Tonight is the deadline to tender contracts to players with less than six years' of big-league service time, and the Nationals have decided not to sign outfielder Nook Logan or left-hander Mike O'Connor.

All of Washington's arbitration-eligible players -- Luis Ayala, John Patterson, Ryan Wagner, Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, Jesus Colome, Felipe Lopez and Tim Redding -- will be tendered contracts. Three of those players (Ayala, Patterson and Wagner) agreed to terms today on one-year contracts, thus avoiding arbitration. Ayala will make $1.7 million, Patterson will make $850,000, Wagner will make $450,000.

Logan came to the Nats in Sept. 2006 as a potential long-term solution in center field, but he never really panned out. The speedster struggled to get on base at a consistent rate, didn't bunt enough for team officials' liking and gave up switch-hitting last summer, batting right-handed only. He wound up hitting .265 in 118 games and could have remained as a fourth or fifth outfielder, but the Nats' recent acquisitions of Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes and Rule 5 pick Garrett Guzman, plus their decision to re-sign Ryan Langerhans, left Logan as the odd man out.

O'Connor, you may remember, burst onto the scene in 2006 and made for a nice story. A local Baltimore kid who went to GW, he got off to a nice start before faltering to a 3-8 record and 4.80 ERA. Elbow surgery sidelined him for the start of 2007, and he never got going again in the minors.

Both Logan and O'Connor become free agents.