Notebook : Gillick will retire

Phillies general manager Pat Gillick doesn’t plan to remain with the team after his three-year contract expires following next season.

“This is it for me,” Gillick said in Tuesday’s Philadelphia Daily News. “I’ll fulfill my contract. It’s time to think about doing some other things in life.”

The longtime baseball man will be 71 by the time his contract is up. He wasn’t immediately available to reporters before the Phillies played Atlanta.

Gillick’s situation could affect manager Charlie Manuel, who is in the final season of his contract. Manuel has done an outstanding job keeping an injury-depleted team in the playoff race.

Gillick brought a winning pedigree to Philadelphia when he replaced Ed Wade after the 2005 season. His impressive resume as a general manager includes two World Series titles with Toronto, seven division championships and nine playoff appearances with three teams – the Blue Jays, Baltimore and Seattle. If the Phillies make it to the postseason, he’ll be 4 for 4 guiding clubs to the playoffs.

Gillick has come under heavy scrutiny for a few of his personnel decisions. His biggest mistake was trading for Freddy Garcia last off-season. The two-time All-Star righty was 1-5 before needing season-ending shoulder surgery. Garcia cost the Phillies $10 million this season.

China added to fall league

China will enter a team in Arizona Fall League, and it will be coached by former major leaguers Jim Lefebvre and Bruce Hurst.

Barry Larkin, Tom Lawless and Duffy Dyer will assist in the instruction of the Chinese team, the first to participate in the Fall League. The United States also has a team in the Fall League, which starts Oct. 9 and includes players from big league teams who are not on 40-man rosters.

Clearing the bases

Roger Clemens was scratched from his start for the New York Yankees at Tampa Bay because of a lingering left hamstring injury and won’t pitch for the remainder of the regular season. … Cincinnati left fielder Adam Dunn will undergo arthroscopic surgery this morning to clean out his right knee. … Baltimore reliever Danys Baez will undergo elbow ligament replacement surgery and will probably miss the 2008 season. … Orlando Hernandez threw a pain-free bullpen session that left the New York Mets pitcher encouraged about his injured right foot.