Arbitration-eligible players left hanging by lockout, not sure how much they’ll make
There are over 150 Major League Baseball players strapping in for the 2022 season who don’t know how much money they’re going to make yet.
When the lockout ended and everyone had to sprint toward their spring training homes, many did so without having their arbitration cases heard. From the period in early December to mid-March when MLB basically did not exist, those players who entered the offseason hoping for a raise instead found themselves in a unique state of limbo: not free agents, not able to field trade offers from other teams, and unaware of the dollar amount that’d be attached to their contract.
As the still waters of inactivity gave way to a tsunami last week, part of the enormous wave was the news that March 22 is the deadline for teams and players to submit their respective salary figures. If the sides fail to reach a deal, they’ll go through the traditional arbitration process, but this time with a twist. The need to get months-worth of things done in a few weeks now means that some arbitration cases will happen during the regular season, which begins on April 7.
A similar thing happened in 1995, when the league and its players had to pick up the pieces of the previous year’s strike mid-season. One such example involved Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald, who went to arbitration the morning of his scheduled start against the Mariners.
“After they tell me how bad I was, how I didn’t deserve this, [general manager] Roland Hemond walks up to me as we’re walking out the door,” McDonald explained to The Athletic. “He pats me on the ass and goes, ‘Hey, go beat Randy Johnson for us tonight.’”
Several arbitration-eligible players — like Edwin Diaz, Aaron Judge, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Juan Soto — could find themselves going through the same steps this year: waking up early in a hotel, entering some downtown conference room full of people whose entire goal is to undermine them, then heading to the ballpark at night to try and win a game for that same group of people.
Of course, a hefty percentage of the arbitration-eligible players will come to an agreement with their teams before a hearing is needed. Others will be traded, making them somebody else’s problem, as the Yankees did with Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela by moving them to Minnesota. One of the players the Yankees got in return, Gold Glove infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, is himself eligible for arbitration after four years with the Rangers, the last of which he ranked third among all shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved. Kiner-Falefa collected $3.2 million total from Texas in those four years and is estimated to receive $4.9 million in arbitration, per MLB Trade Rumors.
The optics of the Yankees — a franchise worth $5.2 billion that’s long been known for bullying their way to the top of the league’s payroll rankings — potentially low balling Kiner-Falefa after choosing to sit out the Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Javier Baez and Trevor Story sweepstakes is something that would have been beyond comprehension a few years ago. It’s also a very likely outcome. The lockout taught us that the wealthy, sentient pairs of khakis that run front offices will do everything in their power to make sure the on-field guys stay a few tax brackets below them. The Yankees also seem to think spending money will give them some sort of disease now.
Besides Judge and Kiner-Falefa, the Yankees have a dozen players who still need a 2022 salary, even after getting rid of Sanchez and Urshela. Joey Gallo will command the most money, but starters Jordan Montgomery and Jameson Taillon fall into this category, as well as relievers Chad Green, Jonathan Loaisiga, Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta, Lucas Luetge and Domingo German, who, if the Yankees tell an arbitrator will be used primarily as a reliever this year, will get a lower offer than if presented as a starter. On the position player side of things, Gleyber Torres, Luke Voit, Miguel Andujar and Kyle Higashioka are all due for a bigger slice of the pie after each making less than $6 million in their respective careers, with Andujar and Higashioka shy of $2 million.
For the Mets, their season of hedge fund-level expectations will include some paydays for Diaz and Pete Alonso. The closer already has six years in the big leagues and has racked up 173 saves, needing just one more to enter the top 70 in league history at the ripe age of 27. Diaz already has a sneakily impressive track record — last year he was the third-most valuable reliever in the National League — and is at the age when most athletes enter their prime. He will rightfully demand to become one of the league’s highest-paid bullpen arms, joining Aroldis Chapman, Liam Hendriks, Craig Kimbrel and a few others in the $10 million per year club.
Alonso famously made more money in Home Run Derby prize winnings ($1 million) than he made from the Mets last season ($676,775). His 106 home runs in two full seasons and a COVID schedule are more than enough to earn him a significant bump, and his camp could also certainly champion Alonso’s overall importance to the franchise when arguing for increased pay. One would imagine that Diaz and Alonso will take top precedence, but other important players like Brandon Nimmo, Dom Smith, Seth Lugo and Jeff McNeil can also take the Mets to arbitration. Once they get through that group, Trevor Williams, Miguel Castro, Joey Lucchesi, Drew Smith, Luis Guillorme and Tomas Nido will be waiting.
Again, many of these guys will have their situations worked out before arbitration is needed, or will get their hearing in before games start. But there’s still plenty of work for both of the Big Apple teams to do with their current rosters, not to mention whatever external moves may still be coming.