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Touch 'Em All: Pirates sign former Phillie Jose Contreras

The Pirates reached an agreement with 41-year-old former Phillies pitcher Jose Contreras on a minor-league contract. Contreras is expected to report to camp on Sunday. The righthander is recovering from surgery on his right elbow and will be doing rehabilitation work during spring training.

The Pirates reached an agreement with 41-year-old former Phillies pitcher Jose Contreras on a minor-league contract.

Contreras is expected to report to camp on Sunday. The righthander is recovering from surgery on his right elbow and will be doing rehabilitation work during spring training.

Learning from the best

Sandy Koufax is back in a major-league uniform for the first time in more than two decades, and the 77-year-old Hall of Famer is in his element - teaching, joking around, and relishing baseball's camaraderie during another spring in the sunshine.

"I enjoy it. I've always enjoyed it," Koufax said. "I like talking pitching. It may be the only thing I've ever known, or been good at."

The Dodgers got Koufax back in blue this spring as a special adviser to owner Mark Walter.

Koufax works with Dodgers pitchers and their regular coaches in the mornings, making small adjustments and suggestions - a change in arm angle out of the windup, or maybe a different foot placement on the rubber out of the stretch.

The current Dodgers are all aware of the weight of Koufax's words, nearly 46 years after his early retirement.

"Sandy is just really like one of the guys," manager Don Mattingly said. "I know he has that aura about him of being kind of - everybody is afraid to talk to him almost, but with us, it's great."

- Associated Press