Cubs Gives Wood a Raise to $690,000

After bursting on the scene with a 20-strikeout game and winning the NL rookie-of-the-year award, Chicago Cub pitcher Kerry Wood was rewarded Friday with a $690,000, one-year contract.

The deal is by far the largest for a player with less than one year of major league service. Wood, who has 169 days in the major leagues and made the minimum $170,000 last year, will not be eligible for salary arbitration until after the 2000 season.

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Baseball will not give the Montreal Expos an extension of the deadline for obtaining stadium financing and completing a new ownership group, but Commissioner Bud Selig will not take any immediate action after today’s deadline passes, the Associated Press reported. Northern Virginia, Washington and Charlotte, N.C., are possible relocation sites should the Expos’ current owners decide to sell to out-of-town buyers.

Baltimore Oriole second baseman Delino DeShields found out he won’t need surgery to repair a broken bone in his left thumb. DeShields, injured during an intrasquad game Thursday, will wear the cast for about seven days before replacing it with a splint, but it will be three weeks before he can begin baseball-related activities and another two weeks before he can return to the lineup. . . . The Orioles hope to learn today if a two-game exhibition series against the Cuban national team will become a reality.

Florida Marlin pitcher Alex Fernandez threw two scoreless innings and 29 pitches in an 8-1 win over Tampa Bay at Melbourne, Fla., his first outing since surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. The game was his first since the NL championship series in October 1997. . . . Mark Wohlers’ first appearance of 1999 was much like his outings in 1998. The Atlanta Brave reliever faced eight batters in the third inning of a 7-4 loss to Houston, giving up four earned runs, three hits and two walks. . . . Hideki Irabu has a shaky spring debut for the New York Yankees. He gave up only two hits in three shutout innings but struggled with his control, throwing only 26 of 48 pitches for strikes and falling behind 10 of 12 batters. . . . Milwaukee pitcher Jim Abbott, in his first plate appearance of the spring, flied out to center field in the second inning as the Brewers beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-0.