Free-agent left-hander Erik Bedard is coming back to the Seattle Mariners.

General manager Jack Zduriencik announced Saturday morning the team and the oft-injured 30-year-old agreed to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2011.

The contract is expected to have a base salary a fraction of the $7.75 million Bedard made last season, and it would likely include incentive clauses.

He is rehabilitating in his native Canada following surgery in August to repair a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. The normal recovery time for the procedure would have him making his season debut in June at the earliest.

After two disappointing seasons with Bedard, Seattle no longer needs him to be on top of a rotation that includes Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez.

After missing most of the 2009 season with persistent leg injuries, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes is ready and raring to go for 2010.

Reyes, who appeared in only 36 games last season, showed off the progress hes made in regaining his health on Monday, running sprints at a Long Island athletic training facility and pronouncing himself ready for spring training. He said hes been running at full speed without pain for several weeks and feels great.

Ill be ready in 2010. Be there, its going to be a show, he said, according to the New York Post. I can do everything I did before on the field … I cant wait to hit a triple.

Reyes was hampered last season by what was at first believed to be tendinitis in his right calf, which forced him out of a game against the Atlanta Braves in May. The injury was later diagnosed as a torn right hamstring tendon.

Reyes tried to get back on the field, but pulled his hamstring muscle in August while trying to return and wound up watching most of the Mets disappointing 2009 season on television. New York, hampered by numerous injuries in stumbling to a 70-92 record, sorely missed Reyes speed on the bases and run production — he has averaged 62 steals and 113 runs scored per season.

It was tough, man, Reyes told SNY, the Mets television network. Even when I was in my house watching the games, it made me cry a lot of times because when Im talking about my leg, it always was in pain last year. The pain really never goes away. It was kind of tough for me and my family.

During the offseason, Reyes had surgery to remove scar tissue from around the hamstring tendon and then worked to get his hamstring muscle back into shape.

The results were on display Monday, as Reyes ran 10-yard and 90-yard sprints at full speed as part of his workout.

I feel great, Reyes said, according to the Post. Last year I came back too quickly. Everything is in the past. I dont want to think about it. Now there is no pain. Thats the key. There is nothing to worry about. Everythings perfect.

Infielder Maicer Izturis and the Los Angeles Angels have reached agreement on a three-year, $10 million contract and avoided going to arbitration.

The 29-year-old Izturis set career highs last season by hitting .300 with eight home runs and 65 RBIs. He has mostly split his time between shortstop and second base.

Izturis made $1.6 million last year with the AL West champions. He asked for $3 million and the Angels offered $2.3 million.

The deal Monday provides a $500,000 signing bonus, with salaries of $2.6 million this year, $3.1 million in 2011 and $3.8 million in 2012.

Dave Bush and the Milwaukee Brewers have agreed to a one-year contract for $4,215,000.

With the deal Monday, the sides averted an arbitration hearing. Bush can make an additional $110,000 in performance bonuses.

The right-hander went 5-9 with a 6.38 ERA in 21 starts and one relief appearance last season, when he made $4 million. He struggled after being hit with a line drive on June 4 against the Marlins, going 2-7 with a 9.27 ERA in his final 10 starts.

Bush asked for $4.45 million in arbitration, while Milwaukee offered $4,125,000.

The Brewers have two players remaining in arbitration: right-hander Carlos Villanueva and outfielder Corey Hart. General manager Doug Melvin has never gone to an arbitration hearing since taking over in Milwaukee in 2002.

Major league umpires Monday night overwhelmingly ratified a new five-year contract that included increased flexibility on postseason assignments.

The contract, which runs through 2014, does away with the prohibition against umpires working the World Series in consecutive seasons, a provision some in the union originally found difficult to digest.

Management sought to add that language after a series of missed calls in the 2009 playoffs.

Baseball and the union both agreed to make every effort to keep the game of baseball first and professional umpiring second, and were going to do whats in our hearts to make it right. We said that from the beginning, and we kept our word, said Joe West, the president of the World Umpires Association.

I think all the umpires are very happy. It was a good day for baseball and a good day for umpires.

West said all 68 major league umpires attended the meeting, which last five hours.

The change to allow umpires to work consecutive World Series was a touchy subject, the union admitted.

We think its in baseballs best interest to develop a lot of umpires with World Series experience, union attorney Brian Lam said.

Nevertheless, West said the ratification was the biggest passing vote Ive seen.

