What do Kevin Correia, Octavio Dotel, Brad Hawpe, Orlando Hudson, Chad Qualls, and Javier Vazquez have in common? They were all Type B free agents who were surprisingly offered arbitration by their former clubs and then turned it down. The offers surprised me because I assumed the risk of the players accepting was too great. However, I couldn't account for the possibility of handshake deals – these players probably agreed beforehand to turn down arbitration offers, helping their former employers without hurting their own free agent stock.
If supplemental round picks Jace Peterson (Padres), Trevor Story (Rockies), Grayson Garvin (Rays), Hudson Boyd (Twins), James Harris (Rays), and Dante Bichette Jr. (Yankees) make Major League impacts, their respective teams may want to thank the above-named Type B free agents who were willing to agree to turn down arbitration offers. It's not a given - for example, the Rays didn't offer arbitration to Type B Carlos Pena, and the Yankees didn't offer to Lance Berkman or Kerry Wood. In total, 17 Type Bs were not offered arbitration last offseason.
Had players such as Hudson and Vazquez been rated as Type As, they would not have been so willing to turn down arbitration, since doing so would have required a new team to surrender a draft pick to sign them. The Twins and Yankees would have realized this and never made arbitration offers in the first place.
My point: star players aside, many teams would prefer their own free agents to be rated as Type Bs rather than Type As. So keep an eye on those currently on the borderline: Jason Kubel, Vladimir Guerrero, Aaron Hill, Carlos Guillen, Jason Frasor, and Chris Snyder.
Great article…I don’t think you need to worry about the title…you conveyed some excellent points. In your opinion, who has manipulated the system the most? Toronto is new to this party with AA. But, it appears Boston and Philadelphia have worked the system hard.