Jan
18
Today’s the deadline to exchange arbitration numbers
ByNot a huge milestone, but today is the day teams and players exchange arbitration figures. Wilson Betemit, Chien-Ming Wang, Brian Bruney, and Robinson Cano are due raises. Teams and players can negotiate contacts up until the hearing, so today is just a formality. As PeteAbe notes, the Yanks never give out long-term contracts to arbitration guys. They even went to a hearing with Derek Jeter before the ‘99 season — and lost.
Local news here ( in Taiwan) called Wang’s agent and they say their going to the hearings.
Strange. They still have a month or so to work out a deal, whether one-year or long-term.
I still don’t understand why the Yanks don’t just buy the arbitration years and a few years of free agency.
My guess is that they figure they will always be able to sign any free agent that wants to stay in NY (i.e., not much you can do if a FA does a Pettitte/Clemens after 2003 and goes back home), and this way they don’t overpay for the arb years if the player gets injured or starts sucking….
Buy out his arbitration years and his salary can’t raise to much. Also won’t be able to cash in on Free agent market for a few years.