Francisco Rodriguez's grievance hearing over being placed on the disqualified list that forced him to lose roughly $3 million in salary and the Mets' conversion of his contract to nonguaranteed is scheduled to be heard Monday and Tuesday of next week in New York before arbitrator Shyam Das despite no resolution of the criminal charges against the Mets reliever.

Christopher Booth, Rodriguez's criminal attorney, said he would be unable to comment about whether Rodriguez would speak at the hearing. The attorney acknowledged that, speaking generally, it is usually not preferred for a client to speak in a civil proceeding while a criminal matter is pending. "You don't want them giving testimony," Booth said in a general sense about those situations.

Booth does not represent Rodriguez in the contractual hearing, which was filed by the Players' Association on Rodriguez's behalf.

Booth indicated last week that a plea bargain could be reached in the criminal matter before Rodriguez's next scheduled court date on Nov. 10.

With respect to Rodriguez's grievance, there will not be an immediate decision rendered. The expectation is that the matter will be fully resolved before spring training, since at that point the Mets could attempt to use the conversion of K-Rod's contract to nonguranteed to cut him a check for 30 days' pay and end any further financial obligations.