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Free Agency
Once a player has six years of service time, he can become a free agent as long as he isn't under contract for the next season. This gives him the right to negotiate a contract with any team. Players don't typically become free agents until they've served six years in the majors, but some hit free agency earlier if they're released or if their teams choose not to offer them contracts. Here's the timeline for players who hit free agency after collecting six years service time. We'll take Xavier Nady, who will be a first-time free agent this winter, as an example:
- Players have 15 days to file for free agency once the World Series is over. During that period, they can only negotiate with their former club. So in Nady's case, he only sign with the Yankees during that 15 day period.
- Teams have until December 1st to offer their players arbitration.
- Players then have until December 7th to reject or accept their team's offer. If they accept the offer, they can negotiate with their club until arbitration hearings take place later in the winter. If they reject it, they can negotiate with the teams of their choice, including their former team.
- If the Yankees offer Nady arbitration and he rejects it, they would likely get compensation picks for losing him. The same would happen if Nady signs before the Yankees can offer him arbitration (i.e. in November).
- No free agent can be dealt without his permission until June 15th of the following season. That means Brad Penny will play at least another ten days for Boston unless he allows a trade.
- Players can be Type A free agents, Type B free agents or neither. Here's an explanation of the process used to distinguish players.
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I'm a little curious about this:
"Players then have until December 7th to reject or accept their team's offer. If they accept the offer, they can negotiate with their club until arbitration hearings take place later in the winter. If they reject it, they are left with the 29 other teams."
Can't one still sign with his club even if he rejects an arbitration offer?
Posted by: mford | June 05, 2009 at 05:25 PM
Yeah, good point... I made that clearer in the post.
Yes, you still can. Think of Manny last year. He rejected arbitration and still signed with the Dodgers
Posted by: Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 05, 2009 at 06:08 PM
Yeah I was thinking about last year how Sabbathia rejected arb but was still offered a contract by the Brewers...but Manny is a better example because he actually did resign with the team he rejected arb from. Cool. Thanks for the feedback Ben.
Posted by: mford | June 05, 2009 at 06:22 PM
No prob, glad you brought that up, 'cause my wording was misleading at first.
Posted by: Ben Nicholson-Smith | June 05, 2009 at 06:54 PM
How do injuries like Nady is experiencing for example affect a players status as type A or B. It puts them at a severe disadvantage with signing a contract with a team since their ability and health is in question, but does it affect draft picks a team can get in return?
Posted by: Jeff Levy | June 05, 2009 at 08:21 PM
Jeff, honestly, the draft pick compensation system is so convoluted that the whole injury thing could be good for Nady. The whole system is based on stupid things like time played and I believe counting stats. A guy like Nady, who is more or less a league average player, would have had a tough time finding a good contract from anybody if he was a type A free agent, because nobody wants to give up draft picks for a league average player. I'm not exactly sure how the whole compensation system works, but it is roughly as useful as the BCS rankings.
Posted by: nrmax88 | June 06, 2009 at 09:00 AM
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/07/free-agent-comp.html
Here is a post where Tim explains how the whole thing works.
Posted by: nrmax88 | June 06, 2009 at 09:02 AM
what about the case of victorino. not been in the league long enough to declare free agency. he won arbitration last year for 1 year deal, can phils do that again in december or can other teams make offers? i would love to see him stay but his trade value (if thats applicable here) definitely increased this season??
Posted by: jrollpatrol2008 | November 06, 2009 at 04:54 PM