ST. LOUIS - It's decision day for the Cardinals on whether to offer arbitration to free-agent infeilder Mark DeRosa and pitcher Joel Pineiro before tonight's deadline.
Both are Type B free agents who would garner a supplemental draft pick should they sign with another team. However, they could both be expensive if they accept arbitration and return to the Cardinals next season.
If the Cardinals elect not to offer them arbitration, they would receive no compensation should they sign elsewhere. Outfielder Matt Holliday is a Type A free agent and will be offered arbitration as he would net a first-round pick and a supplemental pick if he signs with another team.
Third baseman Troy Glaus, who is a Type B, will not be offered arbitration after spending nearly all of 2009 rehabbing a shoulder injury that required surgery last offseason.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ST. LOUIS - Jason LaRue will be returning to the Cardinals next season. The Redbirds have re-signed the backup catcher to a one-year contract.
The 35-year-old has spent the last two seasons with St. Louis behind starter Yadier Molina. He hit .240 with two home runs and six RBI in 51 games this past season.
Meanwhile, the Cards have agreed to terms with infielder Ruben Gotay on a minor league contract, with an invitation to spring training. He's played two-plus seasons in the majors with the Braves, Mets and Royals, with a career .255 average in 316 big league games.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Racy Sizemore photos stolen from e-mail.
CLEVELAND - Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore has contacted investigators from Major League Baseball to stop publication of steamy photographs that he says were stolen from his girlfriend's e-mail account and then posted online.
A baseball official tells The Associated Press that MLB officials have been contacting the Web sites that posted the photos and have been asking them to take down the pictures.
Sizemore took the photos, which first appeared on the Internet on Sunday, with a cell phone standing in front of a bathroom mirror. He's partially nude in a few of them.
