10 National League teams have free agent arbitration offer decisions to make today, and we'll update them in this post in advance of the 11pm central time deadline. For a fantastic customizable chart with all 57 Type A/B free agents and their teams' decisions in real-time, click here.
Updated team decisions:
- The Giants won't offer arbitration to Pat Burrell (B) or Cody Ross (B) according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). Carlos Beltran (A) contractually cannot be offered arbitration.
- The Dodgers declined to offer Hiroki Kuroda (B) arbitration, according to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times (on Twitter). Rod Barajas (B) already signed with the Pirates.
- The Pirates offered arbitration to Derrek Lee (B) while declining to offer Ryan Ludwick (B) and Chris Snyder (B) arbitration. Ryan Doumit (B) already signed with the Twins.
- The Phillies did not offer Roy Oswalt (A) or Brad Lidge (B) arbitration, according to the AP (via ESPN). The team announced that it offered arbitration to Raul Ibanez (B), Ryan Madson (A, will not cost signing team a draft pick), and Jimmy Rollins (A), according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com (via Twitter).
- The Cubs offered arbitration to Carlos Pena (B) and Aramis Ramirez (B) but not to Kerry Wood (B), according to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune (on Twitter).
- The Cardinals offered Edwin Jackson (B) and Albert Pujols (A) arbitration, but declined to make offers to Rafael Furcal (B) and Arthur Rhodes (B), according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (on Twitter). That leaves Octavio Dotel (modified B, no arbitration offer necessary).
- The Mets offered Jose Reyes (A) arbitration, according to Newsday's Ken Davidoff (on Twitter).
- The Padres will offer arbitration to Heath Bell (A, will not cost signing team a draft pick) and Aaron Harang (B), tweets Corey Brock of MLB.com.
- The Brewers offered Prince Fielder (A) and Francisco Rodriguez (A, will not cost signing team a draft pick) arbitration. They declined to offer Yuniesky Betancourt (B) arbitration. Takashi Saito (A), contractually cannot be offered arbitration.
- The Braves did not offer arbitration to Alex Gonzalez (B), according to David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Teams with automatic decisions only:
- Reds: Francisco Cordero (modified B, no arbitration offer necessary), Ramon Hernandez (modified B, no arbitration offer necessary)
- Astros: Clint Barmes (B, already signed with Pirates)
- Rockies: Mark Ellis (B, already signed with Dodgers)
2ndedition
For those of us too slow to keep up, what is a Modified B and why is no offer necessary?
Patrick OKennedy
Just the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement. Five players that were Type A free agents, and were obviously going to be hurt by that status, were redesignated as Type B. That frees up the players to sign a deal without penalizing their new club, and also compensates their former club without having to offer arbitration.
2ndedition
So for Cordero, Hernandez and Dotel, who are now B, do their old teams get a free pick without offering arb? Is that an A pick (1st round) or a B pick (supplemental)? And for Bell and Rodriguez, who are still A, their new teams don’t lose a 1st round pick to sign, but does their old team still get a 1st round pick as compensation?
Patrick OKennedy
For Cordero, Hernandez, and Dotel, their former clubs would get a sandwich pick if they sign elsewhere.
For Bell, Kelly Johnson, Rodriguez, etc, their clubs have to offer arbitration, the player declines and signs with another club. The new club does not give up a pick, but the former club receives a pick immediately ahead of the new club’s pick, plus a supplemental round pick.
Say the Jays offer arby to Kelly Johnson, he declines and signs with Detroit. The Jays get a first round pick right ahead of Detroit’s pick, plus they get a supplemental round pick.
Next year, this all goes away.
JacksTigers
Will there be any comp. next year?
Patrick OKennedy
Clubs will have to offer their potential free agents an amount that is equal to the average salary of the top 125 highest paid major leaguers in order to receive compensation. That number, based on 2011 salaries, is about $ 12.4 million.
The signing team would forfeit it’s first round pick and the former club would receive a pick at the end of the first round, in order of worst record to best. (So, there are still 30 picks in the first round unless some are added).
coolstorybro222
so the braves get draft picks anyway if gonzo signs somewhere else?
