Pujols lends McGwire support

Albert Pujols supports Mark McGwire, both for acknowledging his use of steroids and in his new role as hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I told him I’m proud of him for admitting what he used,” Pujols said Monday at the team’s Winter Warm-Up. “Everybody makes mistakes.”

Pujols angrily rejected the notion that McGwire made the admission to revive his chances of getting voted to the Hall of Fame. Despite hitting 583 home runs, tied for eighth of the career list, McGwire has received less than 25 percent support in four appearances on the ballot.

“Go talk to Mark, I think he cleared up everything, he closed the doors,” Pujols told reporters. “If you want to reopen those doors I know the right guy. Go talk to Mark about it. … There’s 300,000 people that just died in Haiti and you guys just want to concentrate on Mark McGwire. Come on, give me a break.”

Hairston brothers united

The San Diego Padres have agreed to a $2,125,000, one-year deal with Jerry Hairston Jr.

The deal with the infielder-outfielder comes two days after the Padres completed a trade with Oakland to reacquire Hairston’s younger brother, Scott.

They would be the seventh pair of brothers to play for the Padres and fifth to play as teammates.

Uggla gets $7.8 million

The Florida Marlins spent some more money, agreeing to a $7.8 million, one-year contract with second baseman Dan Uggla.

The frugal Marlins, under pressure from the players’ association, agreed last week to increase their payroll from last year’s $37.5 million, the major league low.

Uggla hit .243 with a Marlins-high 31 homers and 90 RBIs last year.

Umps ratify contract

The major league umpires union has overwhelmingly ratified a new five-year contract that included increased flexibility on postseason assignments.

The contract, which runs through 2014, does away with the prohibition against umpires working the World Series in consecutive seasons, a provision some in the union originally found difficult to digest.

Arbitration update

Players and clubs rushed to settle salary arbitration cases before the scheduled exchange of figures today.

At least 12 more players reached agreements Monday, leaving 110 set to swap salaries among the 128 who filed for arbitration last Friday. Dozens more were expected to settle late Monday night and this morning.

Agreeing to one-year contracts were Texas pitcher C.J. Wilson ($3.1 million), Milwaukee outfielder Jody Gerut ($2 million), Chicago White Sox pitcher Tony Pena ($1.2 million), Toronto pitcher Shaun Marcum ($850,000) and Cincinnati pitcher Jared Burton ($810,000).

Arizona settled with right-handed relievers Chad Qualls ($4,185,000) and Aaron Heilman ($2.15 million), while the New York Yankees reached agreements with pitchers Chad Gaudin ($2.95 million) and Boone Logan ($590,000).

Seattle pitcher Felix Hernandez, who was 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA last season when he finished second in A.L. Cy Young voting, was on the verge of signing an agreement, pending a physical, ESPN.com reported.