Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets Are Shaking Up Arbitration

Many arbitration cases are being settled, but the Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets are using a “Trial and File” approach in negotiations.

Arbitration cases are being settled left and right as we approach the deadline for exchanging filing figures, which will go into effect at 1 p.m today. Of course, arbitration is the process that Major League Baseball uses to allow teams to keep players during their first five or six years in the league.

It is a system that awards more money to players that perform at a higher level, with a player’s value increasing as they accumulate service time in MLB. However, arbitration is not a clear-cut system. Much of the time, teams negotiate a salary based on what the projections say they will earn through the process. This helps to cut out any bad blood that may be had during arbitration hearings as teams look to diminish the amount of money they have to pay its players.

In arbitration, teams and players must file a salary amount for the upcoming season, and if they differ (they normally do), then the case gets heard by an arbiter. As I said before, that filing deadline is fast approaching, but teams are still able to negotiate with players up to the hearing. Most of the time, clubs are able to work out either one-year deals or long-term extensions prior to the court date. However, there are a few teams that are adopting a different strategy this offseason.

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According to Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun and Marc Craig of Newsday, both the Mets and the Orioles will NOT be negotiating with arbitration eligible players after today’s filing deadline. This means that the Orioles will be going to an arbitration hearing for any player who hasn’t settled on a contract with the club by 1 p.m. This creates a problem for agents of these players and gives significant leverage to teams negotiating the deals. This increased sense of urgency may help the two sides to come to an agreement, knowing full well that there could be significant harm done if the club has to argue about how much value the player has in front of them.

At the moment, the Orioles have only come to terms with Ryan Flaherty and T.J. McFarland. But there are still many unsettled cases for high-profile players like Manny Machado, Zach Britton, Chris Tillman and Brad Brach. All of these players are set to enter free agency in the next two years and now is probably not the time to be on bad terms. Players and teams frequently say that business is business, but it would certainly not be an ideal situation for the Orioles to go to arbitration with many of its most productive players looking to get serious raises.

Up in Queens, Sandy Alderson has agreed on salaries with Lucas Duda, Rene Rivera and the injury plagued Zack Wheeler. So while the Mets are in a little better position than Dan Duquette and the Orioles, cornerstone players Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia are still without a salary figure for the 2017 season.

These cases and this tactic will certainly be something to watch out for during the remainder of the offseason. If there are a flurry of agreements before the filing deadline, the “file and trial” method may become more popular. In fact, more teams than just the Mets and the Orioles may be using the technique, but it may just not be reported.

It’s a risk to jeopardize going to court with a highly thought of player, but deadlines and high stakes often harbor agreements. We’ll just have to wait and see if this cut throat technique yields positive results.

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What do you think of the Mets and Orioles implementing this tactic? Is the risk worth the reward? Let us know in the comment section below.

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