LOOGY candidate

[DocTee]

A's reliever Ricardo Rincon. He was the only of Oakland's five eligibles to be offered arbitration, and he rejected it.

Last year he was 1-1 with a 4.34 ERA in 67 games.

]Rincon, who over his career has allowed the lowest percentage of inherited runners to score -- 19.2 -- among all big league relievers since 1974, has until Dec. 19 to accept the arbitration offer. Should he reject it, the A's have until Jan. 8 to negotiate and sign him. MLB.com has learned that Rincon has already agreed to reject the offer, and the club will wait to see how their expected addition of a right-handed power hitter affects the payroll before making Rincon a free-agent offer. If Rincon is retained, the A's would have to make another move with the pitching staff, because the recent addition of free agent righty Esteban Loazia gives them 12 pitchers who spent the entire 2005 season in the big leagues: Rincon, Loaiza, Duchscherer, Zito, Rich Harden, Joe Blanton, Dan Haren, Kirk Saarloos, Joe Kennedy, Kiko Calero, Jay Witasick and Huston Street. Oakland never carried more than 11 pitchers before September.