SANTANA OUT UP TO THREE MONTHS AFTER SURGERY

Twins right-hander Ervin Santana will miss the start of the regular season after surgery on his right middle finger.

The Twins announced the 35year-old right-hander had the procedure Tuesday in New York, after Santana experienced discomfort during a bullpen session last week. Santana is expected to need 10 to 12 weeks of rehabilitation before he can pitch in a major-league game, which would keep him out of the rotation until at least mid-April.

Santana was an all-star last year, going 16-8 with a 3.28 ERA in 211L innings over 33 starts. He led the majors with five complete games and three shutouts. He started the AL wild-card game, which the Twins lost at Yankee Stadium.

MLBPA: “A race to the bottom.”

» Players’ union head NEW YORK

Tony Clark claims the number of rebuilding teams and unsigned free agents in a historically slow market threatens the sport’s integrity, an assertion immediately rejected by Major League Baseball.

Clark voiced the frustration of the 100-plus free agents who remain unsigned with the start of spring training one week away.

“A record number of talented free agents remain unemployed in an industry where revenues and franchise values are at record highs,” he said in a statement, eight days before the first formal workouts. “Spring training has always been associated with hope for a new season. This year a significant number of teams are engaged in a race to the bottom. This conduct is a fundamental breach of the trust between a team and its fans and threatens the very integrity of our game.”

Just 61 of 166 players who exercised their free-agency rights last November had announced agreements as of Tuesday, down from 99 of 158 at a similar time last year.

Scott Boras, the sport’s most well-known agent, has called the increased number of rebuilding teams a “noncompetitive cancer.”

Many teams have concluded there are just two successful strategies: all-in or all-out. Either add veterans around a core group or jettison pricey players and start over.

Footnotes.

Second baseman Jonathan Schoop and the Orioles agreed to an $8.5 million, oneyear contract. … The Rangers agreed to a one-year, $2.75 million contract with former Cardinals closer Seung-Hwan Oh. … The Giants will retire the No. 25 of Barry Bonds on Aug. 11 when the team hosts the Pirates. Bonds spent 15 of his 22 major-league seasons with San Francisco; the other seven were with Pittsburgh.