The big surprises for me so far are Wolf not being offered (which just seems incredibly dumb) and the Rangers actually offering Ivan Rodriguez arbitration. I hope they really wanted him back. I'm also a little surprised Harden wasn't offered since he's only a type-B and my guess is he'll have multiple suitors offering multiple years.

Hudson and LaRoche weren't offered arbitration. I am surprised about that although Atlanta did offer to Soriano and Gonzalez. They might not want to spend that much on the draft.

Why write all the results in one long stupid paragraph instead of using a table?

And so begins a lousy off-season for Dodgers fans...

Mariners offered arbitration to Adrian Beltre.

Hudson and LaRoche weren't offered arbitration. I am surprised about that although Atlanta did offer to Soriano and Gonzalez. They might not want to spend that much on the draft.

Assuming you're talking about Tim Hudson, he signed an extension a few weeks ago.

Orlando?

Why did the yankees not offer at least one of damon matsui? Getting those guys back for one year would be fine, and if they sogn elsewhere you get the picks.

No reason to offer to matsui since he wasn't a type a or b, and damon could have made $15 mil in arbitration.

No reason to offer to matsui since he wasn't a type a or b, and damon could have made $15 mil in arbitration.

Exactly. Damon had the best offensive year of his career. Very hard to get an arbitrator to cut his pay.

Damon got his 4 yr $13M per deal after seasons of OPS+ 109 94 117 110. For the Yankees he posted 115 96 118 126. Do you really think you're going to convince an arbitrator his defensive value has fallen enough to cut him back to $9-10M.

They can probably sign Damon to a two year deal for only a couple of million more.

Orlando?


Yeah, my bad. I didn't even think about Tim because I knew he already re-signed.

They can probably sign Damon to a two year deal for only a couple of million more.

Yeah, but he'd only have a week to decide whether to accept. I find it pretty hard to believe that a Boras client would settle for a one year, non-guaranteed contract without even trying to land something better on the open market. And even if he accepted, the Yankees could probably still sign him to that two-year deal for only a couple million more because it would be guaranteed.

agree with [12]. In fact, i keep hitting refresh on this thread hoping to find some explanation as to why Damon wasn't offered arb. The worst case scenerio is that you are overpaying by a couple of million dollars for a guy who can be their DH or their LF, without blocking anybody in 2011. Yankees can milk their 2009 title in 2010...They don't have to do anything drastic this offseason. Not that I think Damon would accept arb. anyway.

Yeah, but he'd only have a week to decide whether to accept. I find it pretty hard to believe that a Boras client would settle for a one year, non-guaranteed contract without even trying to land something better on the open market. And even if he accepted, the Yankees could probably still sign him to that two-year deal for only a couple million more because it would be guaranteed.

Boras is no fool. He may be an arrogant SOB, and a treacherous negotiator, but he's a smart guy. He knows Damon will be lucky to get 2/20 in the open market. Given the chance to go before an arbitrator coming off a $13M salary and a career year offensively, Boras jumps at that. He'll be confident of getting $15M out of that, and trying again in a, hopefully better economy. Very unlikely the Yankees release Damon whenits too late to replace him.

The worst case scenerio is that you are overpaying by a couple of million dollars for a guy who can be their DH or their LF, without blocking anybody in 2011.

I think the Yankees have a real budget with a max around $200-210M. They're at $170M already. Paying Damon $15M probably prevents them from adding a premier FA (Holliday) and retaining Pettitte, both of which are much higher priorities than Damon.

Very hard to get an arbitrator to cut his pay.

No player has taken a pay cut in arbitration since 1993.

Johnny Damon would be an odd place to start. Kevin Gregg, maybe.

#### FRANK MCCOURT

The only reason not to offer arb to Wolf is because they don't want a pick, right?

The only reason not to offer arb to Wolf is because they don't want a pick, right?

More likely it's a sign they're so strapped for cash (and have already decided how they want to spend whatever cash they might have) that they didn't feel they could take the risk of him accepting, even if that's a low risk.

But, Walt, if they're in they're right minds, they'd be delighted if Wolf accepted arbitration. L.A. is in desperate need of front-line (or at least #2-3 level) starting pitching, and what better way to get one than on a one-year deal with zero long-term risk?

I'm with Vaux. The only reason that makes any sense is that they didn't want to spend the money on the two draft picks. McCourt knows that by the time fans figure out he's dismantling the farm system, he'll be long gone and the resulting disaster will be some other owner's problem.

It's just the latest event in a systematic effort by the Dodgers to dramatically slash all player development spending. The Dodgers already rank 30th out of 30 teams in draft bonus spending over the last two years, and they've also put the kibosh on all international signings. And of course, they've also chosen not to throw their big-market weight around in the over-slot bonus area. And they sold the #7 prospect in baseball to Cleveland for cash. etc etc

I have no idea why Logan White continues to willingly work for such an utterly dysfunctional franchise.

I realize that he pitched well last year, but can we really rely on Wolf being a #2/#3 starter going forward? Last year was his first good year since he was a Phillie no?

No player has taken a pay cut in arbitration since 1993.

That's probably because teams are smart enough to not offer arbitration to players who don't deserve the same contract or better.

Damon surprises me. For the Yankees with their payroll flexibility signing him to a one year/15 million dollar deal wouldn't be a bad thing and getting the picks if he walks would be great also.

Damon surprises me. For the Yankees with their payroll flexibility signing him to a one year/15 million dollar deal wouldn't be a bad thing and getting the picks if he walks would be great also.

Well, you'd never get the picks b/c he'd accept. He just had his best offensive year ever. He'd do very well in arb, whereas the market for aging corner OF's w/defensive questions is uncertain at best.

The Yankees probably think they can sign him for 2/20. Why risk paying him 1/15?

They probably also want to kick the tires on Holliday and Cameron first, so don't want to be committed to Damon. If they sign either of those guys, I'd imagine they'd go cheaper at DH (Branyon, N Johnson, someone like that).

It's just the latest event in a systematic effort by the Dodgers to dramatically slash all player development spending. The Dodgers already rank 30th out of 30 teams in draft bonus spending over the last two years

Quite frankly I'm not sure I believe that*. I know the Mets were 30th out of 30 last year....
But if true, isn't that sad/pathetic that two teams in the two largest markets in the country, both with cashflow other teams would kill for, cheap out that way?



* The Mets very well may have spent more than the Dodgers in 2008, but the Dodgers had to have spent 2-3 times more than the Mutts in 2009.

Yeah, my bad. I didn't even think about Tim because I knew he already re-signed.

You think that's bad, when I saw Orlando, I got stuck on Hernandez, and I was trying to figure out why he would be offered arbitration.