Postseason assignments had been made on merit basis since 1981, but umpires could not work consecutive World Series.

The new agreement will enable management to use video to evaluate umpires and will establish new guidelines for retirement.

Baseball owners unanimously ratified the new agreement Thursday at their meetings in Arizona.

The contract acceptance insures the first decade of labor peace with the umpires since the 1960s.

I think we all get smarter in our old age, West said.

The contract was the second negotiated without incident since 1999, when 22 umpires lost their jobs in a failed mass resignation.

The labor pact between baseball and the players union expires in December 2011.

The WUA was formed in 1999, after Richie Phillips Major League Umpires Association lost its power when mass resignations failed. New union president John Hirschbeck negotiated two labor agreements with major league baseball before West succeeded Hirschbeck last February.

A 14-member committee formed by commissioner last week said it is discussing the possible expanded use of instant replay. Umpires currently use instant replay to review home run calls.

A new baseball standard could be on the verge of falling a financial one.

On Tuesday, Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum submitted an arbitration claim for $13 million in salary for the 2010 season. The team countered by filing at $8 million.

If the teams settle at the midpoint before the February hearings, Lincecum will receive $10.5 million and beat Ryan Howards existing record of $10 million for a first-time eligible player.

Lincecum is coming off back-to-back National League Cy Young Award seasons. He was a bargain at $650,000 last year. His is eligible for arbitration for the first time as a so-called Super 2 a player in the top 17 percent of service time between two and three seasons.

Lincecums case could be most similar to Howard, who won the NL MVP in 2006 when he led the league with 58 home runs and followed that with 47 homers in 2007. The Phillies offered $7 million, while Howard won with his $10 million request.

Lincecum, nicknamed The Freak for his giant stride and slender body, has been the NLs most dominant pitcher almost from his arrival. He has a 33-12 record with a 2.55 ERA the past two seasons, leading the league in strikeouts both years. He has 526 strikeouts during that span, averaging 10.5 per nine innings.

Lincecum also leads the majors in ERA, batting average against (.214), winning percentage (.733) and strikeouts over the past two seasons.

Earlier on Tuesday, Lincecum agreed to pay $513 to resolve marijuana charges against him in Washington state.

He originally faced two misdemeanor charges of marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession stemming from a traffic stop on Oct. 30. The charges were reduced to a civil infraction.

Lincecum appeared in Clark County District Court before Judge Darvin Zimmerman on Tuesday morning. Giants managing partner Bill Neukom was in court in a sign of support for Lincecum.

He paid a speeding ticket separately.

There was a time John Lackey wanted to see Fenway Park reduced to rubble, but that all changed one balmy night in July 2008.

Thats when his Back Bay fortunes took a U-turn, and the pitcher who had seen nothing but frustration in his seven previous starts in Boston suddenly became untouchable.

Lackey had a no-hitter going with one out in the ninth before Dustin Pedroia touched him for a single and Kevin Youkilis followed with a homer. It didnt matter, the Angels won, 6-2, and their then ace suddenly had a rather annoying monkey off his back.

His Fenway numbers, which included a 9.51 ERA, werent pretty going into that start, but Lackey, who signed a five-year, $82 million contract with the Red Sox in December, has been a different pitcher in Boston since then.

More confident?

I dont know about that, he said before the annual Boston baseball writers dinner last night at the Westin Waterfront Hotel. I go into every start with confidence, so I cant say that turned a whole lot for me in my mind. It just started going the other way for me, I guess.

Lackey insists he had nothing against Fenway when he was shown on TV mouthing the words, they should blow this (stinking) place up after giving up a home run a few years back.

I hate any place Ive lost, the hyper-competitive pitcher said. It was more about not having success more than anything. It had nothing to do with the ballpark.

The Sox wouldnt have given Lackey a long-term deal if they didnt think he could be win at Fenway. He wouldnt have come here, either.

The dimensions are definitely hitter-friendly, but if you make pitches you can be successful anywhere, he said.

Lackey was the Soxs most expensive offseason acquisition, and the Fenway faithful have already been showing him some love. He said he got a standing ovation as he and his wife finished dinner and walked out of a North End restaurant last month.

He was a bit surprised, but said, Im not small, so I tend to stick out.

The Sox arent looking for him to stick out, but to fit in with a rotation that pitching coach John Farrell said reminds him of 2007 when the club won the World Series.

