CLEVELAND — Indians utility player Jolbert Cabrera was shot during an attempted carjacking in Colombia, but he is expected to report on time for spring training.

        Agent Oscar Suarez said Cabrera, 29, was shot by an armed man Dec.21 in Bogota, Colombia, and had surgery to remover the bullet from his right buttocks.

        “Doctors said the bullet didn't hit any of his bones and he should be all right,” Suarez said Friday.

        Cabrera was riding with his daughters in the back seat of an SUV driven by his wife, Delbys, when an armed man approached the driver's-side window, unaware that Cabrera was inside.

        Cabrera said he got his daughters, Alexandria and Ashlyn, out of the vehicle and was pulling his wife to safety when the robber fired.

        Suarez said the Indians have asked Cabrera to report to Cleveland for a medical checkup later this month. The club's position players are scheduled to report to spring training in Florida Feb.19.

        ROCKIES:

        Free agent reliever Todd Jones agreed to a $1.3 million, one-year contract.

        Jones, 33, began last season as Detroit's closer but was traded to Minnesota July 28. Jones was a combined 5-5 with 13 saves and a 4.24 ERA for the Tigers and Twins.

        DIAMONDBACKS:

        Arizona signed infielder-outfielder Chris Donnels to a minor-league contract and invited him to spring training. Donnels, 35, shared third base with Adrian Beltre for Los Angeles and hit .170 with three home runs and eight RBI.

        ORIOLES:

        The team returned Camden Yards to its original dimensions after moving the fences farther from home plate last season.

        There were 152 homers hit at Camden Yards in 2001, fifth-fewest in the majors and 44 fewer than in 2000. The Orioles hit only 58 homers there last season and had a 30-50 home record.

        Team officials said the fences are returning to their original length because last year's layout “adversely affected the viewing angle of the batter's eye.”

        YANKEES:

        Right-hander Ryan Bradley cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Columbus of the International League. Bradley, once a top prospect but lately plagued by wildness, was 7-6 last season in 96 1/3 innings at Double-A Norwich and Class A Tampa.

        PUCKETT DIVORCE:

        Hall of Famer and former Twin Kirby Puckett and his wife are getting divorced, less than a month after Tonya Puckett told police her husband threatened to kill her during an argument.

        Kirby Puckett denied to Edina, Minn., police that he threatened his wife, according to a police report. Police Chief Mike Siitari said the city's prosecuting attorney will not to file charges.

        CONTRACTION:

        Rep. John Conyers Jr., the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is bothered by how commissioner Bud Selig evaded questions about baseball's finances at a Congressional hearing in December and claims Selig has ignored written questions since.

        Conyers is to meet with one of Selig's lawyers next week in New York and wants another hearing.

        Baseball's finances were called into question when owners voted Nov.6 to eliminate two teams. Minnesota and Montreal are the likely targets of Selig's contraction plan.

        Conyers said Wednesday that Selig appeared to violate major-league rules in 1995 when he arranged a loan for his Milwaukee Brewers from a company controlled by Twins owner Carl Pohlad. The loan, Conyers said, created an “irreparable conflict of interest.”

        Selig replied to Conyers in a letter, saying, “The suggestions made in your letter are wholly unacceptable,” but did not respond to the congressman's suggestion that contraction be put off.

        UMPIRES:

        The commissioner's office and the Major League Umpires Association filed appeals of a federal judge's decision that ordered management to rehire nine of the 22 umpires who lost their jobs following a mass resignation used as a bargaining tactic in 1999.

        The appeals throw into question whether the case will be concluded — and any umpires rehired — by the start of the coming season.

        Last month, U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III upheld a decision by arbitrator Alan Symonette that ordered baseball to rehire Drew Coble, Gary Darling, Bill Hohn, Greg Kosc, Larry Poncino, Larry Vanover, Joe West, Frank Pulli and Terry Tata. Bartle also ordered new arbitration hearings for Paul Nauert, Bruce Dreckman and Sam Holbrook and denied reinstatement to 10 umpires, including well-known faces such as Richie Garcia and Eric Gregg. The others who lost their jobs were Bob Davidson, Tom Hallion, Jim Evans, Dale Ford, Ed Hickox, Mark Johnson, Ken Kaiser, Larry McCoy.

        The judge's order to rehire the nine umpires and give them back pay and benefits would cost owners at least $5 million.

        Richie Phillips' MLUA called for the mass resignation in July 1999 as a bargaining tactic as new contract negotiations approached.

        The move backfired when baseball accepted the resignations and hired new umpires to replace them. In a federally supervised election, umpires replaced the MLUA with a new union, the World Umpires Association.

        RED SOX:

        After a late $700 million bid from Charles Dolan, the team held telephone discussions with its limited partners.

        Dolan, the chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp., made the new bid Thursday, three weeks after it was agreed the team would be sold for $660 million to a group headed by Florida Marlins owner John Henry.

        The team is not bound by its agreement with Henry, a source close to the team said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

        State Attorney General Thomas Reilly met with Major League Baseball's lead lawyer as part of his investigation into whether the office of commissioner Bud Selig improperly guided the team into agreeing to the offer from Henry's group Dec.20. The team accepted Henry's offer instead of a $750 million bid from a group headed by New York lawyer Miles Prentice, a bid the Red Sox claim did not have secure financing.

SULLIVAN: Selig's loan Baseball notebook

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