Rays right-hander Jeff Niemann had his arbitration hearing today, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported. Niemann and his agents at Hendricks Sports asked for $3.2MM, while the Rays countered with $2.75MM. Arbitrators James Oldham, Howard Edelman and Mark Irvings heard the case today and a decision is expected tomorrow morning, the Associated Press reports (via ESPN).
The Rays are 5-0 in arbitration and have a 4-0 mark under executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. Niemann is the team's lone unsigned arbitration eligible player, as our Arbitration Tracker shows. The Nationals beat John Lannan in yesterday's hearing, which makes teams 1-0 so far this year.
And I just had lunch.
What’d you eat???
Spicy chicken with fries. Pretty good.
Spicy chicken with fries. Pretty good.
Perfect record on the line…
Rays are due to lose one. Don’t most players who beat the team in arbitration end up getting moved?
Well if you go to arbitration, the player or his agent(s) glorify him while the team tries their best to put him down. Either way the player’s feelings are hurt, more or less. That’s a reason why more people avoid arbitration than not. I mean, work your butt off for a team, then they talk about how you’re non-essential or easily replaced, it hurts. That’s also one of the reasons why players often do not attend arbitration hearings.
Niemann won’t be moved. Not this year anyways. Possibly next year
Niemann won’t be moved. Not this year anyways. Possibly next year