8 Seeking $1 Million or More in Arbitration

[bernieh]

[i:cb44c57ebb]by Murray Chass
originally printed: The Sporting News, February 3, 1986[/i:cb44c57ebb]

NEW YORK—The Los Angeles Dodgers were stunned three years ago when an arbitrator awarded Fernando Valenzuela a $1 million salary. The Boston Red Sox were even more stunned when an arbitrator gave Wade Boggs a $1 million salary last year. This year those teams and those players once again have filed for salary arbitration with huge salaries involved, but the teams have even more to worry about. They each have another player who is seeking $1 million. Valenzuela, Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser, Boggs and Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman are among a record eight players who submitted figures of $1 million or more for arbitration. The Red Sox and the Dodgers are among a record five clubs that also submitted such figures. Boggs, whose .368 batting average was the best in the majors last season, submitted a record $1.85 million while the Red Sox submitted $1.35 million. The Dodgers submitted the same number for Valenzuela, who is trying for $1.1 million. The Dodgers' figure for Hershiser was $600,000; the Red Sox' proposed Salary for Gedman was $650,000.

Tim Raines of Montreal, whose $1.2 million last year is the record salary gained in arbitration, is trying for $1.7 million this time. The Expos proposed $1.3 million. The Yankees' Don Mattingly and the Mets' Dwight Gooden each submitted $1.5 million. The Yankees submitted $1.25 million for Mattingly and the Mets $1.1 million for Gooden. The other player to seek the lofty level was John Tudor, who submitted $1.2 million to St. Louis' $900,000.

Last year seven players and three clubs submitted proposed salaries of $1 million or more. That was the first time clubs reached that level, and before last year only three players had tried for such lucrative salaries in arbitration. And 17 players sought salaries of $750,000 or more this year compared with a total of 29 in the previous 10 years of arbitration. Clubs submitted proposed salaries of $600,000 or higher in 16 cases this year; previously they had submitted proposed salaries that high only 26 times.

Red Sox General Manager Lou Gorman, who was shocked at Boggs' arbitration victory last year, shook his head when he saw the figures submitted by Boggs and Gedman this year. "Gedman is extremely high," Gorman said. Gedman's .285 batting average led American League catchers in 1985. "He's had two good years, but he's only been the starting catcher for two years. It's hard to put him in that category when you look at some other people in the game who have had four, five, six good years. I knew Boggs' agent would come in high. They always have and always do. It just seems incredible that anyone could ask for that kind of money even though he won the batting title. He's still a singles hitter. If you give him that much this year, what do you pay him four years from now?"

Gorman was hopeful that he could reach agreement with Gedman on a new contract before the arbitration hearing, but he had little hope of settling with Boggs. Yet he did not despair of the arbitration procedure. "People think arbitration is a dirty word," he said. "but it's another tool to be used."

The $500,000 difference between the figures submitted by Boggs and the Red Sox was the widest in this year's arbitration. After hearing arguments for both sides, the arbitrator must select one figure or the other; he cannot choose a salary in between.

While most attention was focused on the lofty numbers, the lowest salary figure was $62,000 submitted by the California Angels for Rufino Linares, who submitted $150,000. The lowest figure submitted by a player was $90,000 by Houston's Mike Madden. The Astros submitted $75,000. One player and club, Ray Fontenot and the Cubs, submitted the same figure, $240,000, indicating they had agreed on salary, but possibly not on other elements of the contract. Otherwise, the smallest difference between figures was the $15,000 in the proposals by Madden and the Astros.

The Kansas City Royals had an interesting situation with their top two pitchers of 1985, with the $300,000 difference in the figures submitted by Bret Saberhagen and the Royals. Saberhagen, the A.L. Cy Young Award winner, could lose and wind up with a lower salary, $625,000, than Charlie Leibrandt, who would earn $770,000 if he wins.

[Sykes25]

"he's a singles hitter" I guess those doubles and .350 AVG didn't mean much.

[Proverbial Psalms]

I wonder if anyone has written a follow-up article on arbitration after the fact- sort of on a 5 year scorecard?

Once contracts get as close between the club and players- e.g. Madden's $15K difference, I guess it's more about "ego" or"principle" than the actual $$ involved- as I'd guess that even back then, each case would have several thousands of dollars of time and administration costs involved, by both parties. Arbitration remins me of Vegas oddsmakers- no matter what side of the win/loss, over the long haul it's the arbitrators that likely win (with what's commonly called "the vig")...

Lastly, were baseball salaries REALLY that "reasonable" just 20 years ago?

[Sykes25]

Issues like this led to the lockout in 1994 when the collective bargining agreement expired and both sides just couldn't be on the same page.

The NFL was always a step ahead of the other major sports in terms of leveling the playing field in terms of salary caps etc. In hindsight, MLB should have gotten on board in the late 80's instead of allowing this to tumbleweed out of control.