Cancer Forces Galarraga to Sit Out the Season

Andres Galarraga, cleanup hitter and first baseman for the Atlanta Braves, has a cancerous tumor in his lower back and will miss the entire season.

Doctors are optimistic he will be able to return in 2000.

“It’s isolated to a small bone in his lower back and we expect his treatment to be successful,” said Lee Kelley, a team orthopedist.

The 37-year-old Galarraga, a native of Venezuela who hit .305 with 44 home runs and 121 RBIs last season, will not require surgery. He will undergo six months of treatment, including chemotherapy followed by radiation.

Galarraga is the fourth prominent baseball player since 1996 to be stricken with cancer, following Brett Butler, Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry.

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Yankee relief pitcher Mariano Rivera won his salary arbitration case and was awarded $4.25 million. The team had offered $3 million.

Rivera was 3-0 with a 1.91 earned-run average and 36 saves last season, when he made $750,000.

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Mark Wohlers showed no sign that he has found a cure for his loss of control.

The Atlanta Brave right-hander hit two batters, nearly threw a ball over the batting cage and skipped a pitch six feet in front of home plate during his five minutes on the mound on the first day of workouts for pitchers and catchers at Kissimmee, Fla.

Last season, Wohlers had a 10.18 ERA for Atlanta, with 33 walks and seven wild pitches in 20 1/3 innings.

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Montreal Expo chairman Jacques Menard said that new investors led by New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria are prepared to buy into the team but added that team President Claude Brochu was an obstacle to a deal.

Brochu is recognized as the person in charge of the team by major league baseball. He has been offered about $10 million for his 7.6% of the team, which says it can’t survive in Montreal without a new stadium.

The Expos asked that a March 6 deadline to have new ownership and stadium plans in place be pushed back a few months.

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Right-hander Ben McDonald, sidelined for nearly two years because of shoulder problems, agreed to a minor league contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

McDonald, who has not pitched since July 16, 1997, is 78-70 with a 3.91 ERA in nine seasons with Baltimore and Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, the Devil Rays learned outfielder Quinton McCracken has a sprained right knee that will sideline him for at least four weeks. The injury occurred during an off-season conditioning workout at his home.

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Country music star-outfielder Garth Brooks was the first player at practice as the San Diego Padres began workouts.

Brooks doesn’t expect to play with the Padres, but he hopes to make a farm team.