As if there hasn’t been enough action already going on in the Major League Baseball world, the evening of November 30 was a key part of MLB free agency as it was the deadline for teams to make their decisions on whether they will tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players for this upcoming season or not.
This is the time when teams will either tender a contract to or non-tender (meaning no contract is offered to the player and they become free agents) a player that is eligible for arbitration. If a player is tendered, the team is agreeing to follow the arbitration route, typically either a negotiated salary for the upcoming season or a decision to go to an arbitration hearing to determine the salary.
Players are eligible for salary arbitration if they have played in more than three seasons but less than six years in the Majors and don’t have a set contract for the next season.
Should a team tender a contract to an arbitration-eligible player, they will not automatically go to a hearing. The two sides can come to a contractual agreement any time before a hearing starts. Players who do not agree to a contract by the second week of January will submit their figures for arbitration and the team will submit their numbers. If it goes to a hearing, a three-person panel gets together and will choose either the player’s number or the team’s proposed salary number.
Should a player be non-tendered, they officially become a part of MLB free agency, joining an already sizable pool of players.
This year saw a number of players get non-tendered that could potentially end up being under-the-radar steals for clubs looking to dig through the bargain bin.
Some prominent non-tenders; Johan Camargo, Richard Rodriguez, Tim Locastro, Matt Boyd, Phil Gosselin, Lewis Brinson, Daniel Vogelbach, John Curtiss, Lewis Brinson, Roman Quinn, Richard Lovelady, Robert Gsellman, Colin Moran, Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 1, 2021
Let’s take a look at the top 5 players who suddenly find themselves on the free agent market.
1. Matthew Boyd
Left-hander Matthew Boyd spent the better part of seven seasons in the Detroit Tigers system after coming over in a trade with the Blue Jays back in 2015. To call his tenure in Detroit a rollercoaster of emotions is a complete understatement. Boyd, now 30, showed admirable durability (two 30+ start years in the past three 162-game seasons) and brief glimpses of his potential to turn into a top-of-the-rotation starter over the years, peaking in 2019 when he put up 3.4 WAR in 32 appearances as well as a crazy-good 11.6 SO/9 on the back of his career-high 238 strikeouts.
A two-time Opening Day starter (2020 and 2021), Boyd is a strikeout artist who limits the walk well. One of his biggest (arguably the biggest) flaws is the fact that he has struggled to prevent the long ball. Boyd led the league in home runs allowed in both 2019 and 2020, but was able to bring that number back down to Earth in 15 starts for the Tigers in 2021.
Matthew Boyd has shown small glimpses of greatness over the past few seasons, so look for a team in need of some rotation help to scoop him up on a low-cost salary for the 2022 season.