Rickey Henderson rejected a return to the New York Yankees, while Rob Deer and Dan Gladden agreed to take a trip to Japan.
Henderson, who played 4 1/2 seasons for the Yankees, turned down an offer Thursday to rejoin his former team. Yankees general manager Gene Michael spent two days in California talking to representatives of the free agent."We negotiated and I spoke with Rickey," Michael said in a statement. "We then made what I thought was a good offer. They turned it down so we'll pursue other avenues."
Michael did not detail the offer he made to Henderson, baseball's career steals leader. Henderson, 35 on Christmas, started last season with Oakland and wound up with the World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays.
In other moves, Deer, who spent 1993 with the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox, agreed to a one-year contract with the Hanshin Tigers. Gladden, who was with Detroit all season, agreed to a one-year contract with the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants.
"It's a great opporunity to make good money for a great organization," Deer's agent, Joe Bick, said Thursday.
Deer, 33, hit .210 in 466 at-bats last season with 21 homers - his eighth consecutive year with 20 or more - and 55 RBI. He struck out 169 times.
Gladden batted .267 for the Tigers last season after spending five seasons with Minnesota. Detroit didn't want Gladden back after re-signing Eric Davis, acquired late in the season from Los Angeles.
Also, Gary Gaetti re-signed with Kansas City and Scott Ruskin agreed to a contract with the Royals.
Three players eligible for salary arbitration - Atlanta's Mark Lemke, Florida's Joe Klink and Minnesota's Scott Leius - also agreed to contracts. The New York Mets, meanwhile, brought free agent third baseman Chris Sabo to town for a physical.
Gaetti is guaranteed $3 million in 1994, the final season of the $11.4 million, four-year contract he signed with California. The new deal - for now a minor-league contract because the Royals' roster is at the 40-man limit - is for the major league minimum of $109,000, with California paying the remaining $2,891,000.