Patrick OKennedy
No, that only applies to the five players that were reclassified as Type B under the terms of the new CBA.
NYBravosFan10
Well that makes me think that Mr. Wren has something up his sleeve. Not willing to give him 3 mil? Seems a little stingy…
Chipper_is_GOD
I wouldn’t give him 3 mill. He has a good glove but he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
SS should be our most important thing this offseason. Prado needs to stay in LF because he had a bad season and will rebound. But we need a good SS and can hit and keep a good BA. I hope by some miracle we could land Jimmy Rollins.
Carson Turner
While Rollins would certainly be an upgrade, I think he will cost too much (in years and dollars). The Braves have guys close to ready, and would be crazy to give a multi-year deal to an aging SS.
Chipper_is_GOD
Everybody is over hyping Pastornicky, he’s not that good.
And Jimmy Rollins isn’t that old and he isn’t declining by much. And the money we will save from Mclouth, Kawakami, Chipper in another year, And D.Lowe would be able to pay for Rollins for a few years. And then dumping JJ for prospects would save even more money. Just those guys alone is more than 30 million (Chipper $14, Kawakami $8, D.Lowe $5 and then a few mill for JJ, A-Gon and McLouth)
Triple Hawpes Brewed
You’re forgetting arbitration raises…
Chipper_is_GOD
It won’t raise that much.
vonhayesdays
J roll isnt going to atlanta, because they arent going to offer five years , and the overpaying phillies will over pay and offer four. but hey we all can dream
Chipper_is_GOD
I don’t know if Philly will, don’t they have a really good SS prospect or something coming up? And we may not offer 5, but we offer 4 (Which I would rather do)
vonhayesdays
he can field but cant hit for crap lifetime 700 ops and 250 average , although last year was his best year , so maybe , and i thought the Pastronycky or however spell is name was like the end all be all of SS prospects
Chipper_is_GOD
What? Dude J-Roll is pretty good, he just won the MVP a few years back. Lifetime .270 BA and .760 OPS. That’s pretty good and WAYYYY better than what A-Gon can do.
I still wouldn’t mind bringing Furcal back IF he would be cheap. I think if he had a injury free year he’d be the best option out there. But that’s if he was injury free.
And yeah Pastornicky isn’t very good. 90% of Brave fans act like he is the Jesus Christ of SS and he isn’t. He’d be a good back up SS guy, but not a 160 game starter. We need a good SS that can hit and field and make us win more. And Pastornicky can hit a little, but his fielding is terrible.
vonhayesdays
not j roll i was talking about the phillies ss prospect freddy galvis ,
thanks for the insight on pastornicky , some people really like to hype up prospects
Chipper_is_GOD
And the Cards just declined on Furcals Arb option. Nows our chance to bring him back, and bring Andruw back to while your at it Frank. He’s lost weight and gotten back to a decent state, would be awesome to bring him back home as back up LF when Prado is playing 3rd when Chipper takes 2 days off a week.
vonhayesdays
both would be solid moves , chipper needs the rest and its easier to find a left fielder with some pop than it would be to a third baseman
Silence
J-Roll will not play for the Braves like he does for the Phillies, you would see a huge decline in production ( already declining ).
Phillies_Aces35
He’s a different player. His statistical increase can be attributed to an off season training regimine that increased his strength and allowed him to drive the ball more. I think he could put up respectable numbers (probably chooch- the obp).
I’m not saying if he’s ready or not, I’m just saying he’s a stronger player.
