Arbitration?

Arbitration is confusing. Who gets arbitration and who doesn’t? What players are eligible and, which players aren’t? What type of free agent are you? Are you an A, a B, or a C? After reading a few articles about arbitration suddenly I feel like I want to turn to an astro-physics textbook for a little light reading

The arbitration eligible players on the Phillies are Geoff Geary, Ryan Madson, Brett Myers, Chase Utley, and Aaron Rowand. If the Phillies can’t work out a contract with any of the above then player the Phillies will go to arbitration hearings. There an arbitrator will listen to both the player’s side and the Phillies side and decide on an equitable salary. The Phillies free agents this year are David Dellucci, Randy Wolf, Rick White, Arthur Rhodes, Aaron Fultz, Mike Liberthal, Randall Simon, and Jose Hernandez. Of those David Dellucci, Aaron Fultz, and Mike Liberthal are type A free agents.

The Phillies chose to offer arbitration to only Dellucci. Due to the fact David Dellucci will likely sign with the Cleveland Indians and that he is a type A free agent, the Phillies will likely gain a supplemental pick between the first and second round in addition to the Indians second round pick. The risk involved with offering arbitration to a free agent is that a player accepts whom you don’t want to overpay or have questions about how they could contribute to the team. That’s presumably why the Phillies didn’t offer arbitration to either Fultz or Liberthal.

The other and final way arbitration can affect the Phillies is if other teams who offer their type A free agents arbitration. If the Phillies signed any of these players they would loose their first round pick. This is not something the Phillies are willing to do given the lack luster state of their farm system. One case where this could be important is with the Phillies pursuit of David Weathers. If the Cincinnati Reds offer Weathers arbitration the Phillies probably won’t touch him.

Sources:
Phillies offer Dellucci Arbitration
by Ken Mandel / MLB.com

Phillies Winter Meeting Checklist
by Ken Mandel / MLB.com