Baseball
Arbitration Hearings for Nats' Cordero, Kearns, Patterson Are Set
Thursday, February 1, 2007; Page E02
Hearings have been set for the Washington Nationals' three remaining arbitration cases -- closer Chad Cordero, outfielder Austin Kearns and right-hander John Patterson. The club and the players' representatives have until the hearings to reach agreements on contracts. If they fail to do so, arbiters will choose between the salary the club offered and the bid the player submitted.
Kearns's hearing is set for Feb. 7; he asked for $4.25 million, and the club offered $3.65 million. Patterson's hearing would be Feb. 12, and he has the largest gap of the three players remaining -- a request of $1.85 million, compared with the club's offer of $850,000. Cordero's hearing would be Feb. 20, the last date possible; he asked for $4.15 million, and the club offered $3.65 million.
ON THE FIELD Jesus Flores' two-run, ninth-inning double gives the Nationals a 4-3 win over the Marlins. Notebook: The Nationals trade left-handed reliever Ray King, the most veteran member of their pitching staff, to the Brewers for a player to be named. Boswell: The statistics show a return to normalcy in baseball and the end of the Steroid Era. Minor Leagues: Justin Maxwell has come out of the slump he was in after straining an oblique muscle by sneezing and is now hitting .423 with 24 homers. NATIONALS REPORTBy the Numbers89: Errors for the Nationals through Monday. Through 138 games a year ago, they had 113 errors. Personnel Dept.OF Ryan Langerhans hit his first homer of a 14-game stint with Class AAA Columbus on Monday, just before he was called up. "I felt a lot more comfortable," he said. "My approach was a lot better." Langerhans will be used primarily as a defensive replacement. ... The club activated LHP Micah Bowie, who hadn't pitched in the majors since June because of a hip injury. ... The club announced that Centerplate would replace Aramark as the concessionaire at the new ballpark in 2008. Quotable"He certainly was a good influence on our young pitchers, had a lot to do with some of their developments. Our clubhouse was a better place with Ray King a part of it." -- GM Jim Bowden NATIONALS JOURNALBarry Svrluga provides the latest news on the Nationals. MULTIMEDIA Podcasts: Postgame audio from Barry Svrluga and video from Washington Post Live. Slideshow: A crowd of 40,389 pack into RFK Stadium to open up the 2007 baseball season. Photos: Manny Acta returns home. Webcam: Check back daily and follow the progress of construction on the stadium. |
The Nationals have already avoided arbitration with infielder Felipe Lopez and outfielders Alex Escobar and Chris Snelling. In the two offseasons in which he has run the club, General Manager Jim Bowden has only failed to settle one arbitration case. The Nationals beat outfielder Alfonso Soriano last season, when Soriano asked for $12 million and arbitrators ruled in favor of the club, which offered $10 million.
In other news, a spokesman for Ripken Baseball, the company owned by former Baltimore Orioles star Cal Ripken, confirmed that it had made a bid to purchase the Nationals' Class AA affiliate in Harrisburg, Pa. Ripken Baseball, which owns Class A teams in Aberdeen, Md., and Augusta, Ga., is one of four bidders to buy the Harrisburg Senators from the city.
-- Barry Svrluga and Dave Sheinin
