February 26, 2007

The Ledger Domain

The 2007 Salary Arbitration Results

by Maury Brown

Salary arbitration has been in place since 1974, the year after the 1973 Collective Bargaining Agreement was brokered. The number of cases filed in any one winter over that time as been as few as none (in ’76 and ’77 there was no arbitration, as the introduction of free agency eliminated the process those years) and as many as 157, in 1991.

It was the foresight of Marvin Miller, just after Curt Flood lost his challenge of MLB’s antitrust exemption in the Supreme Court, that set the stage for the creation of salary arbitration. Miller understood that trying to achieve free agency for players immediately after the Flood ruling was not going to be fruitful, so salary arbitration was offered as an alternative. With the exception of Gussie Busch and Charlie Finley, the owners accepted the process as part of the new deal. Miller saw this as one of the greatest achievements of his early career as executive director of the MLBPA. He correctly anticipated that even though some players would lose their arbitration cases, they would still see a boost to their salaries as compared to not having the process.

Thirty-four years of salary arbitration later, the system is still going strong. With another year's results out of the way, it’s time to take a look at the winners and the losers. Who got the whammy two years in a row, and why is Chase Utley is doing heel-clicks down in Florida?

Breaking Down 2007’s Arbitration Class

A total of 106 players filed for arbitration (the largest class since 1993, when 119 players filed) with 50 of those players coming to contract agreements before salary figures were exchanged on January 16^th. That left 56 players (23 from the American League and 33 National Leaguers) exchanging figures with 23 clubs. With six players willing to go to the mat, the Twins had the most players in salary arbitration after figures were exchanged, followed by the Pirates, Nationals and Brewers with five players each.

Of those 56 players that exchanged figures, all but seven cases were settled in advance of hearings. The following is a breakdown of the seven survivors:

Date   Player, Team                     Asked     Offered    Winner
2/10   Josh Paul, Devil Rays         $940,000    $625,000      Club
2/10   Joe Beimel, Dodgers         $1,250,000    $912,500      Club
2/13   John Patterson, Nationals   $1,850,000    $850,000      Club
2/13   Kevin Gregg, Marlins          $700,000    $575,000      Club
2/17   Miguel Cabrera, Marlins     $7,400,000  $6,700,000    Player
2/21   Chad Cordero, Nationals     $4,150,000  $3,650,000    Player
2/21   Todd Walker, Padres         $3,950,000  $2,750,000    Player

Looking into the numbers for salary arbitration shows the following:

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