Phillies_Aces35
They won’t. They’re extremely high on Galvis, so they have the luxury of playing hardball with Jimmy.
tomymogo
It will raise a lot. McCann, Uggla, Jurrjens, Prado, O’Flaherty, and Bourn. Around 20 million which is more than what left, and a 95 mill payroll if we’re lucky gives them about 5 mill to spend on a SS. And what SS will sign a 1 yr 5 mill offer in the FA market that represents an improvement over Gonzalez? By the way Barmes got 2 yrs 10.5 million and he is slightly better than Gonzo if that
Chipper_is_GOD
Furcal would. Give him 2 years $10 Mill. No one would give him better.
tomymogo
By the way the market is going, that would be a bargain, but Braves only want a 1 yr fix, and agent Paul Kinzer and Wren don’t exactly see eye to eye since the Furcal fiasco 3 years ago
The_BiRDS
Furcals price tag rises everyday the way 2B and SS contracts are going.
bravesdude
I would like to see us make a run at Peralta(Det) or Young(Tex) . Don’t think that it’ll happen though .
Chipper_is_GOD
I would also like Young. But he’s in a terrible contract. But bringing in a .300 hitter with 200 hits is exactly what we need.
bravesdude
Yeah I think it’s 13-15 mill a year or something through 2014 I think .Either would be an improvement offensively . But Peralta is in the second year of a 2 year deal worth 11.5 with a team option for 2013 . So for somewhere around or just under 6 mill is what Peralta is gonna be making next year . And he hit .299 with 21 HRs and an OBP of .345 and dWAR of 1.0 last year . So for what both players would be making next year , out of the two , I would actually rather have Peralta .
philliesfan215
i fell out of a boat once and didn’t hit water. was drunk in the driveway fixing the boat..
Jeff 31
Yeah, I thought offering Arb to A-Gon would be a no-brainer. Probably a trade in the works.
A-Gon at 3 mil would be overpay, but he wouldn’t get 3mil. 2.5 max.
cedarandstone
Gonzales is 34, coming off a .270 obp season.
I thought for a second that he might be a good fit for the Brewers, but what’s the point? Can’t really say he’s an upgrade over Betancourt at this point in his career.
Lunchbox45
thats just silly, betancourt’s OBP was .271 and he’s a terrible defender
atleast gonzalez saves runs with his glove, a move to a more hitter friendly park would definetely benefit him, he’s got just enough pop to get over the walls in hitters parks
Rabbitov
HOLY CRAP! New picture!
Phillies_Aces35
Curious to see if Ruben takes a chance and offers Oswalt arbitration. A few of the teams after him are either linked to higher ranking free agents or have protected picks. Wouldn’t be surprised, but I don’t think its likely. They gave him a 2 or 3 million dollar buyout and potentially could pay him over $16 million dollars in arbitration, so they’d be paying $19 million for a year of Oswalt. Probably depends on how serious he is about wanting a multi year commitment from somebody.
Madson and Rollins are no brainers though.
Edit: Obviously they did not offer Oswalt arbitration.
dylanp5030
Did they announce it? Right now it still says they need to make a decision. They have not announced that they have declined arbitration on Lidge and Oswalt.
Phillies_Aces35
I guess its possible but generally when they make these kinds of moves, they do it in one big shot.
Beersy 2
Looks like this is going to play out nicely for the Padres. Last week it looked as though Byrnes was going to be screwed over by this new CBA, but now they will get what they want for Bell, 2 draft picks.
cards2WS
I wonder if MO offers Furcal and Rhodes arbitration… I hope they can work out a handshake agreement between them. Really want those picks!
B
These “handshake deals” are just part of the schemes to break the rules which led to the corruption of the whole free agent-draft choice system which is why it has been changed. The Cardinal organization has too much class to participate in this corruption.
Jack Merlino
Oh you boobs now Ibanez is gonna accept and come back for a year
vonhayesdays
I think their could be a comeback player of the year award sitting alone in Raul’s trophy case at the end of next season
JacksTigers
I don’t. Too old.
bravesdude
wishful thinking :>
StanleyPujols
lol
cacavolante
sarcasm can be hard to recognize in written form. can you please clarify whether this is indeed sarcasm or if you simply have a substance abuse problem of some kind…
Phillies_Aces35
I don’t really understand offering Ibanez arbitration unless they have a handshake agreement.
dylanp5030
Has to have a deal and then maybe he comes back on the cheap. Knowing Rube, he’ll get a 2 year 12 million dollar deal…damn
cbcbcb
One of the beat writers tweeted they have a very good relationship, so there is an agreement to go their separate ways. Ibanez won’t accept arbitration and they won’t be agreeing to a deal
Phillies_Aces35
Yeah I think I saw that tweet. Wish they could have gotten Lidge to do the same.
vonhayesdays
well i know a guy , who knows a guy and he said one year deal
cbcbcb
Its not a “guy.”
