New York ? Teams rushed to avoid salary arbitration, agreeing to contracts with 15 players Thursday.

The flurry of signings came the day before players and teams will exchange proposed salaries for one-year contracts.

The Cincinnati Reds reached deals with four of their arbitration-eligible players: pitchers Ryan Dempster ($3.25 million) and Scott Williamson ($1.6 million), infielder Aaron Boone ($3.7 million) and catcher Jason LaRue ($1.25 million).

The Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to terms with pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim ($3.25 million) and outfielder Quinton McCracken ($3.5 million for two years).

Houston also avoided arbitration with two players, agreeing to a $1.6 million contract with reliever Octavio Dotel and a $1.35 million deal with outfielder Daryle Ward.

The other players who avoided arbitration by agreeing to deals Thursday were: Montreal shortstop Orlando Cabrera ($3.3 million), St. Louis pitcher Brett Tomko ($3.3 million), Seattle shortstop Carlos Guillen ($2.5 million), San Francisco starter Damian Moss ($1.55 million), Baltimore outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. ($900,000) San Diego lefty Kevin Walker ($450,000) and Los Angeles left-hander Odalis Perez.

Hall taps Expos for Carter

New York — Gary Carter will be the first player to go into baseball’s Hall of Fame with a Montreal Expos logo on his hat. Carter had expressed an interest in having his plaque adorned with a Mets hat — the team he won the 1986 World Series with and now works for — but said he wasn’t upset at the Hall’s announcement Thursday. The Hall of Fame consults players about the choice, but makes the final call. Carter officially will be inducted into the Hall with Eddie Murray on July 27 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Baseball again trying to speed up games

Scottsdale, Ariz. — Baseball wants to speed up the time of games once again, and will tell pitchers to throw more quickly and batters to wander away from the plate less often.

The average time of a nine-inning game dropped to 2 hours, 52 minutes last year from 2:58 during the 2000 season, and the commissioner’s office would love to shave the average to 2:45 this year.

“The areas of emphasis will be getting hitters into the box and pitchers ready to pitch at the end of between-inning breaks,” Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner’s office, said Thursday after an owners’ meeting. “The idea is to eliminate dead time and transition.”

Alderson briefed owners Thursday, and baseball will discuss the speedup plans with umpires next month. Meetings with all teams will be held during spring training.

Bat boys must be 14

Scottsdale, Ariz. — Darren Baker is out of a job. Baseball formally adopted a minimum age of 14 years old for bat boys on Thursday, a change that means Dusty Baker’s son must wait 10 more years to get back on the field. Tiny Darren Baker, who is shorter than many bats, was among several children who were bat boys for the San Francisco Giants, the team his father managed through last season. During Game 5 of the World Series, Darren Baker wandered into a play at the plate and almost got run over before J.T. Snow scooped him up. Darren Baker was allowed to work the last two games of the Series, but commissioner Bud Selig decided he would change the rule for next season.