Cardinals’ Tatis Gets 4-Year Deal

Third baseman Fernando Tatis, who last year became the first player to hit two grand slams in an inning, got another big hit Saturday when he signed a four-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The deal, for an unannounced total, includes a club option for a fifth season. The Cardinals could have renewed the contract of Tatis, who batted .298 with 34 home runs, 107 runs batted in and 21 stolen bases last year, while continuing to work on a long-term deal.

Tatis, who made about $270,000 last year, didn’t want to talk about the money.

“We got a good deal,” Tatis said. “Now, my future is going to be OK. I’m going to be more relaxed and play the game.

“Now I can put a couple of rings on my fingers, that’s what I’m going to work on.”

Tatis, 25, connected twice with the bases loaded off the Dodgers’ Chan Ho Park in April.

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Commissioner Bud Selig tried to ease the concerns of the Arizona Diamondbacks about a realignment plan.

“There are a lot of options. This is a difficult exercise,” Selig said. “Each club has very strong feelings and I’m sensitive to that. In the end, the greater good must prevail. The schedule is important to all 30 teams.”

The Diamondbacks are one of the most outspoken critics of a realignment plan that would move them from the National League to the American League West for the 2001 season.

“The bottom line is that a move to the American League would have potentially serious negative implications with regard to this franchise,” Diamondback owner Jerry Colangelo said earlier this week, citing surveys that said 85% of Arizona fans would prefer to stay in the NL.

Under the expansion agreement signed by the Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, baseball has the right to switch which leagues the teams play in following the 2000 season.

Tampa Bay has expressed a willingness to move to the NL, while the Diamondbacks have been fighting it.

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Kerry Ligtenberg, slowly making his way back from ligament replacement surgery, pitched a hitless eighth inning in the Atlanta Braves’ 9-0 victory over the Florida Marlins.

“Right now, everything doesn’t really feel normal . . . games and pitching doesn’t feel normal,” said Ligtenberg, who converted 30 of 34 save chances two years ago.

“I think the biggest thing is I need to get out there a little bit more and try to get into the flow of things,” Ligtenberg said. “Throwing BP or throwing on the side is one thing, but getting into the game that’s a totally different thing. I feel good about the way things went and my arm doesn’t hurt, so that’s good.”

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Philadelphia’s Jeff Brantley, another pitcher coming back, got a rude welcome.

Pitching for the first time in nearly 10 months after shoulder surgery, Brantley entered in the eighth inning against Toronto. On his first pitch, Casey Blake hit a game-tying home run.

The Phillies also sent Pete Rose Jr. to their minor league camp.

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Former Dodger and San Diego Padre Steve Garvey sued the Major League Players Assn., seeking pension and medical benefits for the 1988 and 1989 seasons. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, is the latest development stemming from Garvey’s claim that he was cheated out of a contract for those two seasons. Garvey, who retired before the 1988 season, claimed the Padres refused to extend his contract through the end of 1989 because they had joined the owners’ conspiracy to hold down free-agent salaries. . . . Chicago’s Comiskey Park will be the site of the 2003 All-Star game.