We've just reached a very important day in the Major League Baseball off-season: That's right, you guessed it, it's time for players and teams to exchange numbers for Salary Arbitration! Yay!
What is Salary Arbitration, you ask? I'm very glad you did! In order to understand it, you have to know a little bit about free agency and how Major League contracts work.
The minimum salary for a year of service in Major League Baseball is around $400,000. (It was exactly $400,000 last year, but I think it got a little bump going into the 2011 season.) A player is not eligible for Free Agency until after six (6) years of service in the majors. But that doesn't mean players are stuck making a measly $400k per annum (plus nominal raises) for six full years - because after three (3) years, a player becomes eligible for Salary Arbitration.*
* There is an exception: If a player plays for two FULL years, he can become a "Super Two" player and become arbitration eligible immediately after his second season in the Majors. In 2010, only 20 players qualified for Super Two status. After 2011, barring injury, you'll likely see Jason Heyward (among others) achieve this milestone.
When a player becomes arbitration eligible, that player's team has two options: it (they?) can offer arbitration, or they can decline to tender a contract to that player. If the player is thus non-tendered, the player becomes a Free Agent (see Russell Martin or John Maine). A player can also elect free agency (see Casey Kotchman or Gabe Gross). I don't know all the details about/loopholes involved in this process.
If a player is offered arbitration and declines, he becomes a Free Agent, and the player's former team might receive some compensation in the form of draft picks (if the player in question has a high enough profile). If a player is offered arbitration and accepts, then the real negotiations begin. But before we hit the tables with the players, agents, GMs, and team execs, let's outline the actual process of an arbitration hearing.
In such a hearing, the player submits his ideal salary for next season: what he thinks he's worth (or what he'd like to get paid). Then the team makes a counter offer of a lower salary: what they think he's worth (or what they are willing to pay him). These two figures then go before a third party - an arbitrator - who picks one number or the other; in an arbitration hearing there is no middle ground. Thus there are clear winners and losers in the process and it fits in very nicely with the American concept of sport.
Let me make one thing clear: arbitration cases very rarely go to the hearing stage. The Cleveland Indians, for example, have not had an arbitration case go to a hearing in 20 years. They're generally pretty unpleasant and leave bad tastes in the mouth of both the players and the teams involved. For the most part, arbitration hearings hang in the distance like threatening storm clouds, lending an air of urgency to the negotiation period.
Because for the whole period of time between when a player is offered arbitration and when he files (i.e. formally submits his salary figures), he can negotiate with his former team. Actually, negotiations can continue even during the period between when he files and the hearing actually occurs. So more often than not, teams and players come to some kind of compromise before the law gets involved.
119 players filed for arbitration this year. Significantly fewer got to the stage where each side submitted numbers. It's hard to find a unified list of which players/teams are where in the arbitration process, but as always some interesting cases stand out as far as teams and players not being able to come to an agreement:
* AL MVP Josh Hamilton was not satisfied with the $8.7 million offered by the AL Champion Texas Rangers, asking for a whopping $12 million. Considering the Rangers avoided arbitration with outfielders Nelson Cruz and David Murphy, and pitcher C.J. Wilson, it's a shame they couldn't wrap something up with their franchise player. Either figure would be a significant raise over Hamilton's 2010 salary of $3.25 million.
* The Angels couldn't agree to a contact with their ace Jered Weaver, who led the league in strikeouts and games started. The difference between their respective salaries is less than $1.5 million ($8.8 proposed by Weaver, $7.37 countered by the team), but I suspect this is more of a grand gesture by a pitcher just entering his prime who wants to reap the most benefits out of his most productive years as possible. In a weak AL West, I'd say Weaver's worth at least what he's asking for.
* Similarly, Twins ace Francisco Liriano filed for arbitration, but the scale is a little smaller - he wants $5 mil, the Twins want to pay him $3.6. He's just about the same age as Weaver, and he had a solid season in '010, but it was his first time being adequate in almost four years. I'm sure both parties want to tread lightly and pray for no more injuries.
* Cubs closer Carlos Marmol, one of only 5 relief pitchers to top 3 WAR, also filed. I don't think the numbers have been published, but experts are predicting somewhere in the $4 - $5 million range.
Other key players whose arbitration numbers haven't been officially published: 2010's home run leader Jose Bautista, Milwaukee second baseman Rickie Weeks who had a breakout season last year, Baltimore's politically inflammatory DH Luke Scott, and rookie phenom starter Jaime Garcia.
I honestly probably won't update when new information comes out. At this point, we know all these players will be with the same team next year, now it's just a matter of deciding what they'll be paid. Don't get me wrong, it's helpful and interesting to have a handle on a team's payroll, especially in the middle of January when there's absolutely no other baseball news going on. But now at least maybe you won't immediately tune out when a sportscaster mentions "arbitration."
No comments:
Post a Comment