No, Hart almost went to arbitration last year, but signed literally hours before the hearing. This year, hearing comments from the Brewers' negotiator on brewers.com, it sounds like they do not want to face that same scenario again and are basically set on going to arbitration now. Arbitration hearings are scheduled for Feb. 1-21 in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, and while both sides are barred from revealing the precise date, it's believed that Hart's is still several weeks away. Last year, negotiations with Hart went down to the wire before the sides struck a $3.25 million deal on the eve of a hearing. "We just don't have the appetite to go through that again," Werner said. "We made a good-faith effort to get something done a few weeks ahead of time, but at some point you've got to say, 'It's time to prepare for a case.' Nobody wants to go to a hearing, but I don't want to be in a position in a couple of weeks where we're back to where we are today, talking about the same number. To me, that's a waste of time for both sides. "Barring a drastic change in the landscape," Werner added, "we're probably going down to Tampa in a few weeks."