Bill Ladson of MLB.com reported yesterday that the Nationals placed Shawn Hill “on waivers Wednesday for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release.” Ladson also reported that Hill will receive one-sixth of the $775,000 that he was awarded last month by an arbitration panel. Hill’s injury problems persisted into this spring, and he had only been able to pitch twice due to forearm tightness. Chico Harlan noted in his article for the Washington Post that the payment to Hill of just under $130,000 was exercised on Wednesday because of a deadline for the payment of a fractional amount. Both reporters stated that Hill took the news very hard.
Later in the day the Nationals signed Joe Beimel for $2,000,000. Beimel went to a hearing with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2007. The arbitration panel of Stephen Goldberg, Elizabeth Neumeier, and John Sands sided with the Dodgers figure of $912,500. Beimel was asking for $1,250,000. Neumeier was also on the Hill panel this year along with Robert Bailey and Frederic Horowitz. Nationals manager Manny Acta expects to use Beimel as the set-up man in the eighth inning.
So, two pitchers who have both endured the hearing process have an interesting connection on the same day in March 2009. Beimel, who started his major league career as a starter with the Pittsburgh Pirates posted a 5-1 record last year in 71 games for the Dodgers. His 2.02 ERA was the best of his eight-year career. The Nationals will be his fifth team. Beimel also pitched for the Minnesota Twins (2004) and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2005). Beimel became a free agent for the first time at the end of 2008 season. His contract with the Nationals is a little under the amount he earned last year with the incentives that he met according to an article by Tony Jackson on the Los Angeles Daily News inside the dodgers blog.
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