Rafael Betancourt accepted the Rockies' offer of arbitration, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post. The reliever was a Type A free agent, so he would have cost other teams a pair of top draft picks. Accepting arbitration is safer than testing a market that's saturated with trade chips and free agents. Had Betancourt rejected the Rockies' offer, he would have risked becoming this year's Juan Cruz – a player good enough to gain Type A status, but not good enough to give up top picks for.
The Rockies declined their $5.4MMM option for Betancourt earlier in the offseason. The righty should still be in line for a raise from the $3.35MM base salary he earned this year.
