MIAMI -- San Francisco Giants pitcher Livan Hernandez will accept a plea offer to settle charges he tried to hit an elderly warehouse owner with golf clubs, his lawyer told a judge Friday.

Hernandez was charged with felony aggravated assault and battery on the elderly after the Jan. 8 altercation.

But prosecutor Erika Isidron said Friday that charges will be dropped if Hernandez attends anger management classes, performs 50 hours of community service and donates $500 to charity. He has until after the baseball season to meet the terms.

Defense attorney Manuel Vazquez entered a formal plea of not guilty, but said it was in Hernandez' best interest to accept the deal. Each charge carries up to five years in prison. Hernandez, who's at the Giants' spring training camp in Arizona, was not at the hearing.

"I am confident we could have won this case at trial, but we decided not to risk a jury trial,'' Vazquez said.

Hernandez, who won the 1997 World Series MVP with the Florida Marlins, must formally accept the offer March 10. He can do that in writing.

Police said Hernandez pushed Francisco Martinez, 65, to the ground during an argument outside a warehouse he rents from the victim. The dispute escalated and police said Hernandez grabbed some golf clubs from the trunk of his car and tried to hit Martinez.

But Hernandez disputed the allegations, saying it was Martinez who threw punches and that he never struck back or tried to hit him with any golf clubs. He said Martinez started an argument and hurled racial slurs at him after he tried to resolve a business dispute over repairs to the building.

Martinez has sued Hernandez in a civil lawsuit. No trial date has been set.

In 1998, Hernandez was charged with simple battery when his former girlfriend filed a complaint alleging the pitcher beat her and yanked a necklace off her neck during a fight. The charge was dropped after he completed a pretrial intervention program and an anger management course.

Hernandez signed with Florida in 1996 after defecting from his native Cuba and was a 22-year-old rookie in 1997 when he won both of his starts against the Cleveland Indians in the World Series.

But he pitched poorly over the next two seasons and was traded to San Francisco in 1999. He had a 6-0 postseason record going into last year's World Series, but lost twice, giving up four runs in Game 7 as the Giants lost the championship to the Anaheim Angels.

Over his eight-year career, he has a 69-69 record and a 4.42 ERA.