Subscribe
Follow
John Schlegel of MLB.com previews a big day for baseball’s hot stove action coming this Monday.
Things to know:
- Teams can offer free agents arbitration by 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and players may accept — though almost all won’t — by 11:59 p.m. Dec. 7, the first day of the Winter Meetings.
- some interesting scenarios already are setting up, both with those who might be offered it and those who might not be tendered contracts by the Dec. 12 deadline to do so.
- After that, the eligible players can file for arbitration between Jan. 5-15 if they haven’t come to terms for a 2010 contract by then, with hearings scheduled for February.
- Often, a team will try to get ahead of the arbitration curve by signing top players to long-term contracts that cover their years of eligibility, and sometimes beyond their sixth year into free agency. Some examples Zack Greinke of the Royals (four years, $38 million through 2012, one year into his free agency); NL MVP Albert Pujols of the Cardinals (seven years, $100 million through 2010, with a $16 million club option for 2010); and AL MVP Joe Mauer of the Twins (four years, $33 million through 2010, when he’d become a free agent).
Some of this year’s key names that will be under the spotlight include Tim Lincecum (Giants), Felix Hernandez (Mariners), Jonathan Papelbon (Red Sox), Shane Victorino (Phillies) & more.
We can sometimes see hard feelings from these arbitration cases carry through with players sometimes getting insulted and announcing they will play out their contract and not re-sign with the team.
For more on this key day and what other players will be doing the arbitration “tango”, check out the story here.
