A's deal Lilly for Kielty

The A's also got cash or a player to be named in the latest moneysaving shuffle of their small-market roster.

Lilly went 12-10 with a 4.34 ERA and 147 strikeouts as the Athletics' fourth starter last season. He was 6-1 with a 2.06 ERA in his final seven starts of the regular season. Kielty hit .244 with 13 homers and 57 RBIs last season with Toronto and Minnesota.

Oakland general manager Billy Beane also was working on a trade with San Diego that would send All-Star catcher Ramon Hernandez and disgruntled outfielder Terrence Long to the Padres for outfielder Mark Kotsay.

Pat Hentgen returned to his original team, agreeing to a $2.2 million, one-year contract with the Blue Jays. The 35-year-old righthander spent the past three seasons with Baltimore and made $1.2 million this year. He became a free agent after the Orioles declined a $4 million option. Hentgen spent his first nine seasons in the majors with the Blue Jays before being traded after the 1999 season to St. Louis, a move that soured him on the Blue Jays.

Reds narrow field

The Cincinnati Reds hope to hire a new manager next week, selecting from four candidates announced by general manager Dan O'Brien: Dave Miley, the interim replacement for former manager Bob Boone; Jerry Manuel, fired by the Chicago White Sox after last season; Brian Graham, director of player development for Pittsburgh, and John McLaren, who has spent 12 seasons as a coach on the major league staffs of Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella . . . Bill Singer was fired by the New York Mets, a week after the newly hired special assistant made racially insensitive remarks to a Los Angeles Dodgers executive. At the general manager's meetings in Phoenix, Singer reportedly asked Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng questions about her background and later spoke in gibberish, making fun of the Chinese language . . . Anaheim Angels team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum performed arthroscopic surgery on Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi to remove inflamed tissue from his left knee. Giambi is expected to be ready for the start of spring training . . . Righthanders Nelson Figueroa and Duaner Sanchez agreed to one-year contracts with Pittsburgh . . . In Alton, Ill., Pirates pitcher Jason Boyd was arrested for the second time this month and charged with hitting a man in the face with a beer bottle. He was charged with felony aggravated battery.