Ouch! Wrong Kind of Press

A former Silver Hawks pitcher is in the news, and while it is good news for him, the basic premise of the article is a big slap in the face.

2005 Silver Hawk Ross Ohlendorf just got a hefty pay raise, going from $439,000 to over $2 million per year.  However, as the article clearly points out, Ohlendorf got this raise in arbitration after winning ONLY ONE GAME LAST YEAR!

Now granted the Pirates are horrible and Ohlendorf's ERA wasn't abysmal (although it wasn't good), that's still a gigantic pay raise for someone that won only one game.

Footnote:  It's important to know that when a player goes to arbitration, there is no middle ground.  The arbitrator must rule either for the player or for the team, and there is no compromise.  So clearly in this case, Ohlendorf was asking for $2 million.  The Pirates offered $1.4 million, which is still a substantial raise.  The arbitrator must rule either for $1.4 or $2 million.  He/She can't split the difference.

From the Mound to the Hill

Okay, so the title of this post would be my headline for the story you're about to read. The story tells of former Silver Hawks pitcher Ross Ohlendorf spending his offseason as an intern in Washington, D.C. Now granted he may not technically be on Capitol Hill, but isn't that a catchy headline anyhow?

Regardless of the headline, here's the story of Ohlendorf (he was on the 2005 Midwest League Championship team).