Comments on: Beltre and Arb. Offers

By: Mike Snow

Mike Snow — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:11:15 +0000

Everyone’s reporting Beltre yes, Bedard no.

By: nathaniel dawson

nathaniel dawson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:20:05 +0000

Section 6 below that: “Upon submission of the salary issue to arbitration by either Player or Club, the Player shall be regarded as a signed Player (unless the Player withdraws from arbitration as provided in paragraph (4) above).”

So……maybe a non-reserve player can opt out of arbitration and become a free agent at that point. If that was a club-control player, they couldn’t lose their rights to him, could they? We’d be seeing a parade of players using that option.

By: DMZ

DMZ — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:09:07 +0000

I know, right? I can’t make heads or tails of that section.

By: nathaniel dawson

nathaniel dawson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:57:12 +0000

Moreover, I believe the team doesnâ€™t get draft compensation if the player withdraws after seeing the team figure.

I feel like Iâ€™m missing something there, though. P16 in the CBA, by the way. Article VI, F (4)

I wonder if that’s just club control players, and if a player withdraws he’s just withdrawing from the hearing. Would he get the team’s submission as a salary, or would the team be free to assign him a salary as if he wasn’t arb-eligible? The latter wouldn’t make sense.

By: lokiforever

lokiforever — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:19:43 +0000

Any chance news will break before midnight tonight?

By: wabbles

wabbles — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:13:59 +0000

Ummm, I may have said too much already (left out the player’s name and some other details). Nope, no link. It was a presentation at the meeting by one of the attorneys that does those things.

By: Liam

Liam — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:39:28 +0000

Do you have a link, wabbles?

By: wabbles

wabbles — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:13:11 +0000

Actually, at the January 2009 SABR meeting, a guy went through the whole arb process using an unnamed player. It was creepy. He went through the whole process and the number it produced at the end was the actual amount of that player’s contract. It’s based on historical performance and comparisons to other players. Given that Beltre outplayed most if not all of his peers last season and had a rather good run the past five years, there’s no way he gets a pay cut.

By: DMZ

DMZ — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:53:24 +0000

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I understand.

By: nathaniel dawson

nathaniel dawson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:41:41 +0000

As a practical matter, though, if Beltre goes into arbitration asking $12m and the team submits $400,000

As a practical matter, though, the Mariners would never submit an offer like that to Beltre. What I meant, and what I assumed you meant in the previous thread, was that there is a minimum amount that Beltre would accept. Beltre’s going to have a floor below which would be unnacceptable to him and he’d rather take his chances in a hearing. In other words, they couldn’t offer him, say, $3MM and expect him to accept that. So while the CBA doesn’t specify a minimum amount (other than the Major League minimum), in any particular case, there is going to be a “working” minimum that a team can offer in negotiations. If they don’t show good faith and come near a player’s market value, he’ll just say “see you in arbitration”.