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Arbitration Hearings for Nats' Cordero, Kearns, Patterson Are Set
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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.
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
