Indians give Nixon 1-year deal

Trot Nixon left it up to his 5-year-old son, Chase, to decide what number he'll wear with the Cleveland Indians. Chase picked 32, because it is his dad's age, but that didn't last long.

"I told him I'll be 33 in a couple of months," said Nixon, whose son quickly changed his mind and assigned his father the higher number, which matches the number Nixon wore in high school in North Carolina.

Nixon agreed to terms on a one-year, $3 million deal with the Cleveland Indians yesterday, less than half the $6.5 million he was paid by the Red Sox last season, though he has the potential to earn an additional $2 million in performance bonuses based on plate appearances -- $250,000 for 200, then another $250,000 for every 50 up to 550. It's unlikely the Tribe signed him to be an everyday player -- the plan now is for him to platoon in right field with Casey Blake, a job that had been projected for Korean Shin-Soo Choo, whom the Indians acquired in a deal last summer from Seattle.

Nixon's deal ended whatever faint hopes he might have had of re-signing with the Sox, the organization that signed him in 1993.

"There were some conversations, but the Red Sox clearly made the decision to go in another direction," said Ron Shapiro, Nixon's agent.

The Sox, Shapiro said, handled Nixon's situation with great sensitivity. "The organization still has strong ties to Trot and didn't want to break them off," Shapiro said. "They certainly didn't burn any bridges. The relationship with the Red Sox should endure long after his career is over."

Nixon had repeatedly expressed a preference to remain with the Sox, even as a series of injuries severely curtailed his production the last three seasons. Last year, Nixon strained his right biceps, then developed a staph infection in his elbow that sidelined him an additional two weeks. After the season, his agent said, Nixon underwent outpatient surgery to treat a bulge in his back, a procedure Shapiro termed minor.

Nixon said he talked to four or five teams before coming to terms with the Indians, who earlier this winter signed free agent outfielder David Dellucci and former Sox closer Keith Foulke. One of those teams was Pittsburgh, whom Shapiro talked with until striking the deal with Cleveland.

"No hard feelings," Nixon said of the Sox cutting ties. "That's what happens in baseball, professional sports. Everybody can't be Cal Ripken [who played his entire career with the Orioles]. It's obvious what the organization meant to me. They gave me my shot. I loved that city.

"But I'll try to bring the same attitude and same intensity to Cleveland. Obviously, I want to win in Cleveland."

The Red Sox have six outfielders on their 40-man roster: Coco Crisp, Eric Hinske, Brandon Moss, David Murphy, Wily Mo Peña, and Manny Ramírez. Hinske also is expected to play at first and third, with Moss and Murphy likely to begin the season at Triple A Pawtucket. Ramírez returns in left field, Crisp is ticketed to play center, and Peña will back up all three positions, with J.D. Drew the starter in right field once his deal is completed . . . The Sox recently signed Alex Ochoa, who spent the last four seasons playing in Japan, to a minor league deal. Here's an odd twist: Ochoa, a righthanded-hitting outfielder, played for the Chunichi Dragons, essentially as the replacement for Kevin Millar, who backed out of his deal with Chunichi in order to be traded to the Red Sox by the Marlins in 2003. Two days after that trade became official, Ochoa, who played parts of eight seasons in the majors with six teams, signed with Chunichi . . . Peña, who earlier this week submitted his bid for salary arbitration (he's asking for $2.2 million; the club bid $1.725 million), has just four hits in 44 at-bats in the Dominican League playoffs while playing for Aguilas, which has advanced to the finals against Licey. Peña's Atlanta-based attorney, Josh Zeide, insists Peña's poor performance is not related to the surgery he had on his left wrist last May, soreness in the wrist also sidelining him for eight games late in the summer. Peña wasn't planning on playing winter ball, according to Zeide, who said the outfielder had instead opted to work on his defense this winter. The wrist is 100 percent, Zeide said.

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.