The third baseman agreed Monday to a $2 million, one-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, the team he rooted for when he was growing up.
Cone, the top free agent pitcher of the year, is still weighing offers from Baltimore and the New York Yankees.
Three other free agents switched teams Monday: Bob Tewksbury was guaranteed $1.625 million for 1996 by the San Diego Padres; Roger McDowell agreed to a $750,000, one-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles; and catcher Jeff Reed agreed to a $425,000, one-year contract with the Colorado Rockies.
Rick Honeycutt, in effect, re-signed with the New York Yankees by accepting their salary arbitration offer one day before Tuesday's deadline. But the team is expected to deal him to the Cardinals.
Two days before the deadline for teams to offer 1996 contracts to their unsigned players, four players eligible for salary arbitration agreed to deals: Pittsburgh outfielder Orlando Merced; Boston pitcher Butch Henry; San Francisco starter Rich DeLucia; and Giants reliever Sergio Valdez.
Gaetti, 37, hit .261 with a career-high 35 home runs and had 96 RBIs last year for the Kansas City Royals. He needs eight home runs to reach 300. "We needed to add some offensive pop to our infield," Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said.
Scott Cooper, the Cardinals' third baseman last season, had three home runs and 40 RBIs, and batted .230.
Tewksbury gets $1.5 million next season.
"Last year we had the same look every night with hard-throwing guys," Padres general manager Kevin Tower said. "You get a guy like him around the plate, with his offspeed pitches and his location, that gives you a different look."
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