With spring training now officially underway, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Pitchers and catchers report:
Today marks the official beginning of spring training, with over half the league’s pitchers and catchers due to report today. Today is the official report date for each of the D-backs, Cubs, White Sox, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Angels, A’s, Rangers, Red Sox, Tigers, Mets, Pirates, Cardinals, Rays and Nationals. Every team’s pitchers and catchers will need to report by the end of the week, while the reporting date for position players is early next week, though many arrive early.
2. Burnes, Singer arbitration announcements
Brewers ace Corbin Burnes went to an arbitration hearing against his club yesterday, per the AP. Burnes filed at a salary of $10.75MM while the club countered with $10.01MM. Royals right-hander Brady Singer also went to arbitration with his club, filing at $3.325MM against the team’s $2.95MM. Decisions on both cases are expected to be handed down today, with arbitration hearings and decisions set to continue all throughout the week. Both players will go through arbitration in the future, meaning this decision will have an impact on their earnings beyond the 2023 season. Singer, in particular, is set to make three more trips through arbitration as a Super Two player in his first year of eligibility. Burnes will have one more trip through arbitration next winter before reaching free agency following the 2024 campaign.
3. MLBTR Chat
Yesterday, MLBTR’s Steve Adams fielded questions during a live chat (transcript here). If you still have unanswered questions about the direction of your favorite team as Spring Training begins, you’re in luck, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco will be hosting another chat today at 5pm CT. You can submit a question in advance here, and you can use the same link to check back in this evening and participate live once the chat begins.
Wow! Let’s get this thing started
I will never understand owners/GMs/front office guys going to arb for less than $1m. I’m not saying that’s chump change, but the damage that may be done with the relationship with the player and the reputation around the league for potential FAs and future deals with players will hurt the organization.
Players go where they can make the most money. I don’t think there’s a Brewer fan alive that believes the team somehow blew their chance at a hometown discount b/c they took Burnes to arb.
Just the opposite actually. I don’t have the article in front of me, but I remember reading the players that go all the way through arb have a small percentage of signing long term with the club. I remember John Coppolella (Braces exec) on a podcast saying as much.
Arb hearings are brutal. They bring up all types of transgressions (on and off the field). It shocks me that Burnes is going through this. They must know they’re not signing him long term.
Dude. Players with Cy Young Awards have ZERO % chance of signing with clubs based out of Milwaukee. The Brewers can’t give the player anywhere near the contract he will be offered by large market teams. Players take the big money and leave the small markets in the dust. Always.
Yep, I agree. But as a club, you still have him for 2023 and 2024. The Brewers need him probably more than any other player if they want to go to the playoffs (which they can in that weak division). Putting your best asset through the ringer (I’ve heard it gets nasty at times) for $740K doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
The Angels taking Luis Rengifo to arb, okay I get it, but a guy like Burnes? Head scratcher.
So what do think happens? Burnes underperforms out of spite? Not likely.
A team like the Brewers (who has NEVER had a payroll north of last seasons $136MM and looking to decrease) works on the margins and needs every nickel they can save. What happens in July when they’re in the WC or division hunt and need to add payroll for pen help or whatever? That $700k is far more meaningful there and then.
Most players and clubs don’t go to arbitration for a reason. They most often find middle ground. In this case, maybe that number is somewhere in the middle of the $740K. I don’t know. We weren’t in the negotiations. But you don’t see too many stars go to arb (again, for a reason).
And as a Brewers fan, I would find the “small market” argument exhausting. The Marlins just negotiated with Jon Berti to avoid arbitration. Earlier we saw Yandy Díaz agree to a $24 million, 3-year contract to avoid arbitration with the Rays. If the Brewers couldn’t meet in the middle for say an extra $350-400K to keep Burnes out of arbitration, then the ownership group needs to get out of MLB.
Maybe we’re beating a dead horse here, but you Brewer fans deserve more.
I wasn’t referring to either Burnes or Singer’s situations. Just some teams in general being overly short-sighted rather than seeing a bigger picture. Over a few bucks. Take care of your players, be a good organization. Make good players and good men WANT to be part of things. Success will follow.
Perhaps that’s true of the Yankees, Dodgers, et al. But this post was about MKE and KC and those two teams live in a vastly different reality than the teams with the big cable revenue.
As a commenter below points out, if this was the first arb year, the team can save a few hundred thousand. However, that helps hold down the next year’s and subsequent year’s arb numbers. So, by the time the player hits free agency, the team may save several million.
I think most players understand the ugly business side of baseball. Burnes knows his payday is coming and we don’t know if both sides are currently working on extensions. But a team in the smallest market has to be frugal and try to invest where it makes sense to do so. Burnes is a competitor and he’s gonna go out there and give it his all every time.
The Padres have shown that those teams don’t live in a vastly different reality. That a small market team can spend much, much more money. The difference in market size between the Padres at 1.1 million TV households and the Royals at 986,000 TV households is about 10.3%.
The commish said that all teams would surpass $250 million in revenue last season, so around $120-130 million should be the floor for even the smallest market teams. The Royals at $86.5 million have a ways to go to get into that range this season. The Brewers were there last season at a $135.1 million season ending payroll and are at $115 million before this arb hearing. Here is my source on that. https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/
Teams with limited revenue dipping below that 50% of revenue level for a year or two is ok in my book. Being consistently below while collecting tens of millions in revenue sharing is a problem MLB has to fix.
ACK!
ACK!
In the last Arb year I agree, but early in Arb sets precedent for larger Arb increase due to a higher established baseline.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35674271/corbin-burnes-arbitration-hurt-relationship-brewers
Extend Burnes a 3 year deal for $60 mil. He’s worth it.
Pitchers and catchers reporting to camp… smells like spring to me!
I’m so excited to see my Rangers this year. Let’s go!
I am a 52 yr fan, so me to, but we still need a LF as I do not think that person is in camp. Time to talk with Twins about Kepler, Dbacks about McCarthy or Gurriel, Balt about Hays or Santander or Det about Meadows.
While I do appreciate that folks are recognizing the DBacks talent, they’re not trading McCarthy, though. They opted to keep him over Varsho and he still has 6 years of team control and a league minimum salary.
They might talk with teams about Gurriel Jr. around the trade deadline, but the DBacks have an organizational focus on defense and baserunning (with Dave McKay specializing in instruction of OF defense and overall baserunning).
They likely believe that Lourdes can improve in those areas under McKay’s tutelage (in LF specifically), and if he’s not negative in the field or on the bases he’s closer to a player worthy of receiving a QO than one that can be had for expiring lottery tickets (with some upside for power to return the further he gets from his hamate injury).
What team isn’t looking for a left fielder?
The Diamondbacks lmao
For the brewers to actually take Burnes to a hearing over 600k is a BAD move. Just pay the man.
That’s not how it works.
I understand taking a player to an arbitration hearing in their 1st year while being only a few hundred thousand apart because that is the platform year for the next 2-3. After that it just makes no sense to me. All you are doing is causing bad will with the player.
Teams try to keep arb salaries lower because the arb salaries the players make now dictate the salaries in the future. If a team just gives a player the salary they ask for then in the future a lesser player will be making that same about while arb prices for better players goes up.
That was pretty much the point of my comment. The platform or 1st year is very important. A few hundred thousand dollar difference then can mean millions in the 4th year for a really good young player that meets Super Two qualifications.
Taking a player to arbitration in year 2 of 3 or year 3 of 4 to save a couple hundred thousand is just stupid. The compounding effect is minimal with just one year to go.