THURSDAY, 9:07am: Victory for the players! Howard gets his $10MM. It’s a first-year arbitration record salary. As Keith Law has pointed out – "the effect of this loss is cumulative" for the Phillies. Another effect will be on Prince Fielder’s 2009 salary.
WEDNESDAY, 9:31am:MLB.com’s Ken Mandel says Phillies’ assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr. met with Ryan Howard’s agent Casey Close minutes before the player’s arbitration hearing. They looked into a last-minute agreement but it could not be done. The hearing began at 8:30am CST; $3MM hangs in the balance. We should know within a day.
Players are 0-5 in hearings so far. But as we discussed, that’s not terribly unexpected. Jim Salisbury has a cool inside look at arbitration hearings (hat tip to ShysterBall). Tom Gordon talks about his experience here. Also, Jon Heyman takes a look at Chien Ming Wang’s team’s losing argument.