From David Murphy:
“Amaro has good relationship with Ibanez’s
agents so it’s very possible they decided to go their separate ways and
agreed to decline as favor”
vonhayesdays
my guy is a guy
mopapa
Not that I expect the Cards to offer, but how come Theriot’s not listed? I thought he had one year of arbitration left.
dylanp5030
Free Agent Arbitration
Phillies_Aces35
This is for free agents, the arbitration deadline you’re thinking of is for the non-tender guys.
dylanp5030
You want to look at MLBTR’s great section entitled Arbitration Eligible Series. It has Theriot listed there with a salary just under 4 million.
mopapa
Oh, okay, that makes sense. Thanks, everyone.
padresfuture
Why would the Padres offer Harang arbitration instead of picking up his option? Wouldn’t Harang get more money in arbitration? Either the Padres knew Harang would not pick up his end of the option or they have a handshake deal that Harang will decline arb.
cards2WS
Dang it! Cards coulda been loaded!
dylanp5030
cards will resign Pujols so they wont get a pick.
If the Phils can get Lidge to turn down his deal, they are looking at 6 picks I believe (2 from Rollins, 2 from Madson, and one each from Lidge and Ibanez). I don’t think they risk Oswalt, but that would be awesome to make up for losing the one pick for Papelbon.
mojowo11
On what planet is the 40-year-old Raul Ibanez not going to accept $12M+ dollars next year from the Phillies?
dylanp5030
It’s obvious that he won’t accept actually because of that reason. There is no way the Phillies offer him arbitration thinking there is even a chance he accepts. He probably told them that he would decline the option and try to work out something to come back at a cheaper rate or move on to another team. This happens every year.
I know Amaro has made some bad contractual moves over the years, but even he would not offer arbitration to Raul if he thought for a second he would accept it. As crazy as that sounds, that is what most likely happened.
Phillies_Aces35
Surprised the Cubs didn’t offer Arbitration to Wood. How much more money could he have possibly gotten out of Arbitration?
Patrick OKennedy
Phillies website says Oswalt and Lidge were both not offered. “Roy Oswalt and Brad Lidge, the Phillies’ only other rated free agents,
were not offered salary arbitration. There is still seemingly a chance
that Lidge could return next year to work in a bullpen now anchored by
the team’s new closer, Jonathan Papelbon.”
YanksFanSince78
I’m surprised that EJax is only a Type B. He’s worth the risk as long as he can be had for around 3/$30 mil.
Lefty
I can’t believe no one commented on Cody Ross? Where are you Giant Fans? Where’s the Love for this guy? As for me, I would like very much for the Orioles to get him, if the Giants don’t offer him anything. Or if the Giants re-sign him, the Orioles should go out and get Aoki. Either way, I would be happy!
Rabbitov
Then you are going to be really unhappy with what the Orioles actually do.
Lefty
You already know that Rabbitov! Happy Thanksgiving!
Rabbitov
You too bud, I’ll be spending it at the Ravens game. I hope you have something good planned.
55saveslives
Thanks Cody and Pat for helping us get the ring! Cody, good luck with whatever team you go to. Pat, enjoy retirement!
slogar1
…and the Giants trade a recent #1 draft pick for a rental on Carlos Beltran with no possibility of compensation. If they do not resign him, it’s going to be one of the stupiest moves of the 2011 season.
williemaysfield
Never liked the deal. Saw wheeler pitch twice last year. He has a nice upside. I thought they should have went harder after Bourn.
Phillies_Aces35
Yep. Seemed like a decent idea at the time, especially since they were poised for another trip to the NLCS, but in hind sight, it was awful.
I thought it was a terrible deal at the time, glad my team backed out of the bidding and went for a controllable young talent.