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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hoping For Another Chance Baseball’s Bad Boys Look For Opportunity To Play

Associated Press

While more than 1,500 players are in camps on the first full weekend of spring training, Wilfredo Cordero and Tony Phillips are looking for work.

Cordero, released by the Boston Red Sox on the day the season ended, planned to visit camps in Arizona this weekend. Phillips, let go by Anaheim in December, has been talking with the New York Mets.

“I would expect we’d put a deal together by the first of next week,” said Cordero’s agent, Jeff Moorad.

“Purposely, Wil and I have taken our time in this process. We felt what made the most sense was to put as much time between the incident in Cambridge last season and the time he chooses a new team.”

Cordero and Phillips were baseball’s lead bad boys last season. Cordero is on probation after pleading guilty in Massachusetts to beating and threatening his wife last June. He received a 90-day suspended sentence and was ordered to attend regular counseling sessions.

Phillips pleaded guilty to misdemeanor cocaine possession in November and was ordered into a drug diversion program. Police said he was trying to buy $30 worth of cocaine when he was arrested at an Anaheim motel on Aug. 10.

“It was a bad situation I got myself into,” Phillips said last week. “Terrible. It wasn’t a good example for people, it wasn’t a good example for kids.”

The Chicago Cubs were said to be interested in Cordero, who hit .281 with 18 homers and 72 RBIs. But, according to a management lawyer speaking on the condition he not be identified, they backed off in December after a magistrate in Puerto Rico issued a restraining order following another incident between Cordero and his wife. That order was lifted a week later.

Cordero played winter ball in Puerto Rico and did well, hitting six homers in the championship series.

“He’s obviously anxious to put something in place,” Moorad said.

Phillips, 38, had considered retiring before the Mets expressed interest.

Historic win

Dick Moss, the agent for Jose Mercedes, scored a historic win last week. In a case argued by Moss, the Milwaukee pitcher became the first player to win a case decided by a three-man panel.

Leo Gomez and Alex Fernandez lost in 1995, when panels first were used, then on an experimental basis.

Last year, when 25 percent of the cases were scheduled for panels rather than single arbitrators, all the panel cases settled prior to hearings.

This year, Arizona catcher Jorge Fabregas and Minnesota pitcher Frank Rodriguez lost before panels, dropping players to 0-4 in cases decided by three arbitrators rather than one. Then came the win by Mercedes.

“Nobody thought we could win this case,” Moss said.

Mercedes won a raise from $153,000 to $1.05 million. Milwaukee, which submitted a figure of $615,000 in arbitration, refused to settle for more than $630,000.

Around the camps

Wade Boggs got a quick wakeup during the first day of full-squad workouts with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Taking batting practice, he was hit in the helmet by a changeup from Tony Saunders. “I might not have gotten back up if it was a heater. That would have been a heck of a thing,” said Boggs, who was not hurt.

The Cleveland Indians said David Justice’s shoulder injury could force him to start the season as the designated hitter. He was able to run a series of sprints this week, but tendinitis in the shoulder has had him on a supervised throwing program since the Indians began full-squad workouts Wednesday… . New York Yankees manager Joe Torre said David Cone, who has looked impressive following off-season shoulder surgery, will pitch in Wednesday’s intrasquad game. Reliever Mariano Rivera, who underwent a precautionary MRI last month after experiencing tenderness in the front of his throwing shoulder, reported no problems following his initial stint throwing batting practice.

Barry Larkin is back, and that’s good for the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds need a healthy Larkin if they want to compete for the N.L. Central title. Leg injuries caused Larkin to miss all but 73 games last season as the team struggled to a third-place finish. He had season-ending surgery Sept. 3 to clean up frayed portions of his Achilles’ tendon and then began a rigorous rehab program in the offseason. “It feels good. I have no pain or anything in the ankle, so I think the Achilles is fully healed and hopefully it will stay that way. I haven’t felt a twinge or anything,” Larkin said.