Colorado Rockies left-hander Jeff Francis will have exploratory surgery on his pitching shoulder next week and expects to miss the season.

"I'm not counting on coming back," Francis said yesterday.

Francis said Rockies orthopedic surgeon Thomas Noonan will perform the operation Wednesday, and Francis expects rehabilitation to take six to 12 months.

Francis, a vital part of the Rockies' run to the World Series in 2007, spent a stint on the disabled list last season before being shut down early in September.

He pitched with pain in his throwing shoulder that started in May and went 4-10 with a 5.01 ERA.

He came to spring training hoping to test his shoulder before making a decision on what to do next and reported feeling less discomfort in camp.

But Francis said he spotted changes he had made in his delivery to avoid pain. "I had no arm speed, my arm was short and the arm action was short and I was not powerful at all," he said.

Francis said it was bad time of year to make the decision, but "I think it is a necessary one."

Tigers

Magglio Ordonez is entering the final guaranteed season of his contract with Detroit. Ordonez, though, isn't rooting to cash in as a free agent next winter. "Not now," he said with a grin. In Ordonez's deal, Detroit has a $15 million option for 2010 with a $3 million buyout and a $15 million option for 2011 with no buyout. "I'm very lucky I signed with the Tigers when I did," Ordonez said. "Players do not get that kind of money now."

Indians

Andy Marte was once viewed as Cleveland's third baseman of the future. He now might be in their past. Marte was designated for assignment after the club acquired reliever Juan Salas from the Tampa Rays for minor league infielder Isaias Velasquez.

Orioles

Brian Roberts and Baltimore are near agreement on a $40 million, four-year extension that could keep the second baseman with the team through the 2013 season. Roberts is already signed through this season; the additional four years would begin in 2010.

Braves

Outfielder Jeff Francoeur agreed to a one-year contract with the Atlanta worth $3,375,000, avoiding a salary arbitration hearing. The two sides came to an agreement just hours before they were scheduled to fly to Arizona for the hearing today.

Oakland

Jason Giambi is watching the chaos of the New York Yankees' training camp from afar for the first time in eight years, and he's impressed with what he has seen from his former teammate Alex Rodriguez. "Everybody wants to divide Alex out like there's some tension, but he's a good teammate," Giambi said. "I don't know what everybody expected but he did a good job. It's not an easy thing to do. I know, I've been through it."

Elsewhere

The cousin who Rodriguez claims repeatedly injected him with a substance from the Dominican Republic has been found living in Miami. Yuri Sucart and his wife, Carmen, live in a south Miami home. A man and a woman, who refused to give their names, drove onto the property just after noon, quickly closing the gate behind them. The man rolled down his window saying only "we have dogs."

Carmen Sucart told ESPN late Wednesday that her husband was the cousin who Rodriguez referred to during a news conference a day earlier in which the Yankees slugger tried to explain a 2003 positive drug test.