Reds Get Bichette; Cubs Get Baylor

Resigned to losing cleanup hitter Greg Vaughn as a free agent, the Cincinnati Reds acquired left fielder Dante Bichette from the Colorado Rockies on Saturday for Jeffrey Hammonds and Stan Belinda.

The Rockies also sent the Reds $1.9 million to make up the difference in salaries.

Bichette, 35, hit 34 home runs and drove in 133 runs for the Rockies last season. The Reds are counting on him to replace Vaughn, who hit 45 homers and drove in 118 runs but is unaffordable as a free agent.

Bichette, one of the original Rockies, was the franchise’s career leader in hits and runs.

The trade marks the latest major change for the franchise, which had General Manager Bob Gebhard retire in August and Manager Jim Leyland retire after a 72-90 season, second-worst in franchise history.

“I gave them everything I could,� Bichette said. “We part even and I still remain in their hearts and them in mine.�

The trade wasn’t a surprise. Bichette mentioned to the Rockies early last season that he missed his family, which lives in Orlando, Fla., and would welcome a trade to an East Coast team that had spring training in Florida.

The Reds train in Sarasota, Fla., and narrowly missed out on the playoffs last season, satisfying Bichette. He waived his right to block the trade.

Hammonds, 28, hit .279 with 17 homers and 41 RBIs in 123 games last season. Belinda, 33, went 3-1 with a 5.27 earned-run average and two saves in 29 relief appearances after starting the season on the disabled list because of biceps tendinitis.

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Don Baylor has been hired to manage the Chicago Cubs, taking over a last-place team that was plagued by injuries last season.

Baylor, the hitting coach of the Atlanta Braves last season after six years as manager of the Rockies, had been courted by several major league teams, including the Angels and Milwaukee Brewers.

There was no announcement by the Cubs, but Baylor’s hiring was confirmed by a senior major league team official who spoke on the condition he not be identified.

The Chicago Sun-Times reached Baylor at his La Quinta home and he confirmed the move. The Sun-Times said the announcement wouldn’t be made until Monday.

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San Diego Padre first-base coach Davey Lopes is a leading contender to be the Milwaukee Brewers’ new manager, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Lopes has been invited Monday for a second interview with the Brewers, the newspaper said. The interview would include President Wendy Selig-Prieb, who did not participate in the initial interview. . . . The Boston Red Sox picked up a $2-million option on left-handed reliever Rheal Cormier, who earned $950,000 last season, when he appeared in 60 games and posted a 2-0 record and 3.69 ERA in the regular season. . . . The San Francisco Giants declined to pick up the contract option for right-handed reliever Julian Tavarez, 26, who spent much of the season on the disabled list because of pneumonia.

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Jimmy Piersall, known for outrageous behavior in a career in baseball that has spanned more than four decades, says he was fired as a minor league instructor for the Cubs because of critical remarks he made about the team’s management.

Piersall was fired Friday for “issues relating to his performance in player development,� Cub General Manager Ed Lynch said. “We’ve always viewed his public comments separately from that as employee.�

But Piersall says he was fired because of a remark he made on a radio program after Jim Riggleman was fired as manager of the Cubs. Piersall said “two other guys� should have been fired instead of Riggleman--leaving little doubt he was talking about Lynch and President Andy MacPhail.

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Max Patkin, known as the Clown Prince of Baseball for his goofy antics in an oversized uniform at minor league games, died Saturday in Pennsylvania of an aneurysm. He was 79. Patkin, who starred as himself in the minor league movie classic, “Bull Durham,� was a minor league pitcher before World War II. He began clowning around in lopsided games while in the service, catching the attention of Bill Veeck, who hired him as a comic coach to boost the attendance of the Cleveland Indians.