The non-bid deadline is Friday evening. Teams need to decide whether to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible (and pre-arbitration) players. Those who are not under contract will enter free agency directly and will not be subject to waivers.
As is the case every winter, MLBTR writer Matt Swartz predicted salaries in the arbitration category. Some of these players have been removed from the roster. Some of the most obvious cuts came within the first five days of the offseason as teams needed to get their offseason rosters back to 40 players without taking the injury list into account.
More names were earmarked for assignment Tuesday as teams opened up space for prospects they hoped to keep out of the Rule 5 draft. These players remain on DFA uncertainty and are marked with an asterisk below. There is still a situation where they have a contract. DFA clubs have until Friday to trade them to a team satisfied with the projected arbitration price and retain them. While this may happen to one or two players, the vast majority of them will not be tendered.
Not everyone who gets a contract will know how much they’ll be paid this week. Some players will sign a “pre-bid” agreement to lock in their deposit. Many of them are fringe non-tender candidates who will accept less than their projected salaries to ensure they stay on the roster. (A’s catcher Austin Wayans This deal has been accepted. ) Those who have not signed but have signed contracts could face months of uncertainty. They can continue negotiations with the club to find a mutually agreeable salary before the arbitration hearing.
Collective bargaining agreements encourage fringe players to reach settlements without hearings, even if they have signed contracts. arbitration settlement All are fully guaranteed. The salary is determined by hearing (Regardless of whether the arbitrator chooses the club or the player’s filing data) is not locked in until the start of the regular season. Players whose salaries were determined at a hearing are only entitled to release money if they are released during the offseason or spring training. If the termination occurs more than 15 days before Opening Day, the prorated salary is 30 days; if the termination occurs within 15 days of the start of the season, the prorated salary is 45 days.
Each offseason, we take a look at arbitration-eligible players who we believe are likely to be waived. To be clear, this is not a list of players we think are more likely to have their bids rejected. We think these players have at least 10-20% chance We’re not entirely surprised by the broad range of people being laid off. We only focus on players who are eligible for arbitration. There will be a lot of pre-arbitration players later on the roster that are off the table (often immediately re-signed to minor league contracts), but those are beyond the scope of this article.
Also on the list, Matt’s projected salary:
catcher
first baseman
second baseman
third baseman
shortstop
center fielder
corner outfielder
designated hitter
starting pitcher
right hand rescuer
left hand rescuer
* Indicates that the player is currently in DFA dilemma
^ Trading with each other since the list was announced
