined to make a qualifying offer to free-agent outfielder Torii Hunter.

"We want to create as much flexibility as we can in our ability to navigate for 2013 and beyond," Dipoto said. "In business, sometimes you make tough decisions."

After adding Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson last year for a combined $317.5 million, the Angels appear a bit more cautious this offseason.

"You can't just continually gather assets without having logical solutions as to how they all fit," Dipoto said.

[Associated Press; By RONALD BLUM]

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