Arbitration Time
Per Darr Beiser at USA Today, the list of those filing for arbitration has some high-powered names this year.
“Prince Fielder, AL MVP Josh Hamilton, major league home run champion Jose Bautista and Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon headed 119 players who filed for salary arbitration Friday. All expect to get large raises, either in settlements or in cases that go to hearings next month.”
“About half the players in arbitration are expected to settle by Tuesday, when players and their clubs swap proposed salaries. Only a handful typically take their cases to hearings.”
Josh Hamilton will become a free agent after the 2012 season, while Jonathan Papelbon will become a free agent after 2011. For a list of all that filed and some history, check out Maury Brown’s column at the Biz of Baseball.
Hoiw did arbitration come into existence? More from Maury Brown:
"Before 1973, players were offered a contract by the clubs they played for, and it was a matter of “take it, or leave it.” In an attempt to challenge the Reserve Clause, as well as leverage higher salaries in this system, players began conducting holdouts on contract renewals. The owners, and then commissioner Bowie Kuhn, realizing the wolves were at the door, opted to allow salary arbitration as a way of stopping the holdouts, and rationalized that in the long run, stop free agency. Only Charlie Finley of the A’s and Dick Meyers of the Cardinals voted in opposition of salary arbitration."
“We’ll be the nation’s biggest assholes if we do this,” Finley said at the time. “You can’t win. You’ll have guys with no baseball background setting salaries. You’ll have a system that drives up the average salary every year. Give them anything they want, but don’t give them [salary] arbitration.”
"As was often the case, Charlie Finley was right."
A’s In Ascent?
An article from last December by Ryan Norris at Bleacher Report needs to be revisited. Could the A’s follow the example of their cross-bay cousins and win the World Series in 2011 due to a solid pitching staff?
“Prior to making the offseason moves for Rich Harden and Brandon McCarthy, the Oakland Athletics already had the best pitching staff in the American League. Their 3.56 team ERA ranked first in the AL last year and fourth in the big leagues behind San Francisco, San Diego and Atlanta. The starting rotation stands to get better with another year of experience for young twenty-somethings Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson and Gio Gonzalez.”
“With Dallas Braden sliding into the fourth slot, the fifth becomes an arms race between McCarthy, Harden, September call-up Bobby Cramer and the stirrup-clad Josh Outman.”
“Behind the great rotation is a bullpen not likely to give up too many leads, anchored by two-time all-star Andrew Bailey (25 saves and a 1.47 ERA in 2010) and solid setup men Michael Wuertz and Brad Zeigler. It only gets stronger with the return of Joey Devine (0.59 ERA in 42 games in 2008) and whomever doesn’t make the opening day starting rotation. Southpaws Craig Breslow and Jerry Blevins seem set to be the left-handed options out of the bullpen for Manager Bob Geren.”
A Biblical Quote Applied To Sarah Palin That Is Also Apt When Describing Sportswriters That Play The “Blame Game” Regarding The “Steroids Era”
“Judaism rejects the idea of collective responsibility for murder, as the Hebrew Bible condemns accusations of collective guilt against Jew and non-Jew alike.”The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him" (Ezekiel 18).”
As I wrote a few days ago, I hope that Claire Smith will take notice!
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