D'Backs Offer Arb To Cruz, Lyon, Hudson; Not Dunn

Seems to me the Dbacks not being able to offer Dunn arbitration encompasses all that is wrong with MLB's free agency compensation system.

makes the trade look a little better for the Reds, and only further establishes Dunn as the Rodney Dangerfield of baseball.

I can see Burrell possibly taking arb and coming back next year when there might be less talent to compete with on the market. Plus it gives him a chance to win another ring. I can't believe the D-Backs didn't offer Dunn arb, that is just stupid. First, he isn't going to take it and even if he does, then you just trade him.

No Arb to RJ, now the dodgers can pick him up. But wont pick up Hudson cause he was offered arb.

That is a fair analogy but the cubs situation is unique with the team being on the block and such. They definitely could afford him but they decided they did not want to risk using their payroll that way. The Dbacks would be in huge trouble if Dunn accepted, Wood coming back would hardly cripple to franchise. Even to move Dunn the Dbacks would probably have to eat some money or get nothing because of having negative leverage.

Its a give and take between the teams and the players. The teams can get compensation, but in return they must be willing to offer the player a 1 year contract at fair value as determined by an arbitrator. Seems like a completely fair system to me, and MLB can't change it without the MLBPA signing off on it.

Rememberthecoop,

The thing you forget is Adam Dunn is a ONE TOOL player; he hits Home Runs and THAT IS IT!!!

So just imagine what Dunn's value would be if instead of batting .240 and hitting 40 Home Runs and struggling to drive in 100 RBI's, his Home Runs and RBI's were to drop?

Don't think that could happen? Just look at how his Home Run production dropped after he was traded to the D-backs.

Whiile with the Reds in 2008, he was hitting a HR once in every 11.65 At Bats. Over 525 At Bats that would be a 47 Home Run pace.

After he was traded to the D-backs and was playing in larger ball parks on the West Coast, his HR produciton dropped to once in every 18 At Bats. Over 525 At Bats that would be a 29 Home Run pace.

So, for $13 (or more) million dollars, would it be worth it for the D backs to risk Dunn accepting Arbitration and then going out and laying an egg in the Home Run department? Because if he is getting minimal interest from teams now just think how little his trade value would be if THAT happened?

walkoffblast,

That is exactly what happened with Dunn and KGJ on the Reds. Combined they took up about 30% of team payroll in 2008.

Nixa37,

How is it a fair system when players have BAD years and are still offered salaries in Arbitration that are higher than what they made the year before? Teams might offer what a player might be "valued" at but if that player had a down year, it would look like a low ball offer and the Arbitrators would most likely see that one year as an aberation and choose the much higher salary that the player and his Agent submitted.

Steller,

Obviously both the Reds and D-backs didn't see it the way you do because one team traded Dunn before they had to make that decision and the other team just passed on offering him Arbitration.

ctownboy, his offensive value extends beyond power and production. His ability to get on base is the key. Sure, he strikes out a ton, but gets on base at a 40% clip and that's damn good. And while he won't play good defense, most of the outfielders out there on the market (Abreu, Bradley, Burrell, et al) also are poor defensively.

Don't even bother arguing with ctowncowboy about this one. Trust me, you could point out that Dunn has been hitting just as many HR on the road as at home over the past couple of seasons, but that certainly doesn't matter to him. He's a pissed of Cincy fan that blames the owner and his man crush on Dunn for pretty all the team's problems.

Look, I've seen what happens when a team offers a player arbitration and he unexpectedly accepts. It happened to the Braves with Maddux and it forced JS to trade Kevin Millwood for Johnny Estrada straight up.

What you guys seem to be missing is that if teams didn't have to offer arbitration to get compensation, players could end up priced out of jobs purely because of the compensation it would cost to sign them. Even if they were willing to play for the minimum, there might not be a team willing to give up the draft pick and therefore no one to sign the player. This system addresses that problem by forcing the team to give the player a contract at a price set by a 3rd party arbitrator if they don't find a deal they like on the open market, possibly in part due to the draft pick compensation necessary.

I love how ctown talks about Dunn only being able to hit home runs and then completely refusing to acknowledge his ability to get on base. In fact, Dunn's OPS+ in Cincy was 130. His OPS+ in Arizona was 127. Not quite the drop off.

Either way you look at it this is a big screw-up on AZ's part.
If they couldn't budget enough to offer him arbitration they shouldn't have traded for him to begin with. Dback mgmt. admit they signed Dunn with the thought they would at least get 2 picks for him. Poor management.

Nixa, there is no leverage issue if no team has to give up their pick. Why do you continue to not understand this? My point is that the system is screwy in the 10-15 mil bracket. The top teams can afford the risk, the lower teams cannot. This ends up defeating the purpose of the picks to begin with.