Baseball Capsules: Putz, Pavano file for free agency

NEW YORK — Mets reliever J.J. Putz and Twins pitcher Carl Pavano filed for free agency Saturday.

Putz became a free agent one day after New York declined his $9.1 million option and chose to pay a $1 million buyout.

A total of 120 players have filed for free agency since the World Series, and about 60 more are potentially eligible to file by the Nov. 19 deadline.

Minnesota exercised a $10.5 million option for 2011 on outfielder Michael Cuddyer, who hit a career-high 32 homers last season and had 94 RBIs. The option is part of a contract Cuddyer signed in 2008 that will pay him $33.5 million over four years. If the Twins had declined the option, they would have owed a $1 million buyout.

The NL champion Phillies said Saturday three players will have operations in the next week.

Closer Brad Lidge will have surgery Wednesday to remove a loose body from his right elbow, and team physician Dr. Michael Ciccotti will evaluate his right flexor/pronator tendon.

On Monday, outfielder Raul Ibanez will have a sports hernia repaired and left-hander Scott Eyre will have loose bodies removed from his left elbow.

American League

When confetti runs out, Yankee fans toss files

NEW YORK — New York City office workers who got carried away during the Yankees victory parade apparently began tossing files and documents out the window when they couldn’t get their hands on confetti.

A financial auditor who attended Friday’s the parade tells The New York Post that he found all kinds of personal financial documents in the mountains of shredded paper tossed from skyscrapers as the players rode up Broadway in Manhattan.

They included pay stubs, banking data, law firm memos and even some court files.

The founder of one financial firm says it reprimanded an "overzealous" employee for throwing records out the window that should have been shredded.

Ticker-tape parades on Broadway are a tradition for champion New York sports teams.

Twins exercise 2011 option on Cuddyer

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins have picked up outfielder Michael Cuddyer’s $10.5 million option for 2011.

Cuddyer hit a career-high 32 home runs to lead the team. He also had 94 RBIs and was sixth in the American League with 73 extra-base hits.

When slugger Justin Morneau went out with a back injury in September, Cuddyer moved from right field to first base. He hit .352 with seven homers and 22 RBIs in the next 19 games as the Twins leapfrogged the Tigers and won the AL Central title.

The option is part of a contract Cuddyer signed in 2008. He will make $8.5 million in 2010 and be paid $33.5 million over the life of the four-year deal. If the Twins had declined the option, they would have owed Cuddyer a $1 million buyout.

National League

Lidge, Ibanez, Eyre scheduled for surgery

PHILADELPHIA — Phillies closer Brad Lidge will have surgery on his right elbow on Wednesday.

Lidge is scheduled to have a loose body removed and Dr. Michael Ciccotti also will evaluate his right flexor/pronator tendon.

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. also announced Saturday night that outfielder Raul Ibanez and reliever Scott Eyre will have surgery on Monday. Dr. Bill Meyers will repair Ibanez’s sports hernia and Ciccotti will remove loose bodies from Eyre’s left elbow.

Lidge led the majors with 11 blown saves this season but was better in the playoffs as the Phillies reached the World Series before losing to the Yankees in six games. Ibanez hit a career-high 34 homers in his first season with Philadelphia. Eyre had a 1.50 ERA in 42 games.

Report says Lincecum has agreement on pot charge

VANCOUVER, Wash. — A newspaper says San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum has an agreement with a prosecutor in his home state of Washington that could settle his misdemeanor marijuana charge.

The charge stemmed from an Oct. 30 traffic stop in which a Washington State Patrol trooper said the 2008 Cy Young Award winner was doing 74 mph in a 60 mph zone on Interstate 5, a few miles north of Vancouver, Wash.

Clark County deputy prosecutor Grant Hansen said Friday that his office is willing to dismiss a misdemeanor charge of possessing 3.3 grams of marijuana. Lincecum would pay a $250 fine for possessing a marijuana pipe.

Hansen told The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash., that the agreement — still to be approved by a judge — is standard for first-time marijuana offenders who are cooperative.

International

TOKYO — The Yomiuri Giants defeat the Nippon Ham Fighters 2-0 to win the Japan Series in six games.

Catcher Shinnosuke Abe drove in the game-winning run on Saturday.

Abe doubled over the head of center fielder Yoshio Itoi to give Yomiuri a 1-0 lead in the second inning at Sapporo Dome. Tetsuya Matsumoto hit a two-out single and scored on an error in the sixth inning to make it 2-0.

It was the first Japan Series title in seven years for the Giants.

A famous former Giants player won the MVP of the World Series. Hideki Matsui earned the honor after the New York Yankees defeated Philadelphia on Wednesday, becoming the first Japanese-born player to win the trophy.