Jeff Kent declined the Astros' one-year contract offer with an option for 2006. (F. Carter Smith/MLB.com)
HOUSTON -- At approximately 10:58 p.m. CT on Tuesday, two minutes before the deadline to offer salary arbitration to free agents, the Houston Astros and Jeff Kent officially parted ways. With the two sides unable to come to terms on a new contract, the Astros declined to offer Kent arbitration, effectively ending his tenure in Houston.
"We negotiated throughout the evening," general manager Tim Purpura said. "We made a final proposal at 9 p.m. and two minutes ago, they informed us they rejected the proposal and they're going to move on."
Purpura said he made a "number of fair offers" to Kent and his agent, Jeff Klein, but that "there were certain things we were willing to do and certain things we were not willing to do. Apparently, it didn't add up to enough for [Kent]."
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