Hot- Stove

Free-agent infielder Felipe Lopez and the Arizona Diamondbacks reached a preliminary agreement on a $3.5 million, one-year contract. The deal was pending a physical, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Thursday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been finalized.

The 28-year-old Lopez, who has spent eight seasons in the majors, split this year between Washington and St. Louis. He batted .283 with six homers and 46 RBIs in 143 games.

A switch-hitter, Lopez was an All-Star shortstop in 2005 with Cincinnati. He broke into the big leagues with Toronto in 2001.

Lopez has spent most of his career at shortstop, but he played 101 games at second base last season.

The Diamondbacks agreed Wednesday with Augie Ojeda on a $712,500, one-year contract to keep the utility infielder around for a third season.

The Braves want a young first baseman in any package for Teixeira, but they need to expand their focus. For one thing, they’re not getting the D-backs’ Conor Jackson, who has a .919 on-base/slugging percentage — better than Teixeira’s .896 — and is under club control for three more years.

The D-backs even would be hesitant to trade first baseman Chad Tracy, an accomplished if oft-injured slugger who is signed for a modest $4.75 million next season with a $7 million club option for 2010. Jackson has proven he can play left field, leaving Eric Byrnes to possibly fight for playing time next season.

Then again, the D-Backs could send Tracy to Atlanta and return Jackson to first next season, enabling Byrnes to reclaim left. They would need to include a second piece (Micah Owings?) and possibly a third, but two months of Teixeira would win them the N.L. West.

The D-backs, even after trading six young players for Dan Haren and another for Jon Rauch, still believe they have prospects to spare, particularly on the pitching side. They would make no attempt to re-sign Teixeria, but their likely free-agent departures — Teixeira, second baseman Orlando Hudson, closer Brandon Lyon, reliever Juan Cruz — could leave them with something like nine of the first 70 picks in next year’s draft. While the draft is expected to be weak, the D-backs would be in good position to re-tool.

All-Star second baseman Orlando Hudson and four other Diamondbacks agreed to one-year contracts Friday as Arizona avoided arbitration with all its eligible players. Catcher Chris Snyder, right-handed relievers Brandon Lyon and Chad Qualls, and infielder Chris Burke also agreed to deals. Right-hander Juan Cruz accepted a $1,937,500, one-year contract earlier this week.

Hudson’s contract is for $6.25 million, a considerable raise from the $3.9 million he made last season.

Snyder gets $1.85 million, up from the $400,000 he earned last year.

Lyon, one of three leading candidates to take over as Diamondbacks closer, agreed to a $3,125,000 million deal, more than double the $1.5 million he made last season.

Qualls and Burke came in the trade that sent closer Jose Valverde to the Houston Astros. Qualls, another closer possibility, agreed to $1,312,500, a big leap from the $441,000 he got a year ago. Burke gets $995,000. He earned $415,500 in 2007.

The Diamondbacks have agreed with left-hander Doug Davis to a three-year contract worth $22 million. The deal, which pays Davis $5.5 million this year, $7.75 million in 2008 and $8.75 million in 2009, enables the two sides to avoid salary arbitration. Davis, 31, asked for $7.5 million in arbitration and the Diamondbacks offered $5.25 million. The difference of $2.25 million was the second largest among this year’s exchanges, topped only by the $4.475 million gap between the Cubs and right-hander Carlos Zambrano.

Davis is 62-63 lifetime with a 4.35 ERA, numbers comparable to that of Cubs left-hander Ted Lilly, who is 59-58 with a 4.60 ERA.