(He brings) an aces mentality, a resume to follow, competitiveness, Sox manager Terry Francona said. Regardless of whether he pitches the first day of the season, second or third, you put him in there with (Josh) Beckett, (Jon) Lester, hopefuelly Dice-K (Matsuzaka), (Clay) Buchholz, (Tim) Wakefield - thats six pretty good pitchers.

Lackey is already preparing to do his part. He is about halfway through his offseason conditioning program and will meet with Farrell today to see where to go from here.

Lackey hasnt had a chance to talk to his new teammates, but some have sent him text messages welcoming him to Boston. He expects that being on a team with such a strong rotation is going to be a lot of fun.

I wouldve worked hard regardless who is here, but when you have other good starting pitchers, there can be kind of a friendly competitive thing going on in the rotation that can do nothing but improve you and make you better, said Lackey, who turned 31 in October.

Hes also looking forward to playing in front of the Soxs revamped defense.

It boosts your confidence, Lackey said. Strikeouts become a little bit less important. You can make pitches down in the zone and have confidence the guys behind you can make plays for you.

You never want to walk guys, but there are situations you might want to pitch around certain people. You dont have to worry about one guy on base killing you because you have a team that can turn a double play for you if you make a pitch to the next guy.

After eight seasons with the Angels, Lackey will be moving to the East Coast - he has house-hunting on the agenda today - and playing in the AL East for the first time. Hes already looking forward to it.

Throughout the league, the AL East is recognized as the best division in baseball, for sure. Its going to bring out the best in me. Any home game here is going to be like a playoff game. Its going to be fun.

Especially now that he has turned thing around in his new home ballpark.

Right-handed reliever Nick Masset and the Cincinnati Reds agreed to a $2,58 million, two-year contract on Saturday, avoiding salary arbitration.

Masset went 5-1 with a 2.37 ERA in a team-high 74 appearances last season. In two seasons with Cincinnati, the 27-year-old pitcher is 6-1 with a 2.32 ERA.

“Were pleased we were able to get a deal done instead of going to arbitration, Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. “Nick was a leader in our bullpen last season and we expect him to help anchor that group over the next couple of years.

Masset gets $1,035,000 this season and $1,545,000 next year. He can earn another $300,000 in performance bonuses based on appearances and games finished. Also, his 2011 salary could increase by as much as $780,000 if he reaches certain levels for appearances and games finished this year.

Massets deal leaves right-hander Jared Burton as the only Reds player in arbitration. Players and teams will exchange proposed salaries on Tuesday.

Right-handed reliever D J Carrasco has signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates after the Chicago White Sox declined to offer him a contract.

Carrasco, 32, led all AL relievers with 89 1/3 innings pitched while going 5-1 with a 3.76 ERA in 49 games last season. Right-hander Brian Bass, second among AL relievers with 86 1/3 innings pitched for Baltimore, signed previously with the Pirates.

Carrasco was in the Pirates organization for three seasons before being drafted by Kansas City in 2002.

The Pirates have invited 20 non-roster players to spring training, which begins Feb. 18.

Through Jan 15 - Salary arbitration filing.

Jan. 13-14 - Owners meetings, Paradise Valley, Ariz.

Jan. 19 - Exchange of salary arbitration figures.

Feb. 1-21 - Salary arbitration hearings, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Feb. 18 - Voluntary reporting date for pitchers, catchers and injured players.

Feb. 23 - Voluntary reporting date for other players.

March 2 - Mandatory reporting date.

March 2-11 - Teams may renew contracts of unsigned players.

March 17- Last day to place a player on unconditional release waivers and pay 30 days termination pay instead of 45 days.

March 31 - Last day to request unconditional release waivers on a player without having to pay his full 2010 salary.

April 4 - Opening day, New York Yankees at Boston, active rosters reduced to 25 players.

June 7-9 - Amateur draft, Secaucus, N.J.

July 13 - All-Star game, Anaheim, Calif.

July 25 - Hall of Fame inductions, Cooperstown, N.Y.

July 31 - Last day to trade a player without securing waivers.

Aug. 15 - Last day to sign selections from 2010 amateur draft who have not exhausted college eligibility.

Sept. 1 - Active rosters expand to 40 players.

November - Free agent filing period, first 15 days after World Series ends.

Dec. 6-9 - Winter meetings, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Dec. 12 - Last day for teams to offer 2011 contracts to unsigned players.