Avoiding arbitration, OF/1B Darin Erstad and the Anaheim Angels agree on a one-year contract worth $6.25 million. The Angels also obtain designated hitter Brad Fullmer from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for pitcher Brian Cooper.

Jermaine Dye agrees to a three-year extension worth $32 million to stay with the A’s. Oakland is counting on the injured outfielder, who shattered his left tibia fouling a ball off his leg just below the knee in Game 4 of the ALDS, to fill the void created by Jason Giambi’s departure to New York.

Commissioner Bud Selig indicates that the Washington, DC area is a “prime candidate” to get a team if a franchise relocates in the near future. The nation’s capital has two lost major league teams, the original franchise shifted to Minnesota and became the Twins in 1961 and were replaced by the expansion Senators who moved to Texas a decade later, becoming the Rangers.

The Chicago Cubs sign free agent outfielder Darren Lewis to a one-year contract.

After a one-year experiment, the Baltimore Orioles plan to return Camden Yards to its original dimensions by moving in the fences. The team, which hit only 58 homers at home – 44 less than in the previous season, said the fences are returning to their initial distances because the new configuration “adversely affected the viewing angle of the batter’s eye.”

Two free agent pitchers sign one-year contracts, Todd Jones with the Colorado Rockies and Shigetoshi Hasegawa with the Seattle Mariners.

Commissioner Bud Selig asks the players to accept a luxury tax that would slow the increase of salaries. Selig also proposes that teams vastly increase the amount of local revenue they share.

“In light of this disclosure and your apparent unwillingness to reveal other financial information that you assert supports your decision to eliminate two baseball teams, I regret that I must call on you to resign as commissioner of major league baseball.” – JOHN CONYERS, JR., U.S. Representative (D-MI), citing a conflict of interest.Representative John Conyers Jr., the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, said he would back off asking Bud Selig to resign if the commissioner dropped his threat to eliminate teams this season. Selig, in a two-page letter to the Michigan lawmaker, was unequivocal in his response, stating the suggestions made were wholly unacceptable.

The New York Yankees sign pitcher David Wells to a two-year, $7-million contract to re-join the team. After posting a 34-14 record including a perfect game, in 1997 and 1998, Wells was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Roger Clemens. In Toronto, Wells had his only 20-win season.

Congressman John Conyers, Jr. of Michigan says Bud Selig should resign because he appeared to violate major league rules in a 1995 loan from a company controlled by the owner of the Minnesota Twins. Conyers, the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat says the loan created an “irreparable conflict of interest” for Selig in his plan to fold two franchises, a proposal that most likely would include the Twins.” Selig rejects the suggestion saying, “The suggestions made in your letter are wholly unacceptable.”