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Eduardo Perez in 2006.
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New role with Tribe for Perez

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New role with Tribe for Perez

Griffey, Jr., joins as special consultant for Marlins

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians have hired former major league players Eduardo Perez and Jason Bere as special assistants.

Perez played 13 seasons in the majors. He was with the Indians for the first half of the 2006 season before being traded to Seattle. He has spent the past five years working as an analyst for ESPN. Perez will be in uniform to work with Cleveland’s players during spring training camp in Goodyear, Ariz.

Bere won 71 games pitching in 11 big-league seasons. He was an all-star in 1994 with the Chicago White Sox and spent parts of two seasons with Cleveland. He will work with the club’s pitchers this spring in Arizona and will evaluate them during the regular season.

GRIFFEY/MARINERS: Ken Griffey, Jr., is returning to the Seattle Mariners as a special consultant less than a year after abruptly retiring from baseball.

Griffey’s role is still being defined, but he’ll be involved with the Mariners at spring training and the regular season, along with visiting most of the Mariners minor-league affiliates.

Griffey’s agent, Brian Goldberg, said in an e-mail that Griffey should be in Arizona next month. “The Mariners didn’t have to do this,” Goldberg said. “He and I are both appreciative of the opportunity.”

Griffey is also expected to be involved with marketing, broadcasting, and community relations. Mariners manager Eric Wedge embraces the move. He said that it’s important for the club to stay in touch with its history and hopes that other former Mariners stars will come down to Arizona to talk to and work with the players.

ROYALS MOVE ON: The Kansas City Royals opened spring training Tuesday without Zack Greinke, who was traded in December to the Milwaukee Brewers for four prospects.

The 27-year-old ace won the 2009 American League Cy Young Award with a 16-8 record and a 2.16 ERA. His absence leaves a huge void at the top of the Kansas City rotation.

Royals manager Ned Yost said a team does not replace a pitcher of Greinke’s caliber, who he called one of the five top pitchers in baseball.

Luke Hochevar, the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, is the leading candidate to be the Opening Day starter. He has a 19-32 record with a 5.60 ERA in the majors and has never won more than seven games in a season.

BONDS TRIAL: A federal judge in the perjury case against Barry Bonds has decided to allow an audio recording in which, prosecutors say, the baseball star’s personal trainer discussed his steroids use.

Bonds’ lawyers had asked the judge to exclude the recording from his upcoming trial on charges that he lied to a grand jury when he said he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs. They argued that since the personal trainer, Greg Anderson, is refusing to testify, there’s no way to authenticate the topic of discussion.

But prosecutors plan on calling to the witness stand Stevie Hoskins, Bonds’ childhood friend and former business partner. Hoskins says he secretly recorded the conversation in March, 2003, to convince Bonds’ father that his son was taking steroids.

The trial is scheduled to start March 21.

TRUMP/METS: Donald Trump is thinking about investing in the New York Mets.

The New York real estate owner with a flair for publicity said he wants to help Mets owner Fred Wilpon. Wilpon is under pressure from a lawsuit from the trustee trying to recover money for the victims of the Bernard Madoff swindle.

Speaking Tuesday in a telephone interview with the Associated Press, Trump said: “I hope that it works out well for the Wilpons because they’re friends of mine. If they ever needed help, I’d be there to help them. If I could help, I’d love to help them.”

Trump’s interest was first reported by The New York Times on its Web site.

MARLINS BALLPARK: The first seat has been installed at the Florida Marlins’ new ballpark.

The Marlins celebrated another milestone in the construction of their $535 million new home Tuesday, when owner Jeffrey Loria helped put together the first chairback to be completed in the stadium.

The Marlins say they are on schedule and on budget to move into the downtown Miami ballpark next season.

With construction workers shagging fly balls, some Florida players like Hanley Ramirez and Mike Stanton took batting practice there for the first time.

BRAVES/JONES: Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones has taken grounders and gotten in some swings on the first day of spring training, a significant step in his recovery from major knee surgery.

Until yesteday, Jones had only taken swings in the batting cage beneath Turner Field. But he went out on the field with pitchers and catchers in Kissimmee, Fla., reporting no major problems after fielding about 40 grounders and taking around the same number of swings.

First Published February 16, 2011, 6:24 a.m.

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Eduardo Perez in 2006.  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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