PEORIA, Ariz. - Rey Ordonez, the ex-Devil Ray, has left the Padres, handing the starting shortstop job to Khalil Greene.
General manager Kevin Towers spoke to Ordonez's agent, Adam Katz, on Friday and said the 33-year-old Cuban player is not expected to return to the club because of issues related entirely to baseball. The Padres had granted Ordonez a temporary leave of absence Tuesday to fly to Florida to deal with family issues.
"What I more or less got from his agent is (that) this is the first time in his career that he had to battle for a job, and I think he looked at his competition and he thought (Greene) was playing very well," Towers said.
"He thought that his chances probably weren't real good, and he was probably right. He had a good spring for us, but I think he realized that Greene was our future shortstop and likely to make the team as a starter. Rather than continue to fight it out with him, he decided to take off."
Ordonez and Katz were unavailable for comment.
Ordonez, a three-time Gold Glove winner with the New York Mets from 1997-99, signed a minor-league contract with the Padres on Jan. 16. He spent last season with Tampa Bay.
Never a strong hitter, Ordonez wasn't far off with a .304 spring average, and the Padres fully expected the duel for the starting job to go down to the wire - until Friday.
"I was surprised that he decided not to come back," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said of Ordonez. "It was a tight race and it was going to go deep into spring before we made that decision. He was playing very well. But it sounds like he didn't think his chances were real good."
The Padres will determine in the next couple of days what to do with Ordonez.
ANGELS: Catcher Bengie Molina, out 15 days with tightness in his hamstrings, said he expected to play today.
BRAVES: Third baseman Mark DeRosa left after he was hit on the wrist by a pitch in the third and probably will miss a few games.
GIANTS: Third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo missed his second straight game with a sore right shoulder. He missed four earlier with a sore right forearm.
ORIOLES: Utilityman Mark McLemore will have surgery on his right knee and miss 6-8 weeks. ... Outfielder Jay Gibbons left in the first inning with a cut on his right hand. "He's okay," manager Lee Mazzilli said after the game.
RANGERS: Jason Hart, who led the team's top minor-league affiliate in home runs and RBIs in last year, might miss the season after being diagnosed with a noncancerous brain tumor.
Hart, a 26-year-old outfielder and first baseman, is expected to have surgery to remove the tumor in the next few weeks, the team said. He was diagnosed with the condition last week.
"Our organization is shocked and saddened to hear of Jason's diagnosis," said GM John Hart, who isn't related. "Our medical staff feels this has been caught early."
RED SOX: Right-hander Byung-Hyun Kim probably won't pitch before mid April because of inflammation behind his pitching shoulder, team physician Bill Morgan said. But he added that Kim's condition was "much improved." . . . Manager Terry Francona said right-hander Bronson Arroyo will start the home opener April 9 against Toronto. . . . Right-hander Ramiro Mendoza, sidelined all spring with an abdominal strain, will pitch Monday against Los Angeles.
ROCKIES: Larry Walker might have aggravated a sore groin in his return to the lineup. Walker, who hadn't played since March 8, went 0-for-2 and said he probably wouldn't play today.
"My last time up, the 0-2 pitch was when I hurt it and didn't feel too comfortable at the plate," he said. "I hit the grounder, wanted to put it in play and get off the field."
ROYALS: Left-hander Brian Anderson will start on opening day against the White Sox. It will be the first opening-day assignment for Anderson, who broke into the majors in 1993. "You just try to tell yourself it is one game and you go from there, but certainly one would not downplay that it is a nice thing," Anderson said.
TWINS: Third-base coach Al Newman was hospitalized because of high blood pressure after leaving the Philadelphia game. Newman, who spent 16 days in a Chicago hospital in September after suffering a brain hemorrhage, left in the middle innings because he was feeling light-headed.
