Williams Meets Yankees Halfway for $8.25 Million

After months of tough talk, New York Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams decided not to go through with his salary arbitration hearing, agreeing Wednesday to a one-year, $8.25-million contract with the team.

Williams’ agent, Scott Boras, had vowed not to negotiate with the Yankees, to go through with the hearing and have his client file for free agency after the season.

Instead, during the middle of the arguments before a three-man panel in Phoenix, Williams and the Yankees settled at the midpoint of the figures the sides had submitted in arbitration.

Williams had asked for $9 million, which would have been the largest one-year contract ever. New York had offered $7.5 million, a raise of $2.2 million.

“We are very happy to have reached an agreement with Bernie Williams,” Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman said. “Like Andy Pettitte, Bernie is a special player. And with a special player, you do whatever you can to keep this out of the arbitration arena.”

Williams’ new salary puts him in a tie for 14th on baseball’s salary list by average annual value along with Toronto’s Roger Clemens and Atlanta’s Andres Galarraga.

Last Saturday, the Yankees avoided an arbitration hearing with Pettitte, signing the pitcher to a one-year, $3.75-million contract.

Williams, who will get a $50,000 bonus if he makes the AL all-star team, hit a team-leading .328 last season with 21 homers and 100 RBIs. His salary becomes the second-highest one-year deal, trailing only the $8.5-million extension for 1999 that Toronto pitcher Pat Hentgen signed after winning the AL Cy Young Award in 1996.

Also settling were Atlanta catcher Javy Lopez ($3.75 million) and Chicago White Sox infielder Ray Durham ($1.92 million).

The players, who had lost the first three arbitration cases decided this year, finally got a win when pitcher Jose Mercedes got a raise from the Milwaukee Brewers from $153,000 to $1.05 million.

Mercedes, 27 next month, was 7-10 with a 3.79 ERA in 23 starts and six relief appearances last season.

Lopez, who made $2.05 million last year, had asked for $4.3 million in arbitration and had been offered $3.5 million. He hit .295 last season with 23 homers and 68 RBIs.

By settling, Durham cost Elisabeth Neumeier a chance to become the first female arbitrator in baseball. She had been part of the panel scheduled to hear the case Friday.

Durham, who made $310,000, had asked for $2.45 million and had been offered $1.5 million. The 26-year-old hit .271 last season with 11 homers, 53 RBIs and 33 steals.

Only three players remain in arbitration: Baltimore outfielder Tony Tarasco, Florida catcher Charles Johnson and Dodger outfielder Todd Hollandsworth. Their cases are scheduled to be heard today and Friday.

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Right-hander Jason Schmidt has signed a three-year deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates worth $4.5 million, half of the team’s total payroll at the start of last season.

Schmidt, 25, spent his first full season in the major leagues last year, going 10-9 with a 4.60 ERA in 32 starts for the Pirates.

“It was easily my longest season, and I was mentally fatigued by the end,” Schmidt said. “It’s hard to explain how tough it can be on you unless you actually go through something like that. I’ll know how to handle it better this year.”

Schmidt, who made $210,000 last season, gets a $150,000 signing bonus, $450,000 this season, $1.4 million in 1999 and $2.5 million in 2000. Depending on his performance in 1999, his salary in the final year could increase to $3 million.

Schmidt is the 10th Pirate under contract through 1999, joining right-handers Francisco Cordova, Jon Lieber and Esteban Loaiza; catchers Jason Kendall and Keith Osik; first baseman Kevin Young; third baseman Doug Strange; and outfielders Al Martin and Turner Ward.

Cordova, Kendall, Osik and Martin are signed through 2000.

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Bids for the major league rights to Korean pitcher Sang-Hoon Lee may be put off after the left-hander’s workout session was cut short Wednesday.

Lee, who has led Korea’s professional league in victories twice and saves once in the past five seasons, warmed up with 20 minutes of long toss in front of about 50 major league scouts at Cerritos College.

But Lee, 26, was “not in full condition,” said Sung-Min Yoo, assistant general manager for Lee’s team, the Seoul LG Twins, and the session was shortened.

Another workout would be scheduled in two or three weeks, Yoo said through an interpreter.

The workout was supposed to precede bidding for Lee’s rights as a major leaguer.

Lee’s agent, John Kim of Los Angeles, said the shortened workout resulted from miscommunication with the commissioner’s office.

“We already told the commissioner’s office that he wouldn’t throw the ball,” Kim said.

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The Seattle Mariners and the Orix Blue Wave of Kobe, Japan, have signed a two-year working agreement to exchange players, coaches and possibly play exhibition games.

Officials of both teams said the agreement grew out of a sister-city arrangement Seattle and Kobe have had since 1957.