Former Oklahoma City player signs deal with Pirates

Monday, February 5th 2007, 8:24 am

By: News On 6

PITTSBURGH (AP) _ National League batting champion Freddy Sanchez chose not to go to arbitration and agreed to a $2.75 million, one-year contract Saturday with the suddenly active Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates, who made almost no player moves for the first 3 1/2 months of their offseason, signed former Brewers All-Star reliever Dan Kolb to a minor-league contract.

Sanchez _ who played for one season at Oklahoma City University _ was a reserve infielder when last season started but became the Pirates' 25th NL batting champion when it ended and gets a big raise over the $342,000 he made last season. He sought $3.1 million in salary arbitration while the Pirates offered $2.15 million.