The panel cites Choo's status as a "national hero" in Korea as part of the reason for their award. But the player's case never makes this argument. Is there any rule in arbitration hearings that states you have to use the evidence that was presented--kind of like the instructions that juries received? Or is it acceptable for the arbitrators to go out and use any information they want?

The panel's explanation for their decision is bizarre, given that there is $1.25M in play between the two offers.

1) Choo's status as "a national hero in South Korea" is cited, despite appearing in neither side's case. One would think the club might object to the panel bringing in their own topics.

2) Choo's 2012 OBP of .376 is described merely as "respectable", despite the fact that it's a crucial metric, and he was 10th in the AL.

3) The panel states that "Cincinnati’s stadium is a smaller park in which he could hit over 20 home runs with more RBIs." Why would this alter his salary? It's just a consequence of his ballpark's dimensions and meteorology. It doesn't make Choo more valuable, as his home runs diminish in significance in a higher-scoring environment.

4) The panel also notes "I am most impressed that his new team is to play him in center field, the position I consider probably the most important, defensively speaking." Really? More valuable than catcher, shortstop, and second base?

It still boggles me that MLB and players' agents allow millions of dollars to be at stake in front of arbitrators who freely admit (in the first article in this series) to having little understanding of baseball.

If the arbitrator had said something completely ridiculous like "Choo is moving to CF, which I consider unimportant, since they rarely have to perform the crucial task of tagging out runners.", could the player's side contest the validity of the hearing?

Oustanding back-and-forth argument in this one. I thought the rebuttals from the player side really won this, particularly the CF argument and Jose Bautista career comp. That said, the club poked a big hole in the Ethier comp and really dented that the player's case. Unsurprising to me that the votes are so close in this one—it was the first time I split mine.