Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Arbitration 101

Once the numbers are filed, how relevant do they become in negotiations (assuming both sides want to avoid a hearing)?

Once numbers are filed, for the most part, the negotiation becomes more about numbers than about player comparables. Both sides talk more in terms of the midpoint – “we won’t settle for anything above the midpoint” – as each side tries to work toward an agreement.

The increased relevance of filing numbers can be seen in this year’s settlements. Consider the fact that, of the 46 players who filed, only three cases went to a hearing this year. Excluding the 12 players who signed long-term contracts after numbers were filed, 11 of 34 cases settled at the midpoint. Many of the settlements that were above (5 cases) or below (15 cases) the midpoint were relatively close.

Contraction Alternative

What's more, even if both franchises were utter wrecks they still wouldn't be serious candidates for contraction. No franchise would be. It was, what, eight years ago when this spectre was first raised, regarding the Twins and the Expos? I said then that it would never happen; that Congress (among others) wouldn't allow it, and that the owners were simply floating the notion as leverage in their negotiations with the union.

I wish I were so right about something just once or twice every year.

Comment of the Day

Back off Schil. you jerk!

I hear so many people talk about Curt "running his mouth" but never a word about the fact that most of the time the guy is dead-on right. He's called out players he KNEW were dirty and cheating the game. So what the hell is wrong with that?!

How can anyone bust Curts chops for enjoying the spotlight when you can't turn on a TV without seeing the latest steroid cheat from the Yankees making another empty apology for doing "something" wrong.

At least with Schilling we knew he wasn't out chasing mannish strippers and chomping 'roids like A-Fraud.

Curt Schilling stands out in the world of MLB today simply because he speaks the truth regardless of the BS he's gotten from those who would prefer to remain blissfully ignorant of the games issues (like the jerk who wrote the article here).

And why wouldn't a team like the Cubs be more than happy to bring in one of MLBs best playoff pitchers of the last twenty years?

Instead of attacking Schilling you should be kissing his fat hairy a** for having enough moral integrity to speak the truth in a game that has lived and flourished off of lies for the last two decades.
If anything the game needs more players like Curt.

The Young Brothers

On Monday, March 2 at 9:00 p.m. ET, MLB Network will debut the first-ever original film from MLB Productions, We Are Young: A Baseball Family, the story of MLB players and brothers Dmitri and Delmon Young, who overcame personal struggles to persevere in the Major Leagues . . .

. . . We Are Young: A Baseball Family, the first-ever original film by MLB Productions, chronicles a seven-year period of MLB players and brothers Dmitri and Delmon Young, and their demanding father, Larry, who helped guide them into the Major Leagues. The film documents Dmitri, currently on the Washington Nationals, who makes the All-Star team in 2003, watches with joy as his brother is selected as the number one pick in the Draft that same year, but then begins to battle alcoholism and is released by the Detroit Tigers in 2005. Soon after, Dmitri comes close to death due to an undiagnosed case of diabetes, and then bounces back to make the All-Star team in 2007 and become the National League's 2007 Comeback Player of the Year. We Are Young: A Baseball Family also chronicles the controversy that has surrounded Delmon-the first overall pick in the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft-ever since his 50-game suspension for flipping a bat in at an umpire during a Minor League game. Delmon would learn a valuable lesson, and eventually is called up to the Major Leagues in the fall of 2005, where he would make an immediate impact with Tampa. After finishing second in the American League Rookie of the Year honors the next season, Delmon was traded to the Twins.

Suttles’ Bat*

Great Moments in nasal congestion

The Milwaukee right-hander was scratched from his Cactus League debut after feeling tightness in his left oblique muscle near the end of his bullpen warm-up.

Looper, signed as a free agent just before the start of spring training, said he first felt a twinge in his side after he sneezed earlier in the week but didn't think twice about it . . .

. . . When told Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage once went on the disabled list after a sneezing-related injury, Looper said, "He's always been a hero of mine, actually."

While you were relaxing . . .

News Flash: Curt Schilling craves attention

Curt Schilling likes to break curses. The Chicago Cubs have had one for over a century.

Could it be the perfect match?

Schilling said Saturday that he'd like to pitch for the Cubs this season. The 42-year-old missed the 2008 season with a shoulder injury, but the thought of helping Chicago win its first World Series in 101 years might lure him back for one more season.

"Absolutely I'll come back," he said at Disney World, where he was appearing in ESPN The Weekend activities . . .

. . . Schilling, who has a career mark of 216-146, said money would not be a major issue. He's looking for a team that has championship potential and has never won a title. "The challenge would be in a place like Tampa Bay or Chicago," he said.

Bowden out

Jim Bowden was never going to be the Nationals' ultimate general manager, the man who, the franchise hoped, would oversee a potential champion. His methods were too suspect, his moods too unpredictable, his reputation too checkered, his enemies in the game too numerous. But he was useful. He worked like a dog. He sold the game. He was colorful and controversial. He took tiny budgets and, sometimes, made something of them. Or else, like last year, all the baling wire snapped. Given few chips, he couldn't blow a big pot. And he landed castoffs and malcontents, occasionally for peanuts.

Posada’s shoulder

Yankees catcher Jorge Posada said the new soreness in his surgically repaired right shoulder was nothing to worry about.

But there was enough concern within the Yankees’ medical staff for Manager Joe Girardi to scratch Posada from the lineup for Saturday’s exhibition game against the Minnesota Twins at Steinbrenner Field and rest him until further notice.

“I guess it’s good that it’s now than later,” Posada said. “Take two or three days, just get the strength back.”

Girardi described Posada’s shoulder as “a little, little, little sore.”

“Minuscule weakness,” he added. “He wanted to play. We said: ‘You’re not playing. It’s too early in the process.’ He’s on the watch list. We want to get that little irritation out of there.”