Team sales could get approval quickly

NEW YORK -- Baseball owners headed to Phoenix on Tuesday for a historic meeting where teams probably will approve sales of the Boston Red Sox, Florida Marlins and Montreal Expos.

The biggest deal calls for a group led by John Henry, the current Marlins' owner, to buy the Red Sox from the Jean R. Yawkey Trust for $660 million, the highest price ever for a baseball team.

Jeffrey Loria, the Expos' owner, would buy the Marlins from Henry for $158 million, and the other 29 teams would buy back the Expos' franchise from Loria for $120 million, leaving the commissioner's office to operate the Montreal team -- which is likely to exist for one more season.

While the Red Sox have acknowledged the amount of their deal, the prices for the sales of Montreal and Florida were disclosed by a baseball official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

All three deals could be approved at today's opening session of the two-day meeting.

90 file for arbitration

NEW YORK -- On the day baseball owners hate most, 90 players filed for salary arbitration, a group that includes Scott Rolen, Jorge Posada and Darin Erstad.

Players and teams will exchange proposed salaries for one-year contracts Friday. Unless the sides settle, the cases will be heard by three-person panels of arbitrators from Feb. 4-21 in Tampa, Fla.

Three players agreed to one-year deals Tuesday instead of filing: Cincinnati right-hander Danny Graves ($3,525,000), Detroit utilityman Robert Fick ($1.15 million) and Los Angeles shortstop Alex Cora ($625,000).

--From wire reports