In light of the recent arbitration hearing drama between the Yankees and reliever Dellin Betances, I remembered a three-part series B.J. Rains did for MLBTR four years ago that may be of interest. In a series called Players Reflect On Arbitration Hearings, B.J. spoke to Dan Uggla, Jeff Mathis, and Kyle Lohse about their first-hand experiences. Check out the full articles, but as you can see from these excerpts, arbitration hearings affect players differently.
- Uggla: “It didn’t bother me at all. It’s just a process, the business side of it.”
- Mathis: “There’s stuff that goes on in that room that I wouldn’t suggest anybody experience or be a part of. … You don’t want to be a part of anything like that.”
- Lohse: “It’s not a pleasant thing. It’s hard to sit there and listen to the lawyer say how bad you are when the GM is sitting right there and you feel like he fed them the info to talk about how bad you are yet they still want you.”
I’m a big Yankees fan. I’m not happy with how Betances seemed to wilt in big September games in the 9th, but Randy Levine should have let discretion be the better pet of valor and said nothing if he couldn’t say anything civil. I also believe that teams should do everything possible to avoid going to arbitration in the first place.
“Wilt”? Gimme a break. Relievers are far from perfect and guess what- (we’re all spoiled by Mariano Rivera).
I remember Eric Gagne’s arbitration hearing in 2004. I believe the Dodgers offered $5 million in his first year of eligibility, which was a record at the time for a pitcher I believe. He asked for $8 million and ended up losing. Of course Gagne had won the Cy Young award the year before.
First world problems here. Someone got their felling a hurt and still went to the bank with a multi million check. Be a man finish you job and at the end of your contract do what normal non millionaires do when they are treated bad by their company, go find
Somewhere else to work