Today marks the deadline for the 35 free agents offered arbitration to decide whether or not to accept. All of the decisions will be chronicled on the front page of MLBTR as well as in our handy free agent arbitration offer tracker. Of the 35 offered, four unsigned players – Trevor Hoffman, Kevin Correia, Octavio Dotel, and Kevin Gregg, have already chosen to decline. Another eight have new contract agreements: Jorge De La Rosa, Juan Uribe, Joaquin Benoit, John Buck, Jon Garland, Victor Martinez, Yorvit Torrealba, and Javier Vazquez.
That leaves 23 decisions for today:
Type A (12 players)
Grant Balfour
Adrian Beltre – lock to decline
Carl Crawford – lock to decline
Scott Downs – likely to decline
Adam Dunn – likely to decline
Frank Francisco – likely to accept
Jason Frasor
Paul Konerko
Cliff Lee – lock to decline
Carl Pavano – expected to decline
Rafael Soriano – lock to decline
Jayson Werth – lock to decline
Type B (11 players)
Randy Choate
Jesse Crain - expected to decline
Pedro Feliciano
Brad Hawpe
Aaron Heilman – may be leaning toward declining
Orlando Hudson – expected to decline
Adam LaRoche
Felipe Lopez
Miguel Olivo
J.J. Putz – likely to decline
Chad Qualls
As you can see, there about about a dozen decisions in question. Type A relievers Francisco, Balfour, and Frasor have good cases for accepting, as they'll otherwise be saddled with the draft pick cost. Konerko accepting would mean a one-year deal at a strong salary, something he may find appealing.
It's possible some of the Type Bs have handshake agreements to decline, as Vazquez and Hoffman did. The only reason for a Type B to accept would be if they expect no multiyear offers and feel that they'd earn more in 2011 through arbitration than the open market. Hawpe, LaRoche, and Qualls have to consider that route.
Aren’t Feliciano and/or Olivo likely to accept as well?
I very much doubt Olivo will accept knowing that he may not be a starting catcher.
I openly wonder if Crain or Frasor will be Chicago Cubs in 2011. I also open wonder how much Hendry will overpay to acquire one of them. :) :)
I think we will see alot of movement after today when the teams know where they stand.