As the baseball world — fans and the industry alike — await the resolution in the potential hangup on the Mookie Betts blockbuster and the finalization of the reported trade sending Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling to the Angels, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets one possible holdup in the latter of those two deals: Pederson’s arbitration hearing is taking place this morning.
It’s an extremely atypical set of circumstances leading into Pederson’s hearing, as the Dodgers are reportedly in agreement on the framework of a deal that’d send him up to Anaheim at a time when they’re also set to argue his salary with an arbitration panel.
Had the two sides agreed to a swap involving Pederson earlier in the winter, the Angels could’ve prepped for a case in spite of the fact that Pederson has never played a game for them. That type of situation isn’t ideal for clubs but also isn’t unprecedented. As then-Angels-assistant-GM Matt Klentak told MLBTR several years ago in regard to Matt Joyce, whom they’d acquired in an offseason trade (and fortunately signed before heading to an arbitration hearing): “I still haven’t met Matt Joyce. I’ve negotiated his contract with his agent, we’ve traded for him, but I’ve never personally met him. … I’d really have hated for the first time I met this guy to be wearing a suit, sitting across a table, arguing over a million dollars.”
Viewed through that lens and considering the timing of the trade agreement, it’s only logical that the Angels wouldn’t be tasked with making the the case against Pederson’s camp on such short notice. They haven’t had time to prepare an argument for said hearing or even to try to come to terms on a middle ground between Pedesron’s $9.5MM filing figure and the $7.75MM figure submitted by the Dodgers.
Of course, the ultimate price point will in some ways impact how the two teams value Pederson. It’s highly unlikely that the outcome of the hearing will torpedo the trade, but it could determine which secondary pieces the Angels send to the Dodgers to finalize the arrangement. Given that additional layer of complexity, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets that an exec with another club “suspects” that MLB is having a third-party lawyer present the other side of Pederson’s case, thus entirely removing the Dodgers and Angels from the equation.
Between Pederson’s hearing and the reported medical snag in the Betts/Price/Maeda blockbuster, there are clearly numerous balls in the air that need to be accounted for prior to the completion of this series of significant transactions. A ruling on Pederson’s case should be known in the near future — arbitration results are typically known within a day of the hearing — which could bring some clarity to one of the many wrinkles in the Dodgers’ ongoing and extremely complex trade negotiations.
Hope it falls through I love pederson , send pollock some where with a low level prospect
For like, what? A bucket of KFC?
mmm…chicken…
Kewl. Throw in a couple used jock straps and you have a deal.
Extra Crispy?
Extra crispy chicken or extra crispy jock straps?
It’s LA they’ll just cover it in sriracha, won’t be able to tell the difference
I for 1 expect Pollock to have a good year health-wise in 2020. He had a staff infection in his arm which is life-threatening. I think Arizona Medical team causes this by not doing it properly
I think you mean staph infection. An infection of his staff would be a whole different thing.
Well if it was the Arizona Medical staff that caused it then it would be a staff staph infection.
And the mashed potatoes and gravy?
Bucket of KFC and Roll of Charmin
Send him where? I know you dont mean another baseball team.
Cubs are in such dire financial straits they are looking at anyone with a pulse that’s cheap so if LA pays most of that contract, maybe they get a mid-level prospect or two.
Lol nobody wants AJ Pollock. The Dodgers are stuck with that contract.
Such an unintelligent, small-minded comment; must not know baseball very well… Just like “no one wants David Price’s contract” and thousands of similar trades over the years, the team dealing the player away agrees to pay a significant portion, sometimes all, of Player X’s contract… There are plenty of teams that would love to have a talent like AJ Pollock, as long as the Dodgers paid a portion of his deal, which isn’t outrageous to begin with. Friedman knew that deal was one he could move if necessary when he had Pollock sign it.
And I’d like to see how AJ looks this Spring, since he’s finally past the broken elbow and subsequent Staff Infection, in said elbow, that could have easily taken his life.
its staph infection btw
Pollock is going to surprise all the people who think he is a lost cause this year.
he’s chronically injured and older. he’s most likely on the decline now
So, doc, what’s your medical theory to explain a chronic case of broken bones?
no one wants Pollock’s contract
Such an unintelligent, small-minded comment; must not know baseball very well… Just like “no one wants David Price’s contract” and thousands of similar trades over the years, the team dealing the player away agrees to pay a significant portion, sometimes all, of Player X’s contract… There are plenty of teams that would love to have a talent like AJ Pollock, as long as the Dodgers paid a portion of his deal, which isn’t outrageous to begin with. Friedman knew that deal was one he could move if necessary when he had Pollock sign it.
And I’d like to see how AJ looks this Spring, since he’s finally past the broken elbow and subsequent Staff Infection, in said elbow, that could have easily taken his life.
Why are you so angry? Nobody wanted Price’s contract either, but when half is payed and Betts is attached, that’s different. What he said is correct. Nobody wants that contract. He can’t stay healthy. You must be his agent or his wife
As long as the Dodgers paid a portion of his deal. Yet plenty of teams would LOVE to have a talent like AJ Pollock. Your comment was unintelligent and small-minded. Nobody wants Pollock at under 100 games per season, aging and probably regressing.
Staph infection, by the way.
Pollocks only surprise will be if he plays 50 games.
The Rangers would take pollock, JuSt saying. CF has dried up. Jbj kinda sucks, pillar sucks. Rangers need something to move santana back to UTIL, and it needs to move the needle even a tiny bit, assuming they have nothing else planned. Good when healthy yayaya.
If the Rangers would take Pollock they should have been in on the Dodgers’ moves. They aren’t in because they aren’t interested in Pollock. Pollock is a guy you move before Pederson and Verdugo if you are the Dodgers.
Ah, for the days when 2 GMs would sit down at the bar, one drunker than the other, and swap the lives of their players back and forth with impunity…..some would call those the good old days…..
In the end, the Joc trade is much more fascinating than the Betts deal, just because of the quality of prospect capital going back and forth between the Angels and the Dodgers. The only really interesting thing about Betts is how much cash went to the Dodgers, which, to my knowledge, hasn’t been verified yet.
I’m sure they’ll all be agreed upon by the All Star break.
Obviously the Angels wouldn’t be prepared to argue a case but the Dodgers are arguing for a salary they aren’t going to pay. That would undermine their case, IMO.
The Dodgers want a lower salary in hopes of getting better prospects. The Angels should want a higher salary to reduce the draft capital.
It makes sense to use a third party without a vested interest, if one truly exists.
How about Ned Colletti, then??
while he’s in limbo? this has to be a first, right?
You can tell whoever wrote this is not from CA cause they said the Dodgers will send Pederson “up to Anaheim”. Anaheim is about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.
You can get there heading north. It just takes longer.
That depends on the traffic on the 5 freeway.
Angels will win 100 games this year and a wildcard spot.
is marsh part of this deal you guys think ? I really hope not !