Marlins' Cabrera awarded $7.4m in arbitration

Miguel Cabrera became the first player to win in salary arbitration this year when the Florida Marlins' All-Star third baseman was awarded a $7.4 million salary yesterday instead of the team's offer of $6.7 million.

Cabrera made $472,000 last year and was eligible for arbitration for the first time. He was second in the National League last season with a .339 batting average, and he had 26 homers and 114 RBIs.

Cabrera was ecstatic with the ruling, said his agent, Fernando Cuza.

"We were confident going in," Cuza said. "You never know how the arbitrator is actually going to rule, but we felt good about it."

The arbitration panel of Howard Block, Stephen Goldberg, and Elliott Shriftman made the decision in Phoenix, one day after hearing arguments in the case.

Cabrera received the third-highest award in arbitration, trailing the $10 million Alfonso Soriano earned after losing to Washington last year and the $8.2 million Andruw Jones got when he defeated Atlanta in 2001.

Owners had been 4-0 in arbitration this year, with the Dodgers' Joe Beimel, Florida's Kevin Gregg, Washington's John Patterson, and Tampa Bay's Josh Paul all losing.

Pitcher Erik Bedard avoided arbitration with the Baltimore Orioles, agreeing to a $3.4 million, one-year contract.

Bedard had asked for $4 million in arbitration and the Orioles had offered $2.7 million. The lefthander went 15-11 with a 3.76 ERA in 33 starts last season, when he earned $1,625,000.

Along with his base salary, Bedard can earn $100,000 in performance bonuses: $25,000 each for 175, 185, 195, and 200 innings.

After a season in which Bedard set career highs in wins, innings (196 1/3), starts, and strikeouts (171), Baltimore conceded he deserved a significant raise.

Scott Kazmir looked good on the mound and felt fine afterward, which was great news for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After all, his health is probably the team's most important issue this spring. The All-Star lefthander, coming off inflammation to his pitching shoulder that cut last season short, resisted the temptation to put his arm to a stern test on the first day of spring training in St. Petersburg, Fla. For now, he's content with gradually working his way back to form. "It felt real free, real easy," Kazmir said after throwing during a workout for pitchers and catchers. "It's kind of at the point where you want to test it out as far as you can. But this is not the time to do it right now. I feel really good where I'm at and want to just keep building up arm strength." . . . The Los Angeles Angels are taking a cautious approach with Jered Weaver. The righthander, who went 11-2 as a rookie last season, has tendinitis in his biceps and will be limited early in spring training. He is not expected to throw off a mound for a while -- perhaps about two weeks. But Weaver, who had an MRI a few weeks ago, downplayed any talk about the injury. "Everything came out negative," Weaver said. "It's just a matter of